GAINESVILLE, Va. – In the moments after the Americans closed out two fourball routs on Saturday afternoon to push their Solheim Cup lead to 10-4, European vice captain Laura Davies was blunt in a mid-session interview.
Asked by an NBC reporter how crucial winning the remaining two matches were, Davis responded, “We’re in serious trouble anyway, obviously, but that will almost be a nail in the coffin.”
The U.S. hasn’t struck the nail yet, but the hammer is in motion.
Europe hung on to split a second straight session, 2-2, but trailing 10-6, the visitors will need to a record-matching comeback to retain the Solheim Cup.
The good news is that Europe avoided a five-point deficit after team play. Four times before had a team led by five with just singles to play, and all four times that side went on to win. Four-point advantages, meanwhile, have been erased twice, the first time in 2015 when the Americans stormed back to win by a point in Germany, and most recently last year, when Europe rallied to retain in Spain.
Carlota Ciganda said when it comes to Sunday’s 12 singles matches, Europe “can win all of them.”
“Why not?” Ciganda added, before referencing the historic 2012 Ryder Cup comeback win by Europe. “Medinah. The Miracle at Medinah. It’s coming.”
But what else is she going to say? The odds, of course, are still firmly in the Americans’ favor, especially considering Saturday afternoon’s session didn’t include 3-0 players Nelly Korda and Lauren Coughlin, who were both resting for U.S. captain Stacy Lewis.
Here’s how Saturday afternoon’s fourballs unfolded:
Alison Lee/Megan Khang (U.S.) def. Anna Nordqvist/Madelene Sagstrom (Europe), 4 and 3
The first of two convincing victories for the U.S. on Saturday afternoon, and the Americans couldn’t have gotten up in this one in much better fashion. Lee holed out from 86 yards for eagle at the par-4 second hole, a shot that ignited the American crowd and sparked the two U.S. caddies to take their shirts off in celebration.
Khang’s birdie at the par-4 seventh and Lee’s birdie at the par-5 eighth built the American lead to 3 up. And after losing the ninth hole, the U.S. got a fortunate tie at the par-3 11th hole, where Khang’s long birdie roll hung on the lip for a few seconds before falling in.
The excitement continued four holes later, when Khang barely got her second shot onto the green at the par-5 14th and then rolled in an eagle putt that increased the lead back to 3 up.
With Sagstrom out of the 15th hole, Nordqvist couldn’t get a long par putt to fall. She then conceded a birdie to Khang, which closed out the match.
Andrea Lee/Rose Zhang (U.S.) def. Linn Grant/Celine Boutier (Europe), 6 and 4
Lee grabbed hold of this one early with her putter, sinking a 35-footer for birdie to win the first hole. She birdied the next, too, to build a 2-up lead for the Americans, and her tight approach at the par-4 seventh helped maintain a 1-up lead.
Zhang then birdied Nos. 8, 10 and 11 to extend the U.S. advantage to 4 up, and Lee added another hole win by dunking her bunker shot for birdie at the par-4 13th.
With a 5-up lead on the par-5 14th green, Zhang had two putts from 10 feet to close out the match. And she only needed one, dropping it for eagle.
Zhang and Lee shot a combined 20 under in 28 fourball holes and didn’t reach the 15th hole in either of their fourball matches, both wins, as each stayed perfect – Zhang 3-0 and Lee 2-0.
Carlota Ciganda/Emily Pedersen (Europe) def. Ally Ewing/Lexi Thompson (U.S.), 2 and 1
The U.S. duo won each of the first two holes with birdie before Ciganda birdied the third to get one back. Thompson chipped in to tie the par-4 sixth hole with birdie, though Ciganda again birdied, this time at the par-4 seventh, to tie the match.
Ciganda clutched up again at the par-4 13th by hooping a 35-footer for birdie to put her side 1 up. And despite lipping out a birdie roll at the par-5 14th, Ciganda watched as both Americans whiffed on makable birdie putts from similar spots.
After Pederson drained a 15-footer to win No. 16, Thompson made a shorty at the next to cut the Euros’ lead in half. Though any thought of a late comeback was short-lived, as the visitors closed the match out on a conceded Pedersen birdie following a tight approach by the Dane at the par-4 17th.
Charley Hull/Georgia Hall (Europe) def. Allisen Corpuz/Lilia Vu (U.S.), 2 up
Neither side recorded a bogey through nine holes, a span in which Europe twice led 1 up. Hull rolled in a birdie at No. 10 to kick off the back nine with another 1-up advantage.
Hull eagled the 12th hole from 10 feet to double the lead, and she then sank a crucial par save from 5 feet at the par-3 16th to clinch at least a half-point.
With Europe leading 2 up late, Hull narrowly avoided the sand with her approach into the 17th green, her ball ending up a few feet away. But Corpuz kept the U.S. alive with an 18-foot birdie while Hull, after a hot putting round, missed a downhiller from 5 feet.
But both Europeans hit good approach shots on the last and were conceded birdie after both Americans missed their long birdie looks.