CROMVOIRT, Netherlands – When Lottie Woad’s birdie try came a few revolutions short of falling at the last, ensuring Europe’s superstar pairing the wrong kind of Solheim Cup history on Saturday evening at Bernardus Golf, European captain Anna Nordqvist whispered into her radio to inform the rest of the team of the disappointing news:
Woad and partner Charley Hull had lost, again.
In fact, of the 43 competitors to ever play all four team sessions in a single edition, Woad and Hull are the first two not to earn a full point. That they went 0-3-1 together made it especially shocking.
“Doesn’t matter who wins the points,” Woad said. “I would happily lose my matches if we win.”
Forty minutes later, that task became noticeably tougher.
Jennifer Kupcho closed with two heroic birdie makes, including a 90-footer on the penultimate hole, to flip the anchor match for the Americans, who took the session 3-1 and drew level with the home team, 8-8, heading into Sunday singles.
Considering its dominance in the closing format (25 points better than the Europeans since the event’s inception), the U.S. now has significant momentum.
“Anytime you go up against their best, you continue to play well and put points up, it’s big,” said U.S. captain Angela Stanford.
Nordqvist, meanwhile, faces at least one significant question: Will her commitment to “trusting the process” cost Europe this Solheim Cup?
In shades of legendary hockey coach Herb Brooks, Nordqvist kept the message consistent for her winless top-10 duo at Saturday’s lunch break.
Again!
She was refusing to bench them or break them up.
“That was Plan A,” Woad, Europe’s top talent at seventh in the world rankings, said of her playing four times alongside the eighth-ranked Hull.
And to be fair, neither Woad nor Hull, aside from their occasionally uncooperative putters, struggled. They teamed to shoot 18 under in 64 holes.
Their opponents were a combined 31 under, with Yealimi Noh and Andrea Lee accounting for nearly a third of that (10 under) on Saturday afternoon.
“We can’t really fault each of our games,” Hull said. “Just couldn’t buy a putt.”
Added Woad: “Everyone’s played amazing when we’ve played them. So, yeah, it’s just match play, isn’t it? You can play bad and win and play well and lose.”
Elsewhere, Nordqvist’s steadfast plan, or so she maintains, produced little success.
Sure, the European skipper rode the heatwave from the scorching Swedish pair of Maja Stark and Linn Grant, who improved to 3-0 and earned their first fourball point together. But she also broke up 2-0 rookie duo Natasia Nadaud and Mimi Rhodes, sitting Rhodes and pairing Nadaud with Leona Maguire, also 2-0 but in foursomes, and handed veteran Carlota Ciganda her 11th different Solheim partner while choosing to shelve the long-hitting Julia Lopez Ramirez for a third time in four sessions.
In a way it seemed as if Nordqvist had entrusted Stanford to do her pairings for her.
Stanford didn’t repeat any fourball partnerships either, though her decisions were more out of necessity. Angel Yin clearly has not been 100% as she sat both Saturday sessions, world No. 1 Nelly Korda historically never goes all five frames (and she was 1-1-1 anyway), and Alison Lee, despite being the only 3-0 player on either side, was visibly exhausted.
“I think we’ve had a good plan all week, sticking to it,” Nordqvist said. "... I had a good idea what I was going to do. There wasn’t really much switching in my mind going on. I feel like we had a lot of good players.”
There are no big decisions on Sunday aside from the order of play.
Hull will lead off against Megan Khang.
Woad draws rookie Auston Kim in the eighth of 12 matches.
Despite hanging level so far, it’s unlikely Europe can win the 20th Solheim Cup if neither win their match. It may even require of its stars two points.
“I think a lot of it is just for them to keep doing what they have been doing,” Nordqvist said. “We’re playing the best players in the world from both teams, so it’s going to be some tough matches, going to be a lot of good golf not being rewarded. That’s just golf. We see in match play it’s such a fine line by making a putt when you need it the most, getting the momentum, getting a good bounce. So I think they’re doing everything they can, or, everything right, but they just haven’t really holed those momentum putts this week.
“So, I have full trust and confidence in them and ... I’m looking forward to see them play tomorrow.”
