Rules drama gives Nelly Korda, Team USA life at Solheim Cup

Playing in her second straight session of the day at Inverness Club, Nelly Korda found herself in the midst of a tight four-ball match against the European duo of Nanna Koerstz-Madsen and Madelene Sagstrom.

With a large contingent of fans following and the match which was tied through 12 holes, Korda faced a big breaking putt for birdie on the 13th hole.

She pulled back her puttter, made contact with the ball, and watched as her it tracked all the way to the edge of the cup.

Korda’s putt looked so good, she dropped to her knees in disbelief when the it stopped just shy of tumbling in for birdie.

But what happened next might have been a saving grace for Team USA, who struggled in the morning session to put points on the board.

In an attempt to concede the remaining tap-in, Koerstz-Madsen picked up Korda’s ball and tossed it to her.

That’s when things got interesting…

After a brief conversation between Koerstz-Madsen and a rules official, Team USA was awarded a 1 up lead.

Wait, what just happened?

The confusion centered around whether Korda’s ball was overhanging the edge of the hole. If it was, she was entitled to a reasonable amount of time to reach her ball and 10 seconds to determine whether the ball had stopped moving.

As Rule 13.3 A states:

“If any part of a player’s ball overhangs the lip of the hole, the player is allowed a reasonable time to reach the hole and ten more seconds to wait to see whether the ball will fall into the hole.”

Sagstrom and Koerstz-Madsen argued that the ball was not overhanging the hole when they picked it up, however, after video replay and a photo taken of the ball were examined, rules officials determined that Korda’s ball was in fact ever-so-slightly overhanging the cup.

In this instance, picking up Korda’s ball took away her right to make her way to the hole and the 10-second wait time to determine if the ball had stopped moving.

As a result, Korda’s putt was considered holed and Team USA went 1 up, breathing some much needed life into their match and the team’s bid to win back the Solheim Cup.