Europe’s Suzann Pettersen announced her retirement from golf after producing the perfect swansong by holing the winning putt at The 2019 Solheim Cup.
The Norwegian, playing in the competition for the ninth time, was one of Captain Catriona Matthew’s picks and birdied the 18th to beat Marina Alex 1 up in their singles contest to secure Team Europe a 14½-13½victory over Team USA.
Pettersen, who gave birth to her son at the end of 2017, is ranked 665th in the world but proved to be a crucial part of the team.
She claimed a point alongside Anne Van Dam in the fourballs on Friday and believes this is a dream ending to her career.
“I think this is a perfect closure – the end for my Solheim career at least, and also a nice end for my professional career. It doesn’t get any better,” Pettersen said.
“To do it with these girls, I never thought I was going to be here four months ago until I met Beany (Matthew) this summer.
“To have the confidence from Beany to give me the signal to play, this is it. I’m completely done. This is an ultimate scenario for winning The Solheim Cup back.
“Life has changed for me. I can’t really walk out on the course thinking of my son even though he’s with me in heart.
“To see him afterwards, it’s just surreal. He’s obviously the biggest thing that’s ever happened for me.
“But now I know what it feels like to win as a mum and I’m going to leave it like that.”
Pettersen and Matthew played together in seven Solheim Cups and originally the 38-year-old was named as a Vice-Captain for the event at Gleneagles. However, she was named in August as one of Matthew’s four picks and vindicated that decision by showing nerves of steel when it mattered most.
Bronte Law’s 2&1 win over Ally McDonald moments earlier on the 17th meant her eight-foot putt would decide the Solheim Cup, although she did not know it at the time.
“The fact it came down to the final putt – I thought Bronte [Law] was coming in behind me in the fairway, but she’s so good, she closed it out on 17,” Pettersen added.
“I actually didn’t know that it was the putt to win but I knew it was so close because Beany came up on the 18th tee.
“It’s a dream come true to pull this off here in Scotland, in front of these crowd and for Beany, here at Gleneagles. It doesn’t get any better.”
