Friday morning saw history made at the 2026 Solheim Cup, but the day turned sour by the afternoon. Only for the third time were the two teams tied after Foursomes. But by the afternoon, as the Fourballs went on, multiple fans grew angry at Carlota Ciganda’s snail-like pace of play.
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Ciganda was paired with rookie Julia Lopez Ramirez and took on World No. 1 Nelly Korda and Lauren Coughlin in the fourballs. It was the marquee feature of the afternoon. The group teed off at 12:50 p.m. local time, but by the time Ciganda dropped the clutch putt on the 18th hole to tie the match, more than five hours and 30 minutes had already passed.
Quite naturally, instead of rejoicing, fans targeted her for her brutal pace of play. Reportedly, it took nearly three hours to complete just nine holes because of Ciganda’s significant delays. Take the 18th hole, for example. Playing directly into the setting sun, Ciganda sent her drive to the right of the fairway. The Spanish golfer took so much time to assess her second shot that Golf Channel’s Brently Romine, who was present on the scene, quipped, “Thought the sun was going to set there before Ciganda hit her approach on 18.”
No Laying Up, a popular social media account with 5M followers, joked, “Only an hour or so of daylight left so I’m not sure if Ciganda is gonna try to finish 18 or just come back tomorrow.” In fact, Nelly Korda appeared a bit bored as well, with a popular fan account tweeting, “Nelly about to pull out her phone and check the weather app while Ciganda sets up her shot.”
Eventually Ciganda committed herself, but the second shot went awry for Ciganda even though she took time to reassess her options. Another fan tweeted, “Ciganda took forever to hit just to launch it.”
Ciganda, however, landed on the green in her third attempt and saved a 15-footer for par to deny the Americans an advantage after the first day. But the fans she gained with her clutch par-save, she also lost due to slow play. And this has been a recurring issue for Carlota Ciganda.
Ciganda has been DQed after a pace-of-play penalty
While being put on the clock is one thing, Ciganda has also faced harsher actions for her slow-play habit. At the 2023 Amundi Evian Championship, she received a two-stroke penalty for exceeding her allowed time after her group was on the clock.
She appealed the decision, but the officials denied it. However, she took a bold step by not adding the penalty to her scorecard, which led to her disqualification from the event under Rule 3.3b(3).
Ciganda lashed out at the rules official afterward, writing on her Instagram: “Very poor performance from the LPGA rules official; they don’t understand what professional golf is about. They only look at their stopwatch like 20 seconds is going to make a difference. I had family and friends watching, and they all said it was impossible. I took that long to hit that putt!”
Ciganda further claimed she was being targeted time again: “Yesterday was tough out there with windy conditions and difficult pins and I wish everyone gets treated the same and they don’t pick on the same players all the time! That’s all!”
However, in 2021, this same issue cost her an LPGA title. Playing at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play event, she made a birdie on the last hole and thought she had won. However, officials handed her a slow-play penalty, which cost her the title.
Ciganda was put on clock at last year’s Solheim Cup
During the 2024 Solheim Cup, the officials placed her group on the clock, but they still took five and a half hours to complete the round. This prompted backlash from fans against officials for not acting sooner. Viral footage from the LET Spanish Open in December 2024 shows her taking 1 minute and 24 seconds for an approach shot.
The scrutiny intensified this time because she was playing against Nelly Korda, a vocal opponent of slow play. She called for stricter actions and penalties on multiple occasions.
“The Rules of Golf are the Rules of Golf, and they should be enforced,” she said at the 2023 AIG Women’s Open. “If I was a spectator and I was out here for 5½ hours to 6 hours, you know, it’s tough to watch.”
Ironically enough, Ciganda’s teammate Charley Hull abhors slow play. Hull has gone on record to ask for a suspension of players and a penalty to curb slow play. It would be interesting to learn what the English golfer has to say about Ciganda’s round.
Fans want punishment for Carlota Ciganda
One viewer summed up the frustration: “Obviously pace of play does not matter for Ciganda. Why is she not on the clock?” While highlighting the issue, the comment also puts officials under scrutiny. It reflects a broader perception that officials were not enforcing pace rules quickly enough.
Other viewers were even more critical. “Ciganda is incredibly slow. Really brutal watch,” one fan wrote. A third fan said, “The Ciganda/Lopez Rodriguez pairing is a pace-of-play nightmare.”
These reactions echo a wider concern about lengthy rounds in professional golf. Nelly Korda has repeatedly acknowledged how boring it can be to watch a five- to six-hour-long round. She even criticized golfers who take several minutes over a putt.
Another fan quipped, “It’s heartening that Carlota Ciganda can spend so long messing about over shots and still get them wrong. Almost as if she should hurry up.”
The comment reveals that fans want pace of play rules to have visible consequences rather than letting pros take forever to hit a shot.
Those reactions also reflect a wider debate about pace across professional golf. Many players have faced similar criticism, and others, like Korda and Charley Hull, are calling for stricter action. But regardless of what officials and management decide, fans clearly don’t like slow play at all.