A couple of big putts for Europe. Linn Grant tidies up for birdie on 2, and the last match of the morning is tied up again. Both holes won to birdie. And there’s now some clear blue water in match three, with Maja Stark creaming her second to six feet and Emily Pedersen knocking in the putt to move two up. However when Charley Hull duffs her chip from the rough to the left of 5, the die is cast and the lead match is once again tied.
A couple of sensational approaches on 2. Lilia Vu, one foot in a fairway bunker and the other out, grips down and manufactures a shot that screeches to a halt pin high, 12 feet from the flag. Carlota Ciganda responds by screwing a wedge from the centre of the fairway to four feet. Not so impressive on the par-five 5th, where Esther Henseleit pulls a short iron into the crowd down the left, clanking some poor punter upside the head. Happily there’s no real damage done, the dude in question laughing and smiling. But Europe in a spot of bother now.
Yeah, it’s fair to say the rookie Sarah Schmelzel isn’t consumed by opening-night nerves. She walks in a 30-footer for birdie on 1 to win the hole for the USA. But par on 3 is enough for Europe in matches two and three, and suddenly blue dominates the scoreboard again. Plenty of thrust and counter-thrust during these early exchanges.
Korda/Corpuz v Henseleit/ Hull 1UP (4) Zhang/Coughlin A/S Boutier/Valenzuela (3) Ewing/Kupcho v Pedersen/Stark 1UP (2) 1UP Vu/Schmelzel v Grant/Ciganda (1)
It’s advantage Europe on the par-three 4th. Charley Hull swishes her tee shot to 12 feet; Nelly Korda only just finds the green. Allisen Corpuz sends an aggressive birdie putt four feet past, and while Esther Henseleit isn’t able to make birdie, the par is enough. Nelly Korda prods at the par saver with great uncertainty. Another pull, and that’s a three-putt bogey. If Korda’s putting demons are back, that’ll be a huge blow for the hosts.
A beneficial 30 seconds of action for the USA. Europe can’t find the green in regulation on 3, allowing Corpuz and Korda to carefully and conservatively use up their two-putt allowance for par and the hole. The opening match is tied again. Meanwhile on 2, Coughlin arrows her approach to six feet, and Zhang tidies up to put the first splash of red on the board.
Korda/Corpuz A/S Henseleit/ Hull (3) 1UP Zhang/Coughlin v Boutier/Valenzuela (2) Ewing/Kupcho A/S Pedersen/Stark (1) Vu/Schmelzel v Grant/Ciganda
This morning’s final foursomes match turns up for work. Carlota Ciganda, Europe’s hero last time round, looks well up for the battle. So too does the US’s second rookie, Sarah Schmelzel, who dances her way out of the tunnel and onto the tee. No obvious sign of nerves there. Hey, it helps when the world number two, Lilia Vu, has your back. Ciganda smiles wryly as she carves her opening drive into thick nonsense down the right. Vu, who came so close to retaining her British Open title last month, flirts with a fairway bunker but finds the short stuff. Everyone up and running now!
Match three is out. Emily Pedersen finds the first cut down the left, as does Ally Ewing. Up on the green, Celine Boutier makes up for finding the sand by draining a 25-footer to save par. Lauren Coughlin has a 15-footer to win the hole, but races her birdie putt three feet past. It’s not conceded, but Rose Zhang tidies up, then mimes a slam dunk by way of celebration. A huge smile as she leaves the grene.
Korda/Corpuz v Henseleit/ Hull 1UP (2) Zhang/Coughlin A/S Boutier/Valenzuela (1) Ewing/Kupcho v Pedersen/Stark
If Nelly Korda’s putter is hot, Europe watch out. But it goes cold a little too often for the world number one’s liking, and she pulls her first birdie chance of the week. Charley Hull tidies up for Europe’s birdie, and the first splash of colour on the board is blue!
Korda/Corpuz v Henseleit/ Hull 1UP (2) Zhang/Coughlin v Boutier/Valenzuela
Up on 2, Allisen Corpuz puts the US pin high, 12 feet from the pin, but Esther Henseleit goes even closer. Three feet, maybe even closer, not quite within concession range. Back on 1, Celine Boutier dunks Europe into a greenside bunker.
Back on the tee, Europe’s other rookie, Albane Valenzuela, enjoys her first taste of Solheim Cup battle. Into the semi-rough to the left of the fairway she goes. The first US rookie takes her turn: Lauren Coughlin sends her tee shot safely down the track.
Esther Henseleit sends a crisp wedge to kick-in distance. It’s conceded for par. That leaves Allisen Corpuz with a putt for an opening birdie. Corpuz races it three feet past, but it’s fairly generously conceded for the half. A slight look of anxiety on Corpuz’s face washes over with relief. A good chance a putt of that length won’t be given come Sunday afternoon.
Korda/Corpuz A/S Henseleit/ Hull (1)
Charley Hull isn’t happy with her first shot of the week, a skinny 5-iron that scampers through the green and nestles in the fringe back right. It’s not that far from the pin, but Henseleit will be chipping. But from the sand, Nelly Korda manages to hold the green back right, and the hosts will have a look at birdie from 15 feet or so. Back on the tee, Rose Zhang and Lauren Coughlin, and Céline Boutier and Albane Valenzuela turn up for work. More bedlam. There’s a cracking atmosphere at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
The first foursomes match takes to the first tee! The European pair of Esther Henseleit and Charley Hull are introduced first. Warm applause for the rookie Henseleit, a big roar for Hull. Then genuine TUMULT as the world number one Nelly Korda is announced. The hollers for Allisen Corpuz aren’t nothing, either. Henseleit hits her first shot of her Solheim Cup career – and the first shot of this year’s matches – by striping one down the fairway. Corpuz sends a slightly nervous effort into a fairway bunker. We’re up and running, folks. This is on!
A reminder of the format
For the benefit of folk who fancy getting up on the downswing this weekend but don’t always follow the greatest sport in the world, we usually cut and paste the following explainer. Hey, if it’s worth reading once, it’s worth reading a dozen times. Here we go …
The Solheim Cup is a matchplay event. Each match is worth a point. There are 28 points available over the three days, so the first team to get to 14.5 points will win the Cup. Should the scores be tied at 14 points apiece, Europe will retain the trophy as current holders.
Match-play explained for those dipping their toe into the murky world of golf for the first time: In common-or-garden championship golf, such as the Evian or the British Open, tournaments are scored using the stroke-play system. Whoever takes the fewest shots over all four rounds in a championship wins. All shots count and are added up for a cumulative total. So if, say, in next year’s Dinah Shore (Chevron Championship-speak for hipsters), Nelly Korda shoots 63-63-63-63 and Georgia Hall shoots 87-87-87-87, Nelly will have taken 252 strokes, and beaten Georgia by 96 shots. (Good luck if you bet large on this exact outcome.)
Anyway, in match play, each player or team wins a hole for every hole they better their opponents. So if Nelly takes five shots at the 1st, but Georgia needs only three, Georgia goes 1up. If Georgia wins the next hole too, she’s 2up. If the pair share the same number of shots on the 3rd, the hole is halved, and Georgia remains 2up. It doesn’t matter if Nelly took 13 shots on her way to losing the 2nd, by the way; a bit like the unwritten rule of visits to wallet-sewer-interface-venue Las Vegas, what happens on each hole stays on each hole. There is no knock-on effect.
So let’s say Hall wins the first nine holes of our make-believe match. With nine played, and nine remaining, she is 9up. Nelly can only tie at best; Hall can’t lose. This is known as dormie. (And more specifically, in this slightly ludicrous example, as dormie nine.) If Nelly wins the next nine, the game will end all square, and each team will get half a point to their overall total. But if Georgia wins the 10th, she’s 10up with eight holes to play. She has won 10&8. If the 10th hole is halved, Georgia would be 9up with eight to play. She’s won 9&8. Similarly Nelly can be said to have lost 9&8. Europe would add a point to their overall total. I’ve probably made this sound way more complicated than it needs to be, but there it is anyway.
There will be three types of match: foursomes (teams of two players use one ball, taking alternate shots); fourballs (teams of two players play a ball each and take the best score, known as the better ball); and singles (this is when it gets quite wild and everyone across two continents starts with the shallow breathing and chest clutching). And these matches are arranged in a schedule like this:
Today: four matches of morning foursomes; four matches of afternoon fourballs. Tomorrow: four matches of morning foursomes; four matches of afternoon fourballs. Sunday: 12 singles matches.
Preamble
Given this happened five years ago …
… and then three years ago …
… and we’ve not even done a single lap of the sun since this occurred …
… there’s really no need to unnecessarily expend energy by bigging this up. And yet we still can, because look at the opening match, which features the world number-one and the most in-form player on Europe’s team! “It’s nice to get Charley [Hull] going, she doesn’t like to sit around and wait,” says Europe captain Suzann Pettersen, and you can be pretty sure Nelly Korda is of a similar mindset. So this is happening from the get-go. Leona Maguire, Georgia Hall, Megan Khang and swansinging living-legend Lexi Thompson are waiting in the wings as well, among many others. This is going to be a blast. Here we go, ladies and gentlemen. It’s on!
12.05 BST: Nelly Korda / Allisen Corpuz v Esther Henseleit / Charley Hull 12.17 BST: Rose Zhang / Lauren Coughlin v Céline Boutier / Albane Valenzuela 12:29 BST: Ally Ewing / Jennifer Kupcho v Emily Kristine Pedersen / Maja Stark 12.41 BST: Lilia Vu / Sarah Schmelzel v Linn Grant / Carlota Ciganda
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