Soooo... from what I saw of THAT incident Hull walked away after Lee rolled her putt just past the hole. I'm not sure whether Pettersen walked away as she was out of shot? I would say that Hull was the junior partner with Pettersen the senior, there is therefore a good chance based on my experience of more serious county matchplay type stuff that Pettersen would have taken more responsibility for putts that come under the "one of those" category. That being the case perhaps Hull thought it was likely to be seen as good enough and thus walked away? Perhaps this itself was enough to convince Lee it had been given?
I know if I think I've heard a concession but cant be sure, I ask for confirmation. Just picking it up quick is in this case literally a rookie mistake. Hull walking away and Lee picking up are both the wrong thing to do, but understandable from younger members of the team.
At first I will admit I thought the reaction to Pettersen was overblown a bit. My mind turned to several incidents in cricket when after silly or unfortunate incidents an appeal in the heat of the moment has lead to a batmsan being given out when later usually the captain says he wishes he had withdrawn his appeal. But then I thought golf is much slower than that. I didnt see how the 18th played out but there must have been plenty of opportunity to concede the hole somehow to make the match a half? Thankfully she did eventually apologies but the cup was lost by then...
I'm not really a fan of gimmes-for just this reason.
I always say when they start conceding me 270 yards drives in the fairway, I'll start conceding 18 inchers to poor putters, but.....
It would seem to me that once Hull and caddies walked away, it was the same as a concession.
To be fair to Pettersen, she had not conceded the putt, nor was she obligated to.
But once Hull walked, Pettersen should have taken the high road and said the putt was conceded
(whether she originally meant to or not).
To walk away and not have given the putt is simply rude, and I don't think Hull was being rude.
She just assumed it was a gimme as did Lee.
It seems Pettersen has suffered enough and has done the right thing.
I think blaming the Euro loss on Pettersen is a bit of a stretch.
If it simply came down to motivation the American men would actually be able to win a Ryder Cup