The Europeans were as unrelenting as the early afternoon rain Sunday at the Solheim Cup, adding blue and blue and more blue to the leaderboard.
The math ultimately fell the home team’s way when Lottie Woad defeated Auston Kim, 2 and 1, to secure the necessary 14 ½ points for victory at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands.
Carlota Ciganda, the 2023 hero in her native Spain, had already locked up a half-point as she was 3 up with three to play against Jennifer Kupcho. She made it official, however, with a full point against her rival.
The final tally was closer than the final session would indicate, with Europe prevailing, 15-13. It’s the third time in the last four competitions that Europe has won or retained the cup. The Americans remain winless on foreign soil since 2015.
It was a wonderful sendoff as well for European captain Anna Nordqvist, who announced her professional retirement two weeks ago.
“I think there’s just been so many emotions bottled up. It’s just been such a long road,” Nordqvist said. “It’s been a lot of hard work. It’s been really hard retiring two weeks ago and then doing this and doing them both at the same time.
“This feels so good.”
U.S. captain Angela Stanford was part of the victorious ’15 team in Germany. She was hoping that experience would pay off this week overseas, and things looked good Saturday night.
Kupcho’s late-evening heroics, where she made two lengthy putts against a Ciganda-led team, tied the overall score at 8-8 and set off a U.S. celebration on their bus ride back to the hotel.
The tide quickly turned in favor of the home team on wet and chilly Sunday morning.
Charley Hull, winless alongside Woad in their four matches this week, won the first hole of her singles against U.S. firecracker Megan Khang and prevailed, 3 and 2.
That gave Europe a 9-8 advantage with leads in seven other matches at the time. The home team needed to win a total of 6 ½ of the 12 available points to win back the cup (the U.S. could have retained with 6 points).
Linn Grant got the Euros closer to their goal with an easy 4-and-3 win over Angel Yin. Yin was a question mark for the U.S., having been sidelined for much of the summer because of an undisclosed stomach issue. She only played twice this week, going 0-1-1.
There was, however, a glimmer of hope for the U.S. Alison Lee recorded the biggest comeback in Solheim Cup singles history, rallying from 4 down through 11 holes against Esther Henseleit to win, 1 up. Lee, the only mom on either team, played her final seven holes in 4 under and went 4-0 for the week.
Soon thereafter, world No. 1 Nelly Korda finished off rookie Mimi Rhodes, 4 and 2, to draw even, 10-10.
With eight matches remaining, Europe led in five – with multiple-hole leads in four of those. The U.S. had comfortable leads in two other matches and the final one, between Celine Boutier and Rose Zhang, was tied.
Europe was in control, but could they close?
Rookie Nastasia Nadaud, a 21-year-old captain’s pick and the youngest player on either side, took down Andrea Lee, 3 and 2. Nanna Koerstz Madsen then beat Allisen Corpuz, 2 and 1.
Another rookie captain’s pick, Julia Lopez Ramirez, followed suit with an emotional 3-and-2 victory over Yealimi Noh.
That made it 13-10 with Europe needing 1 ½ points. Ciganda was 3 up through 13 holes in her grudge match against Kupcho. Three years ago, the Spaniard earned Europe’s retaining point at Finca Cortesin.
In order to be the hero again, she needed Woad to close out Auston Kim. Woad, who was 0-3-1 for the week, held a 4-up lead through 11 holes. But by the 16th, that advantage was just 1 up. Playing the par 5, Kim ran into some trouble and made bogey while Woad made birdie. That put Woad dormie and secured at least a half-point.
Ciganda had a chance to win her match and the cup on the 15th hole but left her 12-foot birdie putt short. Still, it was another half-point secured. The Euros were guaranteed at least 14 points and needed just one more domino to fall.
It came in the form of a 2-foot par putt by Woad on the 16th. That gave her a 2-and-1 win over Kim, and locked up 14 ½ points for Europe. Ciganda officially earned the deciding point one hole later.
“Felt like I was playing good golf and not getting the points and felt like I was kind of letting everyone down,” Woad said.
“Ends up I got the winning putt.”
The final matches went the Americans’ way with Lauren Coughlin defeating Leona Maguire, 2 and 1; Lindy Duncan, the oldest rookie in Solheim Cup history, beating Maja Stark, 3 and 1; and Zhang winning, 2 up, over Boutier.
“You hear people say over and over and over how difficult it is, and it really is,” Stanford said of winning a cup on the road.
“Look, 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.”
