OR_Piller on Captain Inkster: 'Juli is all about team play'

She didn’t win the match, but golf won a thrill watching Thompson and Anna Nordqvist stage one of the great singles matches in the cup’s history. They halved their match.

“That was the weirdest round of golf I've ever played,” Thompson said. “Front nine, I don't think I was awake. And the back nine I just played lights out.”

Thompson lost the first four holes.

She didn’t just look bad. She looked shaken. Thompson missed a 3-footer at the first, shanked a wedge at the second and missed a 4-footer at the third.

U.S. captain Juli Inkster came out and put her arm around Thompson, trying to pick her up.

So did assistant captain Nancy Lopez.

Somewhere along that front nine, Thompson regrouped in a big…