Nelly Korda went straight to the rules officials after her match on Friday evening at the Solheim Cup to find out when Carlota Ciganda would get penalised for her pace of play.
Korda and Ciganda both played their part in a Solheim Cup classic in the second session of the week at Bernardus Golf Club.
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The Spaniard holed a superb putt on the last to earn half a point alongside Julia López Ramírez. It was a remarkable par from Ciganda, who often manages to find another gear when representing the blue and yellow of Europe.
Ciganda produced an amazing up and down to deny Nelly Korda and Lauren Coughlin a full point. But the hole was not without controversy.
Nelly Korda was frustrated with Carlota Ciganda’s pace of play at the Solheim Cup
Ciganda is known for being one of the slower players on the LPGA Tour. She was disqualified from the Evian Championship in 2023 after refusing to accept a two-shot penalty for taking too long and signing for the wrong scorecard.
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And it would appear that her pace of play annoyed Korda on Friday.
Speaking on the No Laying Up podcast, Chris Solomon commented on the methodical approach of some of the European players over the first two days, and noted that Korda was particularly frustrated.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
“Match two, Jennifer Kupcho and Rose Zhang against Leona Maguire and Esther Henseleit, Europe won this one 1 up. It was a pretty up and down match. We caught this one at the very end. The pace of play on 17 was again very tough. Esther Henseleit was way off to the right. When I said, ‘what is going on right now?’ I then took out the timer, and it over a minute from there. The same situation as Carlota the day before, players not in the match with hands on their faces like, ‘this cannot be taking this long’. Caddies getting upset,” he said.
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“That is what applies when you have tee times on both sides of a golf course in strokeplay when you have massive traffic jams [that you can’t put players on the clock when they’re not out of position]. I don’t think this should apply. By all accounts, technically, this is not a penalty. The policy should be different for matchplay for sure. You should not be taking three minutes to hit a golf shot in general.
“After Carlota Ciganda, the incident on 18 yesterday, taking about three minutes to hit her approach shot, Nelly got off the course, marched straight to the rules official’s office and demanded an answer of when they were going to finally penalise her. That happened. And the answer was exactly that: when you’re not out of position, you’re not being timed and we can’t penalise somebody.”
What Carlota Ciganda admitted about her pace of play back in 2024
Ciganda was reportedly fined $4,000 at The Annika in 2024 for slow play. The problem was that she was the one player in the field who earned her way into the CME Group Tour Championship from outside the cut line with her finish that week.
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So clearly, she gained significantly more by sticking to her approach. Nevertheless, she admitted at the time that her pace of play did need to improve.
“I know I have to improve, and I’ll try to do that next year,” she said to Golfweek. “I don’t think people understand how tough golf can be … mentally it’s a lot tougher than what people think. Golfers just drink some beers and play some golf, and we do this for a living. A lot goes through in your mind.”
The Solheim Cup benefits from the moments where the tension is allowed to build.
Obviously, Korda’s interest is not what is best for the event. She just wants her side to win as many points as possible.
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And there are times when the wait between shots definitely goes on too long. However, when there are four matches out on the course, there is an opportunity to let the atmosphere build and give spectators more time to bite their nails.
Read the full article here