Leave Pettersen alone, US skipper urges fans

United States captain Juli Inkster on Tuesday urged fans not to heckle Europe star Suzann Pettersen at this week's Solheim Cup, two years after a bitter controversy involving the Norwegian player.

Pettersen was at the centre of an acrimonious spat at the 2015 edition of the Ryder Cup-style event when she refused to give Alison Lee a short putt during a crucial foursomes game.

The Norwegian's controversial move left Lee in tears and stoked a furious backlash from American players, who subsequently overturned a 10-6 deficit heading into the singles to claim victory.

Pettersen initially insisted she had not done anything wrong but later issued an apology declaring that she was "gutted and truly sad" about her actions.

"I am so sorry for not thinking about the bigger picture in the heat of the battle and competition," said Pettersen, the current world number 23 who will be playing in her ninth Solheim Cup this weekend.

It remains to be seen whether galleries at Des Moines Golf and Country Club in Iowa will give Pettersen a pass for her 2015 actions.

But US captain Inkster is among those hoping the controversy of two years ago will be forgotten.

"I really don't think it's going to be a big deal," Inkster said Tuesday. "It won't be on our side and not on her side.

"I hope they (the fans) don't heckle her, I hope they respect her and respect her play. It was two years ago and we've moved on. I think she's moved on as well."

Inkster however said the tournament rules committee had instructed teams to designate one player in each pairing who had responsibility to concede putts in order to avoid the sort of scenes that erupted in 2015.

"I think the rules committee are going to do that. You've got to have one person in the group who's in charge of giving putts. And that way we don't have any controversy," Inkster said.

Inkster, who was critical of Pettersen's actions at the time, said she had spoken to the player in the immediate aftermath of the row and was confident the matter was now closed.

"I spoke with her on the Monday morning after the Sunday. We had a nice chat. I haven't brought it up since and she hasn't either," she said.

"It's over with, it's done. Our team's not talking about it, I'm sure the European team's not talking about it, I'm not sure why we're talking about it."

Opening foursomes in the tournament get under way on Friday.

Source: AFP