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Pepper's 'Choke' Comment Adds Spice To Solheim Cup

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By EDDIE PELLS, The Associated Press

Published: September 16, 2007

HALMSTAD, Sweden - The score after Day 2 of the Solheim Cup: 'Chokin' Dogs' 6 1/2 , Europeans 5 1/2 .

On a miserable, windblown Saturday in which only half the matches were completed, it was a 'choke' comment from former American player Dottie Pepper that made as big a splash as anything her one-time teammates did.

The Americans led 6 1/2 -5 1/2 , but after they let two victories in the morning matches slip away and settled for ties, Pepper, now an analyst for The Golf Channel, uttered 'Chokin' freakin' dogs' on the air, thinking the network had already gone to commercial.

It hadn't, and though that telecast was seen only in North America, word spread quickly to Sweden. Suddenly, the lightning-rod of a player whose likeness was once fashioned into a punching bag by the Europeans at the Solheim Cup was serving up material that could rile her own former team.

'I'm too involved with the Solheim Cup to worry about it,' American captain Betsy King said. 'Afterward, I'd be happy to comment about it.'

But many American players were said to be miffed by the comments, and European captain Helen Alfredsson wasn't pleased, either.

'I think it's totally inappropriate, no matter what,' she said. 'We're all together in this. At the end of the day, it's all for women's golf, and she, if anybody, should know how tough things are.'

Pepper could not immediately be reached for comment after darkness halted play.

Don McGuire, the network's senior vice president of programming and production, said a technical glitch kept Pepper on the air when she thought she was off.

'Because of the competitor she is, that's how she felt,' McGuire said. 'It certainly wasn't meant for public consumption.'

When play was suspended, the Europeans led 1 up in three of the fourball matches and were all-square in the other, making the one-point American lead as precarious as it could be.

'It's a good session for us,' Laura Davies said. 'It's the first time the European team is getting on top a little bit.'

The restart was set for early today.

The Americans could take solace in the fact that they have always fared better in singles, where they have a .590 winning percentage.

But they could also regret missing some opportunities in the earlier matches at frigid Halmstad Golf Club. And harsh as Pepper's comments were, there was some truth to them.

Indeed, the Americans had plenty of chances to get more from the morning alternate-shot matches.

Juli Inkster and Paula Creamer had a 1-up lead through 15 holes, while Sherri Steinhauer and Laura Diaz were 2-up with three holes to play. Pat Hurst and Angela Stanford were already in with a 4 and 2 victory and the final American team of Cristie Kerr and Nicole Castrale was rallying nicely against Annika Sorenstam and Catriona Matthew.

But it all unraveled over the next 30 minutes.

McDonald's LPGA champion Suzann Pettersen hit the shot of the day to salvage one of the ties for Europe. Standing in the rough to the left of the 18th fairway, she played a big hook around some trees in her path and nearly skimmed the flagstick with a shot that stopped 4 feet from the hole.

Teammate Sophie Gustafson made the putt to halve the match against Inkster and Creamer.

Moments earlier, Steinhauer had missed a 3-foot putt that would have clinched the win over Maria Hjorth and Gwladys Nocera. It could have been that miss that sparked Pepper's comment.

Still, all that might have been wiped out had Kerr and Castrale rallied from 5 down to tie their match. It was possible until Castrale's birdie putt on No. 18 cruelly lipped out, leaving Sorenstam and Matthew with a 1-up victory.

'It's a grind,' Castrale said. 'There's a lot left. We keep at it.'

No surprise, then, that nobody was much up for lingering when this long, strange Day 2 finally ended.

'It's going to be nice to get a good night's sleep,' said Brittany Lincicome of Seminole, 'and come back and try to play as good as I can.'

CHAMPIONS TOUR: At Conover, N.C., R.W. Eaks broke one tournament record and tied another to take a three-stroke lead over Canada's Rod Spittle after the second round of the Greater Hickory Classic.

Eaks ended a long day at Rock Barn Golf and Spa with a second-round 66 for a 15-under 129 total, shattering the event record by three strokes.

Eaks, whose first Champions Tour win came at the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in July, tied the tournament record with an 9-under 63 earlier Saturday to finish the rain-delayed opening round.

PGA EUROPEAN: At Pulheim, Germany, Thomas Bjorn shot a 6-under 66 to share the third-round lead of the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

Fellow Dane Soren Hansen lost a three-stroke lead with bogeys on his last three holes, settling for a 71 after his shot hit the water on the 18th. Both are at 12-under 204.

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