The traditionalists would have hated it and no doubt the European team were not impressed, but the US caddies could not resist.
When Alison Lee holed out from the fairway on the second hole in the fourballs at the Solheim Cup, the wild celebrations were marked by Shota Takada taking off his bib and his shirt and performing a bare-skinned hug with Jack Fulghum, Megan Khang’s bagman, who had also disrobed in the excitement.
In mitigation, there was a backstory to the madness. On the tee box, Fulghum had announced that if there were any hole-outs they would give the players $500 (£381). But Lee countered and said, “No, you will have to take off your shirts”. The bet was thus struck and it is remarkable that it was paid out so quickly.
There was a serious side, however. Madelene Sagstrom was still due to take her shot and deserved the respect of trying to emulate Lee, however unlikely. It was reminiscent of Justin Leonard holing a long putt at the 1999 Ryder Cup and the US team and their wives running across to celebrate when Jose Maria Olazabal still had a putt to half.
That this extremely “un-golfing” behaviour occurred on a Saturday and not a Sunday — and with the result of the match a long way from confirmed — only served to underline how much the Americans want to end the European run of three Solheim Cups in succession.
It was mayhem, but whatever anyone thinks, at least it was infinitely a more preferable chaos to the scenes on Friday that witnessed tens of thousands outside of the gates due to the LPGA Tour’s shameful disorganisation.
All of that was suddenly forgotten in this euphoria — for the record, the eagle on the par four handed Lee and Khang a one-hole lead over Anna Nordqvist and Sagstrom — although we may not have heard the end of this. Of course, it is an instant yellow card in football and the pair could be fined.
They can only hope that the officials come to the same judgement as the PGA Tour disciplinarians two years ago on the infamous par-three 16th at the Phoenix Open. Then the pros Harry Higgs and Joel Dahmen dispensed with their polo shirts and waved them above their heads. They assumed it would hit them hard in the pocket, but the Tour let them off and actually used the clips in promotional clips. Will the LPGA Tour be so lenient? And will Europe complain?
