US captain Burke says slow play penalty "in poor taste"
GB&I players Bronte Law, Leona Maquire and Olivia Mehaffey celebrate after watching teammate Meghan MacLaren sink her putt at the 18th hole to give GB&I a 5-4 lead after morning foursomes at the 2016 Curtis Cup at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club near Dublin, Ireland on Saturday, June 11, 2016. (Copyright USGA/Steven Gibbons)
US Curtis Cup skipper Robin Burke described the slow play penalty handed to Bailey Tardy as being “in poor taste” and insisted that they won’t “lay down” today after being hit by a barrage of GB&I birdies at Dun Laoghaire.
The Americans trail 8-4 and need six points from today’s eight singles to tie the match and retain the trophy after winning just one point from yesterday’s six foursomes and fourball matches,
Asked her reaction to Tardy being excluded from the 12th hole in the afternoon four balls after getting a second bad time, Burke said: “If they were consistent with penalising players for slow play, I could digest it a little bit better. I think they were very inconsistent and I think that was done in poor taste.
“We agreed yesterday that if there’s slow play from a player they should be penalised but it should be consistent with all players and I don’t think it was consistent.”
Burke’s opposite number Elaine Farquharson-Black felt the decision by LGU referee was the correct one and that the right side had been penalised, adding that Maria Dunne’s warning for a bad time on the 13th forced her to rush her putts on the next four holes.
“We were told yesterday there were people on the clock and bad times yesterday and we were called in and told they were going to be strict today,” Farquharson-Black said.
“Any time I was told [about slow play issues] on the walkie-talkie today I went to the players to make sure they kept the pace up. The referees applied it where they thought was appropriate.
“You are given a pick up the pace, and ‘on the clock’, and if you have another bad time you are out.”
On her decision to leave out Morris until today, she said: “It’s always tough. Every player wants to put on the jersey and tee it up. It’s hard. When you are a player, you only see it from the player’s point of view.
“I asked myself who I thought could bring in the points and we finished on such a high this morning we reckoned we should go out with the same pairings this afternoon.
“As a captain you are always going to be second guessed and if it works, you are fantastic.
“The message to the team is to go out and do it all again tomorrow…. quickly.”
Targeting a session win rather than just two and a half points, she said: “That’s the plan. Let’s go out and win eight.”