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For the first time in the event's 33-year history, the 28 matches of the 2023 Solheim Cup concluded in a 14-14 result. Per Solheim Cup rules, which match those of the Ryder Cup, Team Europe retained possession of the trophy because they had won it in 2021. GolfPass' Tim Gavrich and Jason Scott Deegan are divided over whether this rule should be preserved or changed. Whose perspective do you support? Let us know in the comments!
TIM GAVRICH: The 2023 Solheim Cup was the most satisfying single golf-viewing experience of the year to date. After a series of good-but-not-great major championships throughout the spring and summer, Sunday's theatrics between Team USA and Team Europe at Spain's sunny Finca Cortesin course felt like a much-needed dose of heart-in-throat viewing. After a potentially confidence-destroying shank on the 15th hole of her match against Nelly Korda, Carlota Ciganda etched her name into the pantheon of all-time-gutsy Spanish team players like Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia when she stuffed her approach shots at the 16th and 17th holes to carry the Solheim Cup-winning point for her team.
Yes, I said "Cup-winning." In the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup, a 14-14 result is not, strictly speaking, a tie. It is said of these events that they are played purely for pride, rather than money, but this is not entirely true. When Suzann Pettersen holed the winning putt at Gleneagles in 2019, she secured a tiny sliver of advantage that the 2021 Euros enjoyed, and passed along to this year's team with their win at Inverness: the knowledge that Team USA would have to win the cup outright in order to take possession of it.
In effect, this amounts to a half-point handicap. In most years - indeed, in all Solheim Cups before the 2023 edition (and only the 1969 Ryder Cup, which ended on the famous concession between Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin; and the 1989 edition, taken by Europe) - that handicap doesn't come into play. But it did this year, turning what some might see as a tie into a victory for Pettersen and her crew.
It's actually a brilliantly elegant solution to an unlikely but potentially disastrous situation that could turn the entire event into a colossal letdown - a situation that nearly came to pass in a different event.
Founded in 1994, the Presidents Cup has always been a bit different from the Ryder Cup. In 2003, Team USA and the International Team were deadlocked, 17-17, after Sunday's single matches. Rather than Team USA retaining possession of the trophy, that event's rules forced a sudden-death playoff between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, which ended in darkness, with captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player initially disagreeing about what to do (Nicklaus thought the U.S. should retain) before agreeing to a true tie. This turn of events left fans and players dissatisfied.
Similarly, a hypothetical, trumped-up playoff to decide the 2023 Solheim Cup would probably have been anticlimactic, no matter the outcome. Carlota Ciganda's incredible finish - one of the gutsiest individual sports performances of 2023, given the circumstances - was emotional and deeply satisfying - worthy of a great weekend of team golf.
As rare as a tie is, any inclinations to change the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup rules based on what happened at Finca Cortesin are tinged with recency bias. Team USA went into the 2023 Solheim Cup knowing that they needed 14 1/2 points to take back the trophy. They played gallantly but fell half a point short. They didn't win, so they lost. Better luck next year at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, ladies.
JASON SCOTT DEEGAN: Europe didn't win the Solheim Cup Matches. They retained the Solheim Cup. Notice how two simple words - win/retain and matches - make a huge distinction here. I applaud NBC Sports Analyst Tom Abbott for calling out Team Europe for celebrating on the 17th green after Ciganda holed her putt. They didn't 'win' anything.
Why do we love the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup so much? Because of the competitive spirit with which the competitors compete. Again, notice the word I used in three different ways - compete. Nobody competes to end in a tie. They compete to win.
The Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup change rules all the time - heck, the Ryder Cup changed who is eligible for the European team after the Americans dominated the first few decades of competition. It's not unprecedented to change the rules.
A sudden-death playoff on a par 3 would be EPIC TV. If daylight is a concern, fine. Go ahead and skip the playoff and build in some sort of tie-breaker. The best way would be simple: The team with most points scored by the captain's picks wins. That would put the onus strictly on the captain - Which captain made the right picks? Which captain used their picks most effectively? Both are critical to who wins, and should be weighted more heavily.
The Americans played so well against a favored European team on their home soil. They deserve better than to feel they like lost. They didn't. The teams tied, 14-all, plain and simple. Europe was handed the right to celebrate on an archaic, odd rule. It's time for a change.
Comments (2)
The rules need to be changed to a playoff Our Lady have nothing to be ashamed of, they were beaten by faulty rules .
I think to play off on a par three would be ridiculous after so much golf, I would leave it alone because any changes would never be agreed