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Lee made a mistake, says Europe captain Koch

Hull, Europe’s outstanding player for the second successive Solheim Cup with four wins from five matches, backed up her partner.

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Brittany Lincicome and Alison Lee were in tears, this morning, after they lost their fourball to their European opponents in one of the Solheim Cup’s most controversial moments.

Hull walked across the front of the green and onto the next hole, but Pettersen said they had not conceded the putt and therefore won the hole.

That turned out not to be the case and the referee awarded the hole to Europe, who went on to win the match by two holes.

What do you care about more: getting it right or making it right? “I don’t know if my team needed to be fired up anymore, but they were real fired up”.

Suzann Pettersen – and to a large degree, her European captain, Carin Koch – subsequently missed the point. You’ve got to play with fire in your belly.

“I just loved my line-up”. “I can’t believe it”, she said. “If that’s the way they need to play to win, then we will just try to do our best out there today”.

Hull, 19, and 20-year-old rookie Lee were reduced to tears as heated discussions took place around the green, with visiting captain Juli Inkster wanting to lead some of her team in a chant of “Europeans suck”, before they opted for “Class, style, U-S-A”. “There’s been quite a bit of controversy over the last two days but unfortunately this time it’s poor sportsmanship”, she said.

“I thought it was a great week for women’s golf and to put a dampener on that, there’s no way they could ever justify that”.

Team U.S. started singles play down four points to the European squad, which had won the previous two matchups in 2013 and 2011.

“I have never seen anything like it in my career”.

What: The US beat Europe, 14/2-13/2.

Say what you will about the Official World Golf Ranking and the math that gave us a change atop the ratings when one player (Jordan Spieth) missed the cut and another (Rory McIlroy) watched a tournament from home, but there is no debating Jason Day’s status atop the world order.

The match between Charley Hull/ Suzann Pettersen and Brittany Lincicome/Alison Lee was tied heading to the 17th green. “And, you know, it went by and that’s what happened”.

“I didn’t even think twice about it. I just picked it up. If they win they are going to think ‘Why did we do that?’ or ‘why did Suzann do that?”

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In the singles, it was Carlota Ciganda of Spain vs. Lexi Thompson; Matthew vs. Morgan Pressel; Icher vs. Lincicome; England’s Melissa Reid vs. Lang; Gwladys Nocera of France vs. Lee; Caroline Masson of Germany vs. Piller; Anna Nordqvist of Sweden vs. Lewis; Azahara Munoz of Spain vs. Salas; Norway’s Pettersen vs. Angela Stanford; Hull vs. Cristie Kerr; Hedwall vs. Michelle Wie; and Sandra Gal of Germany vs. Paula Creamer. “Alison broke the rules and we play by the rules”, she said. Davies said as she was commentating for Sky Sports. In the deciding singles session, the Americans dominated, winning 8 1/2 points out of a possible 12 to overcome a 10-6 deficit and win the Solheim Cup in the biggest comeback in series history. “I’m so honored to be on this team”.

Pettersen decision stains 2015 Solheim Cup women's golf competition