COMING UP: SOLHEIM CUP - TIME FOR ELECTRIC CONTROVERSY?

Get ready for another weekend of intense golfing drama, as the Solheim Cup is due this weekend and being a reliable source of electrifying and passionate match play. The top-players of the US seek revenge and are eager to break Europe’s winning streak as thousands of fans are expected too Robert Trent Jones GC in Gainesville, Virginia, the course to be played this week. The match will be played in the usual three blocks. The first two days feature two sessions each day with fourball and foursomes, and the final day will see the twelve singles matches.

Robert Trent Jones GC has hosted four editions of the Presidents Cup and now been in standstill for months, after gone through some uplift and adjustments, ensuring ultimate conditions for the clash.

“The course is in fantastic shape; no one has played here in two months, so it is exactly how you want it,” says Maja Stark from the podium - one out of four Swedes representing Suzanne Pettersen’s European Team. Her European team has won two of the last three matches in the USA and retained the Solheim Cup after the tied match at Finca Cortesin, 14-14. However, many believe that this year's American team will be a tough nut to crack for the European side. The USA still leads the overall Solheim Cup history with 10-8 in matches.

Among the expected huge crowd, only a few thousand will be supporting Pettersen's European team, thus the majority will be chanting the traditional "U-S-A, U-S-A," rallying the home team to claim the trophy for the first time in eight years. Pettersen and her counterpart, Stacy Lewis, have great mutual respect, especially following last year’s thrilling draw at Finca Cortesin in Spain—the first tie in the competition's 34-year history. However, both are fierce competitors, and the Solheim Cup is no stranger to moments of controversy. Adding to the potential drama, this will be the first time in nine years that two central figures from one of the Solheim Cup’s most infamous moments will face each other again. Back in 2015 in Germany Europeans Charley Hull together with Pettersen drew up dust when playing with the mind of then rookie Alison Lee, who mistakenly picked up her ball as “given” while Hull/Pettersen claimed the hole following Lee’s act.

“Not the proudest moment in my golf career” - admits Pettersen, while there and then helped secure a stronger European lead ahead of the singles matches. Despite being in the past, history suggests there is always potential for tensions to flare up again

Passions always run high in the Solheim Cup and there is a deep mutual respect to respective capacity between the teams, as they compete on the LPGA tour together week in, week out. But the Solheim Cup week is no ordinary week. It stirs emotions like no other, and there are fierce competitors on both sides. This sets the stage for another captivating contest, and a bit of controversy would hardly be a surprise to anyone in the global golf community.