The smell of cordite fills the Solheim Cup air once more. A contest which has an uncanny knack of throwing up moments of huge controversy has reverted to type in Ohio. Nelly Korda, the world No 1, was the beneficiary of an intervention from rules officialsthat left the European captain Catriona Matthew visibly riled. And no wonder; a key moment had been determined by a stopwatch and a television monitor.

Korda’s putt for a three on the 13th during the Saturday afternoon fourball session rested agonisingly above the hole. In an obvious bid to speed up play – the match in question had earlier been warned over their pace – Europe’s Madelene Sagström stepped forward and tossed the ball back to Korda. Cue chaos. Rule 13.3b states: “If the opponent in match play deliberately lifts or moves the player’s ball overhanging the hole before the waiting time has ended, the player’s ball is treated as holed with the previous stroke.” Sagström’s intervention was after seven seconds; 10 were permitted to Korda as per the rulebook. The incident moved the US to one up in the match, which Korda and Ally Ewing duly won by a single hole.

Related: 2021 Solheim Cup day one: USA 2½-5½ Europe – as it happened

It must be noted that Korda did not cry foul. The Floridian – on her knees in dismay – was clearly of the wholly legitimate viewpoint that her putt was not going to drop, save the miraculous arrival of an Arctic blast. The hole had been won on the advice and actions of the Solheim Cup’s chief referee. “It was never going to go in,” argued Sagström, only to be told that did not matter. Matthew disputed with the referee that the ball was overhanging.

“It was definitely awkward, you don’t want to win a hole like that,” said Korda. “We didn’t want it to happen this way. It was very unfortunate. Hopefully they [the Europeans] are OK with us. We didn’t even have a say.” Still, having won the hole via such dubious circumstance, the US pair could have earned widespread praise and protected the integrity of the competition by immediately conceding the next hole and returning the match to all square. They decided otherwise.

Sagström, who was partnered by Nanna Koerstz Madsen, was visibly and understandably dejected as the match closed. “I believe in integrity and honour of the game of golf and I would never pick up a putt that had a chance to go in,” she said. “I personally don’t agree with the decision with the ball being on the edge but I didn’t follow the 10-second rule. It sucks right now. I feel like I let my team down.”

The golf world looked on agog. Thomas Bjørn, the former European Ryder Cup captain, said: “Do rules officials in golf realise how unbelievably stupid they make our game look?”

The Sagström affair arrived just as the US were turning the Solheim tide in their favour. In the formative stages of the fourball session, Europe – who won the foursomes by three and a half to a half – were ahead in all four matches. By close of play the overall score sat at 5½ to 2½ in Europe’s favour.

Amid the madness, afternoon cheer arrived for Matthew courtesy of Anna Nordqvist and Matilda Castren seeing off Lexi Thompson and Mina Harigae by 4&3. The US fired back on the 18th green, where Lizette Salas holed the key putt in one up victory for herself and Jennifer Kupcho over Carlota Ciganda and Sophia Popov. In the day’s final game, Europe’s Leona Maguire and Georgia Hall defeated Brittany Altomare and Yealimi Noh, one up.

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Earlier, much earlier, Maguire had marked her Solheim debut by combining with Mel Reid to take down the Korda sisters – Nelly and Jessica – by one up. Georgia Hall and Celine Boutier recovered from the ominous position of two down with as many holes to play to earn a half against Ewing and Megan Khang.

Charley Hull combined with Emily Pedersen to see off Lexi Thompson and Altomare by a hole. In the event’s opening match, Nordqvist and Castren emerged victorious against Danielle Kang and Austin Ernst. No wonder Matthew branded this a “dream start.” Things subsequently changed, as, indeed, did the atmosphere around this competition. Europe harbour a sense of injustice as they head into day two.