Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen tells Carlota Ciganda to 'speed up'

Suzann Pettersen, Europe’s Solheim Cup captain, has urged Carlota Ciganda to “speed up” as the Spaniard returns to action in the AIG Women’s Open following her most recent slow-play penalty.

Suzann Pettersen and Carlota Ciganda winning a match during the 2013 Solheim Cup at the Colorado Golf Club. Picture: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images.

In the Amundi Evian Championship in France just under a fortnight ago, Ciganda was disqualified after failing to accept a two-shot penalty for slow-play breaches in the second round.

It wasn’t the first time she’d been punished over pace of play but, on this occasion, the 33-year-old refused to accept she’d committed a breach by signing for a 72 instead of a 74.

In a subsequent post on Instagram, Ciganda hit out at rules officials, claiming “they don’t understand what professional golf is about” and said she was unhappy about “the same players being picked on all the time”.

Ciganda didn’t play in last week’s Freed Group Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links, but she will be back in the slow-play spotlight at Walton Heath in the final major of the season, which starts tomorrow.

“I mean, she’s got to take the point and speed up, right?” said Pettersen, who has been Ciganda’s team-mate in previous Solheim Cups, including the dramatic 2019 win for Europe at Gleneagles, and will almost certainly have her on her team for next month’s match at Finca Cortesin in Spain.

“She’s obviously not one of the fastest players to start. She had a couple of incidents in the Evian. She disagreed with what the rules official had to say and that’s on her. But I guess speeding up would solve that issue.

“I wasn’t there and didn’t watch all of it. But I had a chat with her. I said that if ‘they are on you, get the point, try and speed up and do what you can do’. In some situations, I know it is tough. You are going to get conditions on the course and situations that will cost more time. But, in general, for everyone’s sake, try and speed up.”

Nelly Korda, the world No 1, also offered her view on Ciganda’s situation on the eve of the The R&A event’s first staging on the heather-flanked fairways at Walton Heath in Surrey.

“She's a great person. I enjoy playing with her. But The Rules of Golf are The Rules of Golf and they should be enforced and it’s good that they are,” said the American.

Offering her general thoughts on slow play, Korda added: “I think it should be monitored. I mean, if I'm being honest, if I was a spectator and I was out here for five-and-a-half to six hours, you know, it's tough to watch, right?

“You want to watch a sport that's continuously moving and not continuously stalling. I would say I think it's really important for the rules officials to enforce The Rules of Golf.”

Catriona Matthew, the 2009 winner, joins Gemma Dryburgh and Kylie Henry in flying the Saltire in an event that sees American Rose Zhang set out as one of the main title contenders just 12 months after she finished as the leading amateur at Muirfield.

“A lot has happened in the past year,” admitted Zhang, who won on her professional debut on the LPGA in June and has finished in the top ten in three majors over the past few weeks.