Team Europe have been left with an uphill battle if they are to retain the PING Junior Solheim Cup for a third time in a row after an inspired afternoon performance by the American side moved their opponents into an 8-4 lead.
The 13th edition of the biennial tournament – the precursor to the Solheim Cup – got under way at Army Navy Country Club outside Washington D.C. on Monday morning. France’s Gwladys Nocera and USA’s Beth Daniel are the captains of each side.
Play begun with morning fourballs, and despite a nervy start – one which saw them down in four matches on the front nine – the young European side battled back well to come out with 2.5 points to USA’s 3.5.
The most dominant performance of the morning came from the American duo of Jude Lee and Nikki Oh who dispatched Danish pair Victoria Kristensen and Benedicte Brent-Buchholz 6&5.
Elsewhere, Italy’s Paris Appendino and Alice Kong shared the spoils with Anna Fang and Natalie Yen in a brilliant match which went right down to the 18th hole.
The match of the morning came in game six with Spanish duo Martina Navarro Navarro and Andrea Revuelta – playing in her third PING Junior Solheim Cup – winning 2&1 after going four down through eight holes.
“It was typical Spanish magic,” captain Nocera said. “We know what they can be like in this tournament.”
On to afternoon foursomes, and despite an early wave of blue on the leaderboard, one which included Appendino and Kong dominating before winning the opening match on the 18th hole, the USA would take control of proceedings winning four matches in sensational fashion.
Oh and Scarlett Schremmer claimed the first afternoon point for USA over Revuelta and Kristensen. The duo fought hard and took the lead on the par-4 5th before winning 4&3.
Yenn and Lee won 4&2 over against Brent-Buchholz and Lily Reitter of France. Asterisk Talley and Elizabeth Rudisill won 3&2 over Navarro Navarro and Sara Brentcheneff of France. Anna Fang and top talent Gianna Clemente won 3&2 against Swedish duo Havanna Torstensson and Molly Rålin.
In an eventful duel, Iceland’s Perla Sol Sigurbandsdottir and France’s Louise Uma Landgraf tied their match with Avery McCrery and Mia Hammond. Landgraf produced the moment of the tie rolling in a monster birdie putt on the 16th.
After day one of play the Europeans find themselves down four points. The reigning PING Junior Solheim Cup champions need 12 points to retain the cup while USA need 12.5 points to take back the cup.
Nocera, a 14-time Ladies European Tour (LET) winner and victorious captain last year, said: “They [Team Europe] fought really hard this morning to get as close as possible [to USA]. But this afternoon they lacked a little bit of energy. But it’s really hard and the matches are really tough. The Americans are really good and they are playing really well.
“I think tomorrow will be very exciting and we will have to go for a strong start in order to stay alive.”
Play tomorrow begins at 8am. The singles matchups are as followed:
Follow the tournament on the PING Junior Solheim Cup section of Team Europe, on the Team Europe Instagram account @pingjrsolheimcupeurope, and on the AJGA website.
