The U.S. Solheim Cup Team Gave Europe Perfect Bulletin Board Material

It’s going to get lost in the shuffle of a jam-packed weekend that saw Ohio State-Texas, Week 1 for the NFL and the U.S. Open finals.

But so be it, because after Europe clipped the United States 15-13 in the Solheim Cup on Sunday, the scenes from the Americans’ bus on Saturday night do NOT look great in hindsight.

If video came out with Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler and the rest of the crew rejoicing on Saturday night of the Ryder Cup — as though they’d just won the whole thing — but the score was tied 8-8, it would be picked over and scrutinized to kingdom come.

In fairness, the U.S. team was coming off its biggest high of the weekend. The Americans won the last three four-ball matches Saturday afternoon to pull the Solheim Cup scoreline even, and in the final match, Jennifer Kupcho bombed in a 91-foot putt to win the 17th hole and another long one at the 18th to win her match with Lindy Duncan 1 up over Carlota Ciganda and Celine Boutier.

Then, this happened.

I get it. You’re psyched. American golf fans should be psyched at that point — Kupcho near single-handedly brought them back into the contest after they trailed 8-5 a short time earlier.

Did the social media manager have to go and press send?

Team Europe assistant captain Mel Reid went on to explain Sunday that it’s not uncommon for teams to carouse to that degree post-round. She still couldn’t resist a dig at her opponents.

“I think it was probably misinterpreted a little bit, but seeing them with beers like they’d won the Solheim Cup yesterday, we were aware of it,” Reid said. “The Solheim Cup is supposed to be celebrated on a Sunday, not a Saturday.”

Cut to Sunday, and Europe won six of the first eight singles matches before the seventh win — Ciganda 4 and 2 over Kupcho, as a matter of fact — cemented the hosts’ win in the Netherlands. And Reid led the winners in a chant: “They drink on Saturday, we drink on Sunday!”

U.S. captain Angela Stanford had to answer for her team’s apparent loss of focus after the Saturday night festivities.

“The worst thing I could have done is go in there and be like, ‘OK, y’all, come off this high,’” she said. “So you don’t want to take away from those moments. We’re never going to see anything like that again. …

“But I talked to Kupcho and everybody and they’re like, ‘Yeah, we got good rest and — but, yeah, it did take a minute to come off because it was a pretty high high.’”

I can’t diagnose why the U.S. keeps losing in team golf, any more than I can say why an American man has not won a Grand Slam in 23 years or why we just can’t seem to get out of the World Cup Round of 16. Great Britain & Ireland shocked the favored U.S. team at the amateur Walker Cup the other week, the Americans have won just one of the past five Solheim Cups and the Ryder Cup has been its own special mess. All despite having the top-ranked individual players in the sport.

What I can offer from a content strategy standpoint: Don’t hand your opponent bulletin board fodder. Don’t give anyone at home a peek inside the team room — or the team bus — when the job is not finished.