So much of the 18th Solheim Cup centered around the opposing styles of captains Stacy Lewis and Suzann Pettersen. Lewis, the cerebral accounting and finance major, came to Finca Cortesin with her stats man and her pages of notes and worked on her strategy right up until the last three holes of the final practice round, when she told Megan Khang and Lexi Thompson that they were playing together the next morning.
Suzann Pettersen picked a lineup Monday and stuck with her gut. While Lewis worked to keep everyone fresh after jumping out to an historic 4-0 start, Pettersen played catch-up by putting out her best every session. If she played five matches in her prime, Pettersen reasoned, no reason they couldn’t, too.
In the end, no amount of planning and strategizing could stop destiny. Walking down the 16th hole, Pettersen turned to her longtime friend Carlota Ciganda and said, “Is this how you wanted it? It’s all yours.”
The fiery Spaniard, who had just cold shanked a shot on the previous hole, dug deep and told herself that she was going to win it for Pettersen because she loved her and thought that she deserved it.
With the hopes of a nation on her back, Ciganda birdied the 16th and stuffed one inside an already close Nelly Korda on the par-3 17th to win the match and retain the Cup for Europe.
World class from Ciganda 🇪🇺#TeamEurope | #SolheimCup pic.twitter.com/7x1q2UdBoU
— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) September 24, 2023
One of the most talented players on tour who has never closed tournaments as well as many expected, Ciganda seized the moment in front of King and country.
“Of course, it comes down to one match,” said Pettersen. “I think it’s just meant to be, that it came down to Carlota.”
Europe, winners of the past two Cups, needed only 14 points to retain. The matches finished in a tie at 14-14 for the first time in Solheim history after Lexi Thompson posted a final point for Team USA in the anchor position. The teams came into singles play tied at 8-8 for the fifth time, and the talent had never been more evenly matched
“I’m just so proud,” said Ciganda, who in the aftermath was carried around Finca Cortesin on the shoulders of her teammates. “I’m just so happy. Everyone here is a family.”
Pettersen declared in the closing ceremony that nobody in the family would sleep tonight.
Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall, the 121st-ranked player in the world who sat out the first three sessions, put together one of the most inspiring comebacks in Solheim history. Three down with six holes to play, Hedwall made four birdies and a conceded eagle on the final hole to defeated Ally Ewing and give Europe a chance to win three in a row for the first time.
“You know, I never give up, and I showed that today,” said Hedwall, one of Pettersen’s four captain’s picks and her most controversial.
Ireland’s Leona Maguire, the 2021 Solheim Cup MVP, put the first point on the board for Europe on Sunday with a decisive 4-and-3 victory over rookie sensation Rose Zhang with six birdies in 15 holes. Maguire, who along with Linn Grant and Emily Pedersen, went all five sessions for Europe, now boasts an overall Solheim record of 7-2-1.
SOLHEIM CUP: Results from the Sunday singles matches
“I just don’t give up,” said Maguire of what makes her so tough in match play. “I think someone said Jessica Korda tweeted the other day that I was annoying at match play, and that was the goal this week, was to be as annoying as possible.
“Me and Suzann kind of had a running joke this week, do what Suzann would do, and I feel like that’s what she would have done today.”
Team USA got off to a rousing start Sunday, winning the first hole in the first three matches. It was a back-and-forth affair all afternoon in front of an electric crowd. Megan Khang went out first and set the tone for Team USA, taking the unflappable Linn Grant to the 18th before winning, 1 up.
Khang, while short in stature, carried a big presence on Lewis’ team with her boisterous personality. She was undefeated for the week, posting a 3-0-1 record.
Thompson looked like the U.S. team’s biggest liability coming into the week, but her ball-striking looked so good in the practice rounds that Lewis gave her the ultimate vote of confidence by having her hit the event’s opening tee shot on the dramatic drivable par-4 first at Finca Cortesin.
On Sunday, Thompson, the U.S. team’s most experienced player, was put in the anchor position for the first time and held control of that match against Pedersen for most of the afternoon. She had a 2-up lead standing on the 17th tee when Ciganda sank her short birdie putt to retain the Cup.
When the celebrations finished and the green finally cleared, Thompson tidied up her singles victory to amass a 3-1-0 record for the week and look the best she has all season.
Angel Yin, Allisen Corpuz, Cheyenne Knight and Andrea Lee all put together strong performances at crucial times, and Danielle Kang declared that she played her best golf all year in Spain.
When it was over, Lewis gathered her young team together for an emotional talk in which she emphasized to her mostly reserved band of 12 that they didn’t lose. And they only had 12 months to get another chance.
“I just told them how proud I was of them and just the fact that – I don’t want to sound like a sore loser,” said Lewis, “but it was a tie, and I think that’s a lot for this team to build off of, especially coming over here, coming into this environment with five rookies, a very young and inexperienced team. I mean, this week was really, really good for them. “
Early in the week, Pettersen benched Ciganda in the opening session, which had to be difficult for a player who had waited a lifetime for this moment. Pettersen joked that she had to put Ciganda on a leash this week: “I mean, she would jump off and fly if she could.”
In the end, she all but did.
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