When Alison Lee sank her second shot from 80 meters for eagle on the second hole in the best-ball match against the blue and yellow stars Anna Nordqvist and Madelene Sagström, the two male caddies of the US team took off their shirts and hugged each other.
Extremely unusual scenes during a golf tournament, but it set the tone for a crazy Saturday afternoon for the US in the Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia.
Medals for the USA
In several of the best-ball matches, the American women played brilliantly, but most of it went the home team's way. A ball rolled into the hole after hesitating for nine seconds at the hole edge, chips were sunk, and long bunker shots went in.
The US is now on its way to its first Solheim Cup victory since 2017. The lead of 10-6 ahead of the twelve remaining singles matches means that the American women only need to take another 4.5 points on Sunday to win the tournament.
It could have been much worse for the Europeans. When Europe took home the trophy for the third time in a row last year, it was Spanish golfer Carlota Ciganda who took the decisive point at home in Spain.
Now Ciganda and Danish golfer Emily Pedersen turned a deficit into a victory against Ally Ewing/Lexi Thompson. Additionally, the English duo Charley Hull and Georgia Hall won their match, which allowed Europe to take two necessary points.
Tough blue and yellow afternoon
For the three Swedish players - Maja Stark was rested - it went tough in the best-ball matches. Europe's vice-captain Nordqvist and Sagström lost their match against Lee/Khang with 3/4.
Linn Grant was rested during Saturday's initial foursome play (2-2 in matches), but the Swedish and French duo of Grant and Céline Boutier were already one stroke behind on hole 14 against Andrea Lee and Rose Zhang in the afternoon.
The four-point lead (6-2) after Friday is thus intact ahead of the conclusion.
Foursome (European players first):
Emily Pedersen/Carlota Ciganda–Allisen Corpuz/Nelly Korda - USA won with 1/0.
Esther Henseleit/Charley Hull–Ally Ewing/Jennifer Kupcho - Europe won with 1/0.
Maja Stark/Georgia Hall–Lexi Thompson/Lauren Coughlin - USA won with 4/3.
Anna Nordqvist/Celine Boutier–Lilia Vu/Sarah Schmelzel - Europe won with 4/3.
Best-ball:
Anna Nordqvist/Madelene Sagström–Alison Lee/Megan Khang - USA won with 4/3.
Linn Grant/Céline Boutier–Andrea Lee/Rose Zhang - USA won with 6/4.
Carlota Ciganda/Emily Pedersen–Ally Ewing/Lexi Thompson - Europe won with 2/1.
Charley Hull/Georgia Hall–Allison Corpus/Lilia Vu - Europe won with 2/0.
The women's golf team competition between Europe and the US has been held every other year since 1990. Due to the pandemic, the tournament is now being held two years in a row (2023 and 2024) - this is so that the men's Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup do not decide the same year in the future.
The tournament is decided over eight foursome matches, eight best-ball matches, and twelve singles matches.
A total of 28 points are at stake, which means that the team that first reaches 14.5 points has won. In the event of a tie at 14-14, the reigning champion team retains the trophy. This happened last year for Europe, which has won the tournament in both 2021 and 2019.
In foursome, players take turns hitting shots. In best-ball, all players play their own ball, but each pair only counts their best result on each hole.
In Sunday's concluding singles matches, all twelve players on each team will play their own match.
The US has won the tournament ten times - Europe has won seven times and retained the trophy once in a tie. The US has not won the Solheim Cup since 2017.
