After Europe’s loss at the Solheim Cup, it was little surprise that one of the questions Suzann Pettersen faced in her press conference concerned her decision to leave Leona Maguire out of three sessions.
Heading into the Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, it appeared that Leona Maguire was going to be a key player if Europe were going to keep their hands on the trophy, with the Irishwoman playing all five matches in both of her previous appearances.
Maguire seems destined to be that player whose Solheim Cup performances throughout her career almost overshadow whatever else she does on tour, with the 29-year-old heading to Virginia having won seven matches already.
She was left out of the foursomes on Friday morning, before being beaten comfortably alongside Georgia Hall in the afternoon. And that would prove to be her final round before the Sunday singles.
Leona Maguire reacts to sitting out Saturday at the Solheim Cup
Alongside Albane Valenzuela, Maguire sat out both sessions on Saturday as Europe looked to fight back from being 6-2 down after day one.
The visitors did manage to improve, but the four-point gap remained heading into Sunday. Europe however, did manage to set up a tense finish in the singles, with a couple of half points lower down the order seeing the USA across the line.
Maguire meanwhile, beat Ally Ewing 4&3 to prove a point. Certainly, plenty of golf fans criticised Pettersen for leaving Maguire out of Saturday. And, in comments reported by The Telegraph, Maguire spoke about what she made of her captain’s decision.
“I’ve been playing really great golf all week in practice, and it was a bitter pill to swallow to be sat out for as many sessions as I was,” she said. “But I thought I got a point to prove today. She didn’t give much reason, to be honest. The feeling I got was that I was a little bit too short and didn’t make enough birdies, but I think I showed today there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I think I made plenty of birdies today.
“Captain’s decision. I’m a team player, and all I could do today was come out and win my point, and that’s what I did. It’s a Solheim Cup and I don’t need any extra motivation to go out and try to win my point, but yeah, there probably was a little bit extra there. I’m not going to lie!”
Suzann Pettersen’s biggest error throughout the week?
As the result came down to such fine margins, Pettersen will surely have a number of decisions she will reflect upon and feel that she could have done differently. Carlota Ciganda and Linn Grant took one point between them from their eight matches throughout the week.
But so many of Europe’s players could have had few complaints had they sat out all of Saturday, which made the decision to keep Maguire and Valenzuela out of the side all the more perplexing.
Maguire seems to take her game to another level in matchplay, and she went into the event with the highest winning percentage of any player on either side. So it was clearly no surprise at all to many when she beat Ewing on Sunday.
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