Solheim, US takes lead in morning

The Solheim Cup began with a surprise, and it did not happen on the course, but next to it. The scene was rather dull this Friday at 7:05 local time in Virginia (USA) on the 1st tee of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. What is normally a witches’ cauldron, the hottest part of an event that brings together significant numbers of spectators, looked dull due to a logistical error by the LPGA, which is responsible for the organization this year, in the flow of transport that delayed the arrival of the majority of fans from the parking blocks to the bowels of this design that the creator of Valderrama, among many other gems, could not resist drawing as he flew over the terrain of Lake Manassas immersed in another project.

Solheim, results

Perhaps it had a negative impact on the spirit of the American team, which so needed warmth in their mission: to undo four years of dominance by a European champion in the last three editions, in Gleneagles 2019, in Inverness, American soil, in 2021 and last year in the first edition in history played in Spain, with Finca Cortesín as the setting.

On the first holes, which seemed to have been taken over from a veterans’ circuit and where the greens were almost deserted, the markings began to turn blue. It was the European team in which Suzann Pettersen launched her puppies, the debutants Henseleit and Valenzuela, supported by veterans such as Hull and Boutier.

The formula worked for the first third of the morning, but it would go irreparably wrong for the second platoon when the putter let Valenzuela down. Boutier was unable to be kept up, while Coughlin made her debut, close to the university where she graduated and showed chemistry with Rose Zhang, the match went awry when ‘Captain America’ Nelly Korda, partnered with Corpuz, led the way in her duel against Hull and Henseleit.

The best news for the Old Continent came in the third round, between Maja Stark and Emily Kristine Pedersen and Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho. The Nordic duo, a Swede who was the big sensation in Malaga last year alongside her compatriot Linn Grant and a Dane with a sweet swing who is already playing her fourth edition at 28, quickly put a distance between them, helped first by the mistakes of their rivals and then by a clinic from Stark with the irons and the putter.

At hole 8, after three consecutive birdies from 3 to 5, they were already four points ahead. A lead they were no longer able to handle after the turn of the 9th, and they reached the 16th with a lead of one point. The tension would continue until the last hole, but the point ended on the European scoreboard with a two up.

Ultimately, it would be the only one of the morning. For up front, the collapse of Hull and Henseleit was confirmed, who managed to draw on the 11th and then on the 13th, but gave away 14 and 15 and finally had to hand over a 3&2 to Korda and Corpuz.

Boutier and Valenzuela, completely lost in nine seconds in which they did not win a hole, and did not even scratch away a birdie that would endanger the opponent, finally also went down with the same score. The chances of a draw were carried over to the last game, in play a Carlota Ciganda who was unbeaten last year and the aforementioned Grant with a beast of match play in Lilia Vu and the rookie Schmelzel in front of her.

Vu set the pace and Schmelzel guided her well, making a number of creditable putts. Together they closed the door on the European duo, who were weak on the greens and had no headwind at any point during the match. They only offered a glimmer of hope when they managed to come within one hole after completing the 11th hole.

The 3-2 they had to settle for, Ciganda’s first Solheim defeat since the 2021 Sunday singles, completed the ‘Yankee’ morning win and piled the pressure on Pettersen’s girls for the afternoon session’s fourballs.

“They’ve been better, they’ve been very solid. They’ve made a lot of birdies and it’s a shame I couldn’t keep the streak I had with her (before Linn Grant),” Carlota said. In the afternoon, Pettersen brings in Georgia Hall with the tigress Leona Maguire, both new to the first wave, and Swedes Anna Nordqvist and Madelene Sagstrom, who also didn’t get up early.

He also teams Grant and Hull in a potent but unprecedented combo that leaves Ciganda out of the picture and keeps his only winning bet to date, Stark and Pedersen. He pairs another intimidating pairing in Korda and Megan Khang opposite Stacy Lewis, debuts the all-but-retired Lexi Thompson with the returning Allison Lee, brings together newcomers Coughlin and Schmelzen in an unlikely duo, and Zhang and Andrea Lee in a pair with shared Asian roots. A second Michelin-starred dish.