Team Europe won the 20th Solheim Cup at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands after a decisive final day of singles against the United States.
Although the players teed off in heavy rain, the sun shone as the drama unfolded in the final few matches. Lottie Woad assured that Europe would win the Solheim Cup as she beat Auston Kim to put Europe on 14 points. Carlota Ciganda of Spain, who holed the putt to secure the Cup for Europe in the tie at Finca Cortesin three years ago, then earned the point to win it outright for Europe with a 4&2 victory over Jennifer Kupcho of the United States.
As Ciganda stood on the 16th green in front of the distinctive clubhouse, she faced an eagle putt from 40 feet, which ran past the hole. However, Kupcho then missed her birdie putt and conceded Ciganda’s three-footer for birdie, taking the scoreline to 15-12 in Europe’s favour.
In the last match on the course, Rose Zhang made a birdie on 18 to defeat Céline Boutier and narrow the scoreline to 15-13, but the Solheim Cup was already Europe’s.
It was the ninth time that Europe have either won or retained the trophy and their win-loss-draw record is now 8-11-1.
Ciganda becomes just the second player to earn the decisive points twice, joining Catriona Matthew who secured the European victory in both 2003 and 2013.
Standing in sunshine on the 16th green, Ciganda said: “Very happy for Anna [Nordqvist].”
The first-time European Captain is known for her meticulous preparation and Ciganda added: “The rookies, I think it’s been one of the best teams that we’ve had in the last few years. Everyone just a unit, a team. That’s what Europe is about. And we had a great time. I think some great matches, lots of birdies. Yeah, very happy to do it for Anna.”
This was the seventh time that the Solheim Cup was tied entering the final singles session. In all seven instances, the home team either won or retained the Cup (6-0-1).
The Americans last won the singles battle in Germany in 2015. Since then, Europe has either tied or won the final session. A 7-5 singles success stretches Europe’s unbeaten record in Sunday singles to six Solheim Cups.
It was Charley Hull who led from the front with her 3&2 win over Megan Khang in the top match.
“It’s good. It’s been a frustrating week,” said Hull, who played all four doubles matches with Lottie Woad, combining for half a point over the first two days. “Me and Lottie played pretty well, and we just couldn’t hole a putt. We played against some tough opponents. It feels good to get on the board.”
Linn Grant then earned a 4&3 victory over Angel Yin to get her first singles point in the Solheim Cup and take the scoreline to 10-8 in Europe’s favour.
Grant won all four of her matches and became the first player ever to earn at least four points in one Solheim Cup after earning zero points in her most recent previous appearance.
Grant said: “Very nice. I mean, obviously I wanted to play with Angel going into the week in the singles and got to do that. I think it’s hard to kind of beat someone when you’re having a good time together out there. It’s our 13th player out there. I think it makes a huge difference when you play over in Europe or over in the U.S., for sure.”
Alison Lee trailed Europe’s Esther Henseleit 4-down through 10 holes but turned it around to win one up. World No.1 Nelly Korda then beat rookie Mimi Rhodes by 4&2.
Nanna Koerstz Madsen and rookies Nastasia Nadaud, Julia López Ramirez and Lottie Woad then all won their matches.
Leona Maguire lost her unbeaten record in singles after Lauren Coughlin won the ninth match and U.S. rookie Lindy Duncan defeated Maja Stark.
The winning captain said: “This feels so good. There’s just been so much hard work this week and in the last two years leading up to this from not only me, but all the background team. The helpers have been amazing this week, making it easy for the players just to play, and we just had a really good vibe all week. Everyone’s been really good teammates.
“Leaving the course yesterday, we were really excited for coming here today and, wow, was I impressed with every single player and caddie showing up to that first tee ready to play.
“The rain was obviously, I don’t know, good mojo for us early. It just seemed to be a lot of blue early on the board. We talked a lot about the fast starts this week with the way the golf course was and, yeah, I’m just really, really proud of the players for starting strong and even finishing strong.
“It was a no-brainer to put Charley first. We saw the stats yesterday, and Charley and Lottie were actually top for players who made the most birdies for the week. They hadn’t scored really many points, but they just played really tough matches. People don’t understand how good all these players are.”
United States captain Angela Stanford said: “You hear people say over and over and over how difficult it is, and it really is. I think that we did a lot of things right leading up to it. They fought hard, and we seemed to always be on the same page. The Europeans played great today, and that’s the way it goes. So their backs were against the wall, they had nothing to lose, and that’s exactly what they did, they came out and played well, so good for them.”
The next Solheim Cup takes place in 2028, at Valhalla Golf Club, in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
