For the second time in three Solheim Cup meetings it was Carlota Ciganda of Team Europe who secured the cinching point to put the Solheim Cup in the hands of the Europeans.
Ciganda faced America’s Jennifer Kupcho in the 11th match out in the Sunday Singles matches and never trailed over the course of the day. Ciganda closed out Kupcho 4&2 just a day after Kupcho drained 122 feet worth of putts to defeat Ciganda in the Four-Ball session and tie the Europeans heading into the final session.
“I think it’s been one of the best teams that we’ve had in the last few years. Everyone just a unit, a team. That’s what Europe is about,” Ciganda said after her victory. “And we had a great time. I think some great matches, lots of birdies. Yeah, very happy to do it for Anna.”
The two teams began the day in a tie at 8-8, but a hot start by the Europeans, captained by Anna Nordqvist, saw Team Europe win six of the first eight matches to defeat the U.S. Team led by Angela Stanford.
“This feels so good,” Nordqvist said after the victory. “Leaving the course yesterday, we were really excited for coming here today and, wow, was I impressed with every single player and caddie showing up to that first tee ready to play.”
History was always on Europe’s side.
For the seventh time in the Solheim Cup, the United States and Europe came into the final session in a draw. Anytime that happened in the past, the team playing on home soil either won or retained the cup.
As the rain poured down on Bernardus Golf, Charley Hull led the Europeans for the second consecutive Solheim Cup by going out in the first match of the day against Megan Khang of the United States. The balky putter that plagued Hull over the first two days of the competition continued to be a burden on Sunday, but Khang struggled with the flatstick as well and left several opportunities short as she fought to gauge the speed on the putting surfaces as the rain poured down in the Netherlands. Hull secured her first point of the week in a 3&2 victory to put the first point of the day on the board for Team Europe.
“It’s been a frustrating week.” Hull said about her putting. “Obviously didn’t hole a lot today, but I was just very steady, hit a lot of greens. The weather was pretty bad, so I just kept in there.”
Quickly, Europe had taken the lead in the first three matches of the day and needed a turnaround to stave off the mounting momentum that Europe was showing.
America’s Alison Lee, who was undefeated through the first two days, went out in the second match of the day against Europe’s Esther Henseleit. Lee suffered three consecutive bogeys on the front nine to quickly fall 4 Down to Henseleit through 11 holes.
But throughout the week, the Americans have proved stronger on the second nine and that was the case for Lee who made birdie on five of her next six holes to flip the match and go 1 Up with one hole to play. The pair tied at the par four, 18th hole for Lee to mount the largest come from behind victory in the Singles matches in the Solheim Cup and secure the first point of the day for the United States.
“I just did my best to stay consistent. That front nine was pretty tough with the rain coming down,” Lee said after her match. “I feel like I was hitting a lot of good shots. I couldn’t quite gauge how far everything was going. So I feel like I was still hitting it good. I just couldn’t quite get the distance. I couldn’t give myself birdie chances and put myself in a good spot.”
Europe’s Linn Grant faced Angel Yin, who sat out both sessions on Saturday. Despite having the rest, Yin suffered five consecutive bogeys on the front nine to open the door wide for Grant to take a 3 Up lead through eight holes and was never able to recover in the match. Grant went 4-0-0 for the week including her 4&3 victory over Yin.
Sunday afternoon, Nelly Korda never trailed in her match with rookie Mimi Rhodes and delivered the second point of the day for the U.S. Team with a 4&2 victory over the first-timer in the fourth match of the day.
“I played some really solid golf. So did she,” Korda said about her match with Rhodes. “But, you know, I made a lot of birdies on the front nine, and I just came out here and really focused on myself. Angela told us, ‘Focus on yourself, focus on getting your point,’ and that’s what I did.”
A sea of blue began to grow midway through the lineup as Europe’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen, along with rookies Nastasia Nadaud, Julia Lopez Ramirez, and Lottie Woad took the lead in each of their matches. Madsen closed out Allisen Corpuz 2&1 and Nadaud won 3&2 over Andrea Lee to extend Europe’s lead to 12 – 10. And the red-hot putter that earned Yealimi Noh 1.5 points during the week let her down on Sunday as she lost to Lopez Ramirez 3&2.
Europe needed to earn 14.5 points to win back the Solheim Cup, while the Americans needed just 14 points in order to retain the cup and with five matches remaining on the golf course, the Europeans looked well-positioned to bring home the cup.
A pair of rookies in Auston Kim and Lottie Woad went toe-to-toe on Sunday. Woad came into the final session winless alongside partner Hull in the first four sessions of the week. She played motivated and ready to contribute by going 4 Up through 11 holes in her match with Kim. But the fiery American wouldn’t go down without a fight and birdied holes Nos. 12-14 to win three consecutive holes to give the U.S. Team the hope she might be able to flip the match. But Kim suffered a double bogey at the par five, 16th hole when she found the water off the tee that once more gave Woad the advantage and ultimately the 14th point for the European team.
“It was really important. I mean, I was pretty disappointed. Felt like I was playing good golf and not getting the points and felt like I was kind of letting everyone down,” Woad said about her performance the first two days. “Then the captains kind of spoke to me and said, you know, the stat that I was third on birdies, so I was playing good golf and just had to trust that, and that’s golf sometimes. Ends up I got the winning putt.”
Once play concluded on Sunday, captain Stanford said looking at the putting woes her team faced throughout the final day that she wished that she would have better communicated with them about the green speeds that seemed particularly slow in the rainy conditions on Sunday. It will no-doubt be one of many considerations she has when she gets time to reflect on her experience as Solheim Cup captain.
Con cinco partidos aún en juego en el campo de golf, las europeas parecían bien posicionadas para llevarse la copa a casa.
Dos debutantes, Auston Kim y Lottie Woad, se enfrentaron en un duelo muy reñido el domingo. Woad llegaba a la sesión final sin haber logrado ninguna victoria junto a su compañera Hull en las cuatro sesiones anteriores de la semana. Jugó motivada y dispuesta a aportar, llegando a tener una ventaja de cuatro hoyos tras los primeros once de su enfrentamiento con Kim. Sin embargo, la combativa estadounidense no se rindió fácilmente y logró birdies en los hoyos 12, 13 y 14 —ganando tres hoyos consecutivos—, lo que dio al equipo de EE. UU. la esperanza de que pudiera remontar el partido. No obstante, Kim sufrió un doble bogey en el hoyo 16 (un par 5) al enviar la bola al agua desde el tee; esto devolvió la ventaja a Woad y, finalmente, le otorgó el decimocuarto punto para el equipo europeo.
«Fue algo realmente importante. La verdad es que estaba bastante decepcionada. Sentía que jugaba bien al golf pero no conseguía puntos, y tenía la sensación de estar defraudando a todo el mundo», comentó Woad sobre su actuación durante los dos primeros días. «Luego, las capitanas hablaron conmigo y me mostraron las estadísticas: era la tercera jugadora con más birdies, así que estaba jugando bien y solo tenía que confiar en ello; a veces el golf es así. Al final, logré el putt de la victoria».
Una vez concluida la jornada del domingo, la capitana Stanford —al analizar las dificultades que su equipo tuvo con el putt durante el día final— expresó que le habría gustado comunicarse mejor con las jugadoras sobre la velocidad de los greens, que parecían especialmente lentos debido a la lluvia de ese día. Sin duda, este será uno de los muchos aspectos que tendrá en cuenta cuando disponga de tiempo para reflexionar sobre su experiencia como capitana en la Solheim Cup.
