This article was all set to have a different title. He was ready to praise the best American players who dominated the Solheim Cup for years, and that they are doing so again.
But then Carlota Ciganda got on her ball, about 15 meters from the cup and drilled the putt, center of the pot, halving the final match of the second session and keeping the Cup tied on Day 1 for only the second time in its 36-year history.
Is it important that the day ends 4-4 instead of 4.5-3.5? Yes, he did, because Ciganda said he did in his post-match interview. (This is his eighth Solheim Cup, you have to trust his instincts.) It is important that it happened against the No. 1 world Nelly Korda – the same player that Ciganda beat to retain the Cup in 2023? We are comfortable enough to make that leap. Did it matter that Korda’s teammate was the (still) undefeated Lauren Coughlin? And both Americans hit match-winning putts short, and that he also helped beat fellow European (and fellow Spanish) Julia Lopez Ramirez in this tense competition?
Is it everyone things
And based on how this Solheim Cup plays out, we can talk about that putt a a lot come sunday night And even in the coming years. These team events come with a lot of pomp and circumstance, stars and stripes and formal ceremony, but they all boil down to putti made and putti misses. Relationships can feel like wins, and relationships can feel like losses. Ask Russell Henley and Shane Lowry.
It is also important that Ciganda threw her putter to the ground below her, and that her teammates rushed the green in celebration. When the Cup is done in 48 hours, Friday will be just the beginning, only 28 percent of the points offered. But through that 28 percent, we can still call it what it is so far — setting the stage for what could be an all-time Solheim Cup, knotted square in the first session, square knotted in the second. If it is a three knotted square, ooh boy
These events always start at a slow boil, and then things start to unravel pop. You had that finish from Ciganda, but you also had the American Auston Kim shushing the European crowd during his match. Every hour, the temperature seems to rise, little by little.
Some feel forced. Most team histrionics feel out of place for golfers who are normally so individualistic, but these team events have a naturally fluid energy to them. Every team tries to create that energy and it sucks a little bit from the other side, from the crowd, from the captains and the emcee and the caddies. Paula Creamer wears a cowboy hat, an all-American Texas throwback. Megan Khang dances all over the course, something you can only be so bold to do when you’ve mastered this event before. Any match that reaches the fiendishly difficult 18th hole is the bigger the opportunity to convert some positive energy…or lose it too.
The Americans took their parties by greater margins, and saw their horses appear. Korda paired with Allisen Corpuz in the morning and won 4 and 3 over Charley Hull and Lottie Woad – widely considered the best pair of the Euros. Team Kor-puz – or Cor-da – he never lost a match in the five times they played together. Khang, a captain’s choice brought in largely for his 7-3-3 career record, went 8-3-3 with a 5-and-3 drubbing in the afternoon. Team USA is well positioned to retain the Cup.
Yet, they are somehow only related. If they feel that way. And Europe will feel completely different. See you Saturday morning.
