It was a day of two halves on the first day of the 2023 Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin.
The U.S. Team got off to the best possible start in the morning foursomes dominating the session and going 4-0 ahead.
But in the afternoon fourball matches, Europe started their fight back and won the session 3-1.
As the sun set on Friday evening at the stunning venue, the Americans led 5-3 overall with two more days of competition left.
With the first tee buzzing and the crowd ready to go, it was the U.S. Team who got the better start of the two sides.
In the first match of Lexi Thompson/Megan Khang against Maja Stark/Linn Grant, the American pair got off to the hottest start going 3 Up in three holes.
That set the tone for the rest of the session and even though, Europe played well and at times there was some blue on the board the team were unable to make it stay there.
Ally Ewing/Cheyenne Knight sealed the first point of the day for the U.S winning their match against Charley Hull/Emily Kristine Pedersen 5&4 on the 14th hole.
The other three matches went a little further with the Thompson/Khang winning 2&1 on the 18th.
That was swiftly followed by Danielle Kang/Andrea Lee defeating Celine Boutier/Georgia Hall by 1 Up and Nelly Korda/Allison Corpuz followed suit with the same scoreline against Leona Maguire/Anna Nordqvist.
Europe had lots of work to do in the afternoon fourballs with three players competing in the session who sat in the morning.
It was clear from the start that the four all matches would be closer affairs with three of the four matches ending on the 18.
Home favourite Carlota Ciganda was playing alongside Linn Grant and the duo were 2 Up through four holes against Angel Yin/Ally Ewing.
The European duo continued with their form going 3 Up on the 14th and then sealed their winning point with a 4&2 victory on the 16th green.
In the first match of the afternoon, Gemma Dryburgh/Madelene Sagstrom secured half a point against Rose Zhang/Megan Khang with one of the highlights being Dryburgh chipping on the 16th hole.
Europe clinched another winning point when Leona Maguire/Georgia Hall defeated American pair Lexi Thompson/Lilia Vu 1 Up thanks to Maguire’s chip in on the final hole.
There was a piece of Solheim Cup history in the third match of the afternoon when Emily Kristine Pedersen made a hole-in-one on the 12th cueing wild celebrations with her partner Maja Stark.
The duo kept themselves in the match against Jennifer Kupcho/Allison Corpuz and it came down to 18 where Stark holed her putt to earn half a point and take Europe’s total to three.
Speaking at the end of the day European Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen said: “I’m really proud of the way the entire team fought back in the afternoon. It’s not easy to stand on that tee in the afternoon knowing you’re down four after the first session.
“I have got to say, hat’s off to all my players, the way they fought and the way they showed their character on this Friday afternoon. I think the level of golf that was played in the afternoon was unbelievable. You get knocked down, you stand up, and you try it again, and that’s kind of what I told the girls and they did.
“We’re not even halfway there and we’re right in it. So it was great momentum this afternoon. We kept the energy on the course. We kept the energy in the crowd. I feel like we did a lot of good stuff in the afternoon that we will have to try and feed off in the morning.”
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