U.S. wins first Solheim Cup in 7 years after fighting off Europe in Sunday singles
The U.S. celebrating its Solheim Cup victory Sunday.
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Lilia Vu hasn’t had the season she wanted. Battling a back injury, she was unable to defend the first of her two major titles from a year ago, the Chevron Championship.
But the World No. 2 came back and won, claiming an LPGA title in June.
At the Solheim Cup on Sunday, Vu showed more resolve.
Facing a 2-down deficit with two holes to play against Albane Valenzuela, Vu birdied the 17th, then knocked her approach at 18 to just a few feet, winning the final two holes to tie her match — earning a halve that couldn’t have been more crucial.
That ended up being the clinching half point for the Americans’ first Solheim Cup victory since 2017. Coming into the day with a four-point lead, the U.S. ended up with a closer-than-expected win of 15.5 to 12.5.
The U.S. victory came slightly later than expected after Charley Hull of England delivered the most unexpected rout of the event. In the first match of Sunday singles, Hull dominated World No. 1 Nelly Korda, never trailing in a 6-and-4 romp.
While Hull did her job, there was a small wave of red that came afterward.
In the second match, Megan Khang capped off her second-consecutive undefeated Solheim Cup with a lopsided victory of her own over Emily Pedersen, who like Hull, was tied for the best record for Team Europe this week, going 2-2-0. Khang made four birdies and an eagle in just 12 holes on her way to a 6-and-5 win.
While Georgia Hall took care of Alison lee 4 and 3 in the third match, things started setting quickly for an American win.
First, Rose Zhang, already 5 up in her match, knocked her second shot on the par-5 14th onto the middle of the green with a 5-wood, and then watched as her ball swung around a slope and rolled by the hole, stopping just a few feet below it. Her opponent, Carlota Ciganda, the hero of last year’s Cup retention for the Europeans in her home country of Spain, also hit the green in two but conceded the match, 6 and 4, when her eagle putt never scared the hole.
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Moments later, Allisen Corpuz, who herself made a long birdie putt at 14 to secure a half point, closed out Anna Nordqvist on the next hole 4 and 3 to get the U.S. to 13 points — tantalizingly close to victory.
But that’s where the run of red halted for a moment. Of the seven remaining matches, Lexi Thompson was the only American leading and the rest were either tied or with slim European leads. At one point, five of those final seven matches were tied.
The next points wouldn’t go on the board for more than an hour, when Andrea Lee birdied the 16th to tie her match with Esther Henseleit and ground out a half-point with a four-footer for par at the last.
But in the next tied match that came to 18, Thompson, who lost her lead when Celine Boutier birdied the 15th hole, lost the full point to Boutier when the Frenchwoman knocked her approach at the last to just five feet and made the putt to give the Europeans hope.
It still left the U.S. with 14 points, just a half point from clinching victory, meaning the stage was set for Lauren Coughlin — who has been enjoying her best season of her professional career — to earn the clincher in her home state.
Coughlin had a birdie putt on 18, but after her opponent, Maja Stark, ran her birdie putt 10 feet past, Coughlin didn’t get the would-be clinching putt to the hole. Stark then buried the comebacker to preserve any European chance at the win again.
At the same time, Leona Maguire closed out Ally Ewing 4 and 3, but that still meant the Europeans needed to sweep all the remaining matches to retain the Cup and come out with their second straight tie.
The next match to come to the 18th hole, though, was Vu and Valenzuela, in which Vu finally stifled the European comeback effort.
The last two matches on the course ended shortly thereafter with American Jennifer Kupcho defeating Linn Grant 2 and 1, and Grant’s fellow Swede Madelene Sagstrom beating American Sarah Schmelzel 1 up.
Sunday’s singles session turned out to be an anomaly compared to the rest of the matches. After just four matches reached the 18th hole Friday and Saturday — none ending in a draw — five of the 12 matches reached the final hole Sunday, resulting in three ties.
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