A dominant performance from Americans Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin was the only thing that stood between the Europeans and a quarter of the morning sweep on Saturday at the Solheim Cup.
Europe won the first three games of Day 2 at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands to take a 7-5 lead.
“We don’t like to be down, but I think this afternoon is really important,” said American captain Angela Stanford. “It’s going to be the toughest session because that’s probably the most fans we’ve seen here. They’re getting upset. So this is going to be a really tough afternoon. And I told them it’s going to be tough. So I hope they’re ready for it.”
All of this comes after the United States and Europe tied Friday’s two sessions 2-2, just the second time in Solheim Cup history that the event has been deadlocked after Day 1.
The last session on Friday ended with Carlotta Ciganda draining a clutch putt to tie her match and take half a point from Americans Nelly Korda and Coughlin, and then Ciganda said she hoped the momentum would carry over on Saturday.
She was right.
Maja Stark and Linn Grant defeated Team USA’s top-ranked fourth-ranked duo in Korda and Allisen Corpuz, who through Saturday were 5-0 all-time together in this format. Leona Maguire and Esther Henseleit added a 1-up victory over Jennifer Kupcho and Rose Zhang, taking the full point after they were tied on the 18th tee. They won the final hole with a par after the Americans bogeyed. Rookies Mimi Rhodes and Nastasia Nadaud also continued their strong play in a 4 and 3 win over Andrea Lee and Auston Kim. They also won on Friday.
“We’re good friends off the golf course anyway, we know each other from the LPGA this year, so we knew we could play together at some point, but we didn’t know we’d play, like, two matches in a row and get two wins in a row,” Nadaud said, “so that’s cool.
It would have been a disaster session for the Americans had Alison Lee and Coughlin not dominated in the final match of the morning. They defeated Europe’s top duo in Charley Hull and Lottie Woad 6 and 5.
The teams tied the first three holes with pars, but the Americans won six of the next eight and were six under during that stretch.
“I’m very proud of the girls,” said European captain Anna Nordqvist. “You can’t really ask for more. The US played incredible in the final match, and I know Charley and Lottie played very solid, but you can’t really beat that many birdies and it’s a very impressive performance. So really proud.”
As for Saturday’s crucial four-ball session, Stanford decided to rest Korda, and Angel Yin he will also sit out, missing the entire day of action. Europe’s Julia Lopez Ramirez and Nanna Koerstz Madsen are also out all day Saturday.
