There is plenty of work for the European Team to do at the 2024 Solheim Cup as they trail the U.S. Team by four points at the end of the first day.
In the morning foursomes session, the U.S. Team got off to a hot start winning three out of the four matches at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
Germany’s Esther Henseleit and England’s Charley Hull went out in the first match of the day and were defeated 3 and 2 by Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz.
Rose Zhang and Lauren Coughlin defeated France’s Celine Boutier and Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela by 3 and 2.
It was also the same scoreline for Lilia Vu and Sarah Schmelzel as they defeated Sweden’s Linn Grant and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda.
Europe’s only point of the morning session came from Denmark’s Emily Pedersen and Sweden’s Maja Stark who combined well.
After Europe built a 4-up lead through the first five holes, the American duo of Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho clawed the score back with birdies on 14 and 15.
However, the Europeans held on with pars on 16 and 17 before an excellent approach on the last by Pedersen saw the duo win their final hole to finish 2-up.
“We were playing great and we felt like we were playing the better golf out there,” said Pedersen. “We made a few mistakes.
“I hit it bad on 15; I made a mistake on 16. Generally, we were playing pretty good. We said to each other, if we keep playing the way we’ve been playing, we are going to win this match.
“We’re both equally crazy. We’re equally pumped. We’re very similar personalities. We can pump each other up. I can tell Maja, let’s get it. She can tell it to me. We click really well. We’re good friends, and we play good golf. It’s a good pairing.”
Stark added: “It’s been a lot of fun. I was way less nervous this year than it was last. It was a nice feeling. Coming off a hot start, it gives us a good feeling because we know we can play really well coming off the stretch there. The Americans started playing really well as well. It was just a nice first round to get a little bit of excitement.”
In the afternoon four-ball session, it was a similar story for both teams as the U.S. Team repeated the same feat and have a 6-2 lead over the Europeans at the end of the first day.
Korda teamed up with Megan Khang and the duo defeated England’s Georgia Hall and Ireland’s Leona Maguire by 6 and 4.
The rookie pairing of Coughlin and Schmelzel defeated Denmark’s Pedersen and Sweden’s Stark by 3 and 2.
It was an emphatic finish to the afternoon for Andrea Lee and Zhang who both made eagles on the 14th to secure a 5 and 4 victory over Sweden’s Grant and England’s Hull.
Europe’s second point of the day came through the all-Swedish partnership of Anna Nordqvist and Madelene Sagström.
The Swedish duo, who were playing together for the first time in the Solheim Cup, dominated their match against Lexi Thompson and Alison Lee.
Sagström and Nordqvist won six holes on the trot from the eighth through to 13 to record a 6 and 5 victory.
“I think getting to play with Madelene, one of my really good friends, it was fun,” said Nordqvist. “I feel like I’ve been the wedding crasher lately.
“I crashed her wedding last week, and this week I’m crashing her and my caddie Jack’s honeymoon. We just had a lot of fun out there together.
“We just have to keep putting our best foot forward. I believe in my team, and we have a really good game plan for the week.
“Obviously, the U.S. came out really strong today, which we really expected, but there’s a lot of golf left. You’ve just got to keep doing your best. One or two putts can make a whole lot of difference out here.”
Sagström added: “[Suzann] thought we were a strong team together, and obviously so today. We played really good. Today all we needed to do was go out and try to get a point for Europe.
“She believed in us to play together, which was a first for us. I said on the range, I’m so excited to play with you. This is going to be so much fun.
“It was just a great day, Anna played super well. In the beginning, I was a little bit everywhere, but that works in four-ball. Then I scrapped it out on the back nine and helped her out a bit.”
The only other time a team had a lead of 6-2 or better through the first eight matches of the Solheim Cup was in 1990 when the Americans led with the same scoreline.
However, the format was different in 1990 with four matches on day one and four on day two, and 10 singles matches; this is the first time in Solheim Cup history that a team has led 6-2 or better at the end of day one under the current format.
Saturday’s morning foursomes begin at 7.05 am (local time) with the afternoon fourballs scheduled for 12.05 pm at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
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