It was a super Saturday for Europe as the home side made another incredible fightback in the fourballs at Finca Cortesin in Spain.
Carrying a two-point deficit into the afternoon session, with America leading 7-5 after the teams tied the morning foursomes, the home team made a strong start.
The standard of golf from both teams was exceptional, but in the end, the session ended 3-1 in favour of Europe and tied at 8-8 overall going into the 12 singles matches on Sunday.
“I’m out of words. You have to remember, we’re not there. There are 12 points up for grabs tomorrow.
“We made quite a comeback and now we’re tied. We just keep going,” European Captain Suzann Pettersen said. “This is like climbing a mountain, but coming back down is just as important. We’re going to regroup before we go to bed and we’ll be ready tomorrow morning.”
Charley Hull and Leona Maguire def. Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing 4 and 3
In the first match of the afternoon, featuring Charley Hull and Leona Maguire against Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing, Europe won their point to close within one of the US.
The duo won the second, fourth, seventh and eighth holes with birdies to go four up over the visitors.
The Europeans lost the 10th but a birdie from Maguire on the par-3 12th saw the pair move to 4 up again.
Hull’s par putt on the 15th green was conceded to see the Europeans win the match 4 and 3 taking the overall tally to 7-6 in America’s favour.
Hull and Maguire had previously won their fourball match when they played together on the first day of the Solheim Cup in Toledo two years ago as part of the victorious European team – and they also played on the same Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup team as amateurs – back in 2012.
Maguire said: “I think this was a pairing, me and Charley. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while. We nearly played the Dow earlier in the year, didn’t quite work with the schedules to manage to do that, so it was nice to get out early and perform on the board.
“Suzann was pretty clear of what our job was today, so mission accomplished so far.
“We knew we had to bring our A games this afternoon. So, yeah, just played really solid and didn’t really give them a chance to fight back at all.”
Hull said: “Leona kind of started us off pretty strong. She played brilliant today and you couldn’t really break her down.”
On her pairing, she added: “I like it, because we’re both not really like hyper, how do I explain it, hype-to-the-crowd people, we just kind of go along with our business, not too massive fist pumps and stuff. We make a birdie, yup; we make a bogey, yup, move on to the next hole and forget about it and I feel like we both do that quite well.”
Cheyenne Knight and Angel Yin def. Anna Nordqvist and Caroline Hedwall 2 Up
The second fourball match was a tightly fought contest. Europe won the first hole with a birdie, but the United States tied with another on the third hole.
It was vintage Hedwall as the Swede holed huge putts on the fifth and eighth holes to go two up, but then the US turned it around with three birdies on the bounce from the 11th.
Angel Yin launched a drive down the 18th fairway and then reached the green in two, with an iron on the par-5, before taking two putts for a birdie to win the hole and to seal the first victory of the session for the United States team, edging them ahead again on 8-7, moments after the third match had seen Europe tie on 7-7.
Yin said: “That one red means a lot, and I know for everyone — I mean, in situations like this, at least we got one point up there. So tomorrow it’s going to be a grind, but I think we’re going to do it great.”
Madelene Sagström and Emily Kristine Pedersen def. Rose Zhang and Andrea Lee 2 and 1
In the third match, the United States won the first hole thanks to an eagle on the driveable par four from 20-year-old sensation Zhang. Europe won the third and fourth holes, before Lee then tied with a birdie on the par-3 sixth.
Pedersen sank a long putt on the seventh to take the duo 1 up and turn the leader board completely blue with Europe up in all four of the matches at that stage.
The Dane then holed a birdie putt from off the green on 15 to go 2 up.
The score was tied at 7-7 with two matches still on the course.
Pedersen said: “I think we were 10-under today, so it was pretty solid golf all the way around. And then just we backed each other up. I think when I backed out a little bit, Madelene stepped up, and so I had a lot of fun playing with Madelene.”
Sagstrom added: “I think everyone got frustrated with yesterday morning. Nobody wanted that outcome. But at the same time, we all knew that good golf was in us and we fought back really good yesterday afternoon, and I think this morning was also a good fight back.
“I think we were happy with a 2-2 this morning and now coming out, I mean, our goal is always to grind our match out and we did a good job from the start. I think everyone, we tied and birdied all the first eight holes or seven holes.
“It was just incredible golf from both sides and we’re happy that we’re on this side of the outcome.”
Carlota Ciganda and Linn Grant def. Danielle Kang and Lilia Vu 2 and 1
In the last match, the standard of golf was ludicrously good. Europe was eight under par through nine holes and only 1 up over the US duo. Linn Grant opened with six straight birdies.
Spanish star Carlota Ciganda equally played her part under the pressure of representing the home nation. She drained a tram liner on the sixth for birdie to take the pair 1 up.
Ciganda then holed another huge putt on the seventh before Danielle Kang replied with her own birdie to halve the hole.
Kang birdied the short 10th to tie the match before a fired-up Grant drained a long birdie putt on the 11th to go 1 up again.
Ciganda sank a five-foot putt for a par on 12 to take Europe 2 up.
The Europeans lost the 13th but a huge birdie putt from Ciganda on the 16th took the Europeans 2 up with two to play. A cry of “Vamos!” from the Spanish star sent the gallery wild.
The 17th hole was tied with Europe taking the match 2 and 1 moving the overall score to 8-8 heading into the singles.
Grant said: “I mean, we played some great golf today, both teams. We just had a blast out there. A lot of birdies, a lot of good putts. Just a great game of golf.”
Ciganda added: “Playing in Spain, in front of my family, home crowd, friends, I just love it. I love this. I’m embracing this week. I think it’s been great. I still have a big day tomorrow, but I’m just trying to enjoy it.
“I love Suzann, I love the Cup, and I love, I mean, Laura, Caroline, and I think it’s been a great week so far, and I want to win here in Spain tomorrow. I really want to win for Suzann because I think she’s been a great captain. She deserves this. Hopefully, we can go out there and get as many points as possible and win the Cup.”
Expect another day of passion, pride and drama on Sunday in the final day of the 18th Solheim Cup.
“Ole, ole, ole!”
Follow all the action on @LETGolf and @SolheimCupEuro on Instagram and X and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #RaiseOurGame #VamosGirls.
