Sarah Schmelzel had one annoying, frustrating, thrilling Solheim Cup Sunday last year. The good news is her U.S. team beat Europe 15.5-12.5 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va., but the hours before that? A wardrobe malfunction that “came at a very bad time,” Schmelzel said.
The 30-year-old pro explained the tricky situation on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar podcast.
“Let me just preface this by saying I was so amped up,” Schmelzel said. “I had so much adrenaline, like never had more adrenaline running through my body. My highs were so high this day.”
Facing Madelene Sagstrom in her Sunday singles match, Schmelzel was 2 down early, won two holes to tie it and then lost the 8th. She was already irked about losing the hole, but then she made a quick restroom break and things got worse — the zipper to her skirt, which was on the back, was broken.
Running late to the tee and now frazzled about the skirt, she lost the 9th hole.
“And I’m fuming, right?” Schmelzel said on the podcast. “I’m like, f— the skirt. I lost the hole so I’m 2 down again. I get up by the green and I’m telling Pat [Hurst] and I’m like, This f—— skirt is broken. Can we get another skirt out here?” [Laughs]
Schmelzel threw her rain pants on, “and it is 150 degrees outside,” she said. (Technically, it was 87 degrees, but that’s still hot.)
Eventually someone brought Schmelzel a pair of pants, but that wasn’t going to make her any cooler, so she declined. She won the 10th hole, and on the 11th a skirt finally arrived — although now she declined it.
“I’m like, I don’t want the f—— skirt; I’m gaming right now!” she said. [Laughs] “So I flag it on the next one, we tie that hole, I win it with an eagle on the hole after that, and finally I lose the next one and I’m like, Give me the skirt. The rain pants are like clinging to my body. I was so fired up, I was convinced that if I took these rain pants off I wasn’t going to keep winning holes.”
Sagstrom won the match 1 up, but Schmelzel still had a strong Solheim Cup debut, finishing with a 2-2 record and two points earned.
You can listen to the complete Subpar interview with Schmelzel here, or watch the YouTube video below.
