GAINESVILLE, Va. – Yeah, she went there.
Never one to shy away (or speed up), Carlota Ciganda invoked Europe’s rally in the 2012 Ryder Cup as hope for another shocker on Sunday.
“I think we have a chance, for sure. You have 12 points [in singles],” Ciganda said late Saturday at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. “That’s what we’re going try to do; everyone focus on their match, and why not? Medinah, the Miracle at Medinah, it’s coming.”
Just like it was a dozen years ago for the men, Europe trails the U.S., 10-6, entering the final session in the 19th Solheim Cup.
In 2012, at Medinah Country Club outside of Chicago, the away team won 8½ of the available 12 singles points to keep the cup. Ciganda has belief that can happen again.
The U.S. did that in the 2015 Solheim Cup in Germany, erasing a four-point deficit to win by one, so it’s not lost on current U.S. captain Stacy Lewis, who was part of that triumphant team, how two days of bliss can be lost to history.
“I think the biggest thing is, we know it can happen,” Lewis said. “That’s why I did the [singles] lineup the way I did. I want to go and try to close this thing out as quickly as possible.”
Added Lewis’ counterpart, both then and now, European captain Suzann Pettersen: “I was on the opposite side in Germany, and I know what it feels like. I know what it feels like going into Sunday.”
Neither is holding back, front-loading the final session that will begin with Nelly Korda versus Charley Hull.
As for the lead-in, European optimism lingered in the evening air on a day filled mostly with American jubilation. Ciganda and Emily Pedersen won their match, followed by Charley Hull and Georgia Hall doing the same. That at least gave the Euros a fighting chance to keep the cup they’ve possessed since 2019.
Hope is good; good play is better. And the Americans have decidedly outplayed their counterparts thus far.
If anything has embodied the first two days – at least what’s happened on the course – it’s the first match of Saturday fourballs.
Megan Khang and Alison Lee defeated Anna Nordqvist and Madelene Sagstrom, 4 and 3, giving the U.S. a 10-4 lead at the time.
This, though, was more than just the addition of a single point. It was a statement. It said: This is our place, our rules, and we are going to enjoy it as much as we want.
“Honestly, if you couldn’t tell by my voice, I’ve had a little too much fun,” a raspy Khang said after the match. “I guess you can never have too much fun on this team.”
And Europe, to that point, had not displayed the temerity to play spoiler.
On the par-4 second of that particular U.S. victory, Lee holed out from 86 yards. Lee’s caddie and Khang’s caddie ripped off their bibs and shirts and celebrated like it was a cup-clincher.
“It was completely surreal, definitely one of the coolest moments of my life, of my career,” Lee later said.
That eagle put them 1 up … through two holes. Two holes.
There was every reason to believe that, as Michael Jordan (the Washington Wizards legend, of course) certainly would have, that the Europeans would take that personally.
Instead, they took another L.
Nordqvist and Sagstrom, who cruised in their Friday fourball against Lee and Lexi Thompson, 6 and 5, won just a single hole in this match. They never led and were closed out on the 15th. They were never able to stem the tide or mute the celebrations, something the Europeans, wholly, had been unsuccessful in accomplishing.
Until Saturday evening.
Pettersen didn’t wag her finger or offer a good feeling. She just spoke bluntly.
“It’s a tough task. It’s a lot to ask. But the situation is 10-6. All you can do is just literally go out hard, play your heart out, and hopefully we get enough points that we can kind of keep this exciting and fun for the bottom half to show up and get their points, as well,” she said.
“It’s just literally — it is what it is at this point.”
After answering all the media’s questions, she and vice captain Mel Reid stepped off the stage just as Lewis and a trio of her team members entered the press room. Pettersen took a sharp right and went a different direction.