When the U.S. Solheim team looks back and tries to figure out what went wrong at the Inverness Club, they can simply boil it all down to two words — Leona Maguire.
Maguire, playing in these matches for the first time, teed it up in all five sessions and went 4-0-1 and it was the young Irish star who put that important first point on the board in the Sunday singles with a 5-and-4 drubbing of American rookie Jennifer Kupcho.
Looking back, the U.S. got in an early hole Saturday morning when it only came up with a half-point in the opening Foursomes (alternate shot) matches. From that point on, it was playing catch-up and the cup was still in range heading into the Sunday singles — Europe led 9-7.
On paper, the U.S. was supposed to be so much stronger in singles — until it wasn’t. Europe got five points in the first seven matches to guarantee it would retain the cup. By day’s end, it was European Emily Pedersen driving the final stake through team USA’s heart with a one-up win over Danielle Kang — final tally: Europe 15, USA 13. In that important singles finale, all the U.S. managed was a 6-6 split.
Catriona Matthew became the first European captain to win back-to-back Solheim Cups.
Team USA has no one to blame but itself. Toledo golf fans turned out in droves at the Inverness Club to support the lackluster Americans — the crowds were loud and with no fans able to come over from Europe, the vocal support was overwhelming in favor of the Americans.
The clincher came from Matilda Castren, who was locked in a tight match with steady, consistent Lizette Salas. At 18, Castren clung to a one-up lead but pulled her second into the left greenside bunker. Castren’s ball was partially buried and it looked like a long-shot at best that she’d save par. She hit an amazing bunker shot that settled eight feet from the hole. Still, a testy putt with so much on the line. But the Solheim rookie poured the right-to-lefter dead in the center — giving Europe it’s 14th point — enough to lock up the cup.
There were still five matches out on the course when Castren wrapped things up. The Americans put up the next four points to get to 13 but Pederson made it an outright win with her victory over Kang, the eight-ranked player in the world.
“Just a superstar,” European captain Mathew said of Castren. “When she made that putt at 18 — we just all kind of exploded.
“Just an amazing team,” Mathew said. “They just came out here and performed, got off to a great start — I’m actually at a loss for words at the moment.”
Open Championship Heads Back To Royal Portrush For 2025:
The 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush was a huge success with Shane Lowry winning the Claret Jug and sharing it with all of Ireland.
The R&A has awarded the 2025 Open Championship to the gem in Northern Ireland.
R&A head honcho Martin Slumbers made the announcement this week.
The 150th anniversary Open Championship will be staged at St. Andrews next July.
6 Comments
baxter cepeda
I’m at a loss of words that golf channel shows the results during replays of the same event. Not like one time but over and over; they also ruin the results of each individual match. I forgot to record it; so I had to watch the replay on golf channel. After like 1 minute I already knew Europe won, by how much , and who won and lost each match.
Anyhow.
The energy was definitely up all week in Toledo. The Who needs masks? Crowd at the opening hole really brought it.
So did Europe.
Unfortunately the US team didn’t; ironic since they led the cheers. Too bad it wasn’t a cheerleading contest.
Tom Edrington
Lol, they were focusing on the crowd and not their games; Do you really need to “incite” more noise….No! Funny how fast it cleared out once Castren clinched it…..can’t believe they sent Lexi out first thinking she could get a win…..she putted off the charts for her all week but still was something like 1-2….Danielle Kang — huge disappointment; Korda sisters were good…..but US had no answer for Leona, who I believe is going to be a huge star on the LPGA Tour.
baxter cepeda
I like Leona and she had a great week but huge star seems like a huge stretch. IMO.
She was quite the amateur; holds the record for most weeks at number 1.
But she has been a pro since 2018 and has just 2 symmetra tour wins to her credit.
She had a 61 in a major but aside from a 6th at the major that is not a major she has never had a top 10 in another major and never made the cut in the US Open.
With all the talent already on the lpga tour and a steady stream of new talent coming in every year, Leona needs to take her game to at least one whole other level if she is going to come anywhere near being a huge star as a pro.
Tom Edrington
I think she will be. I also think women’s golf has made the Solheim CUp insignificant in the world picture….question for you Baxter — if you took the six best from the USA team and the six best from Europe — how would they fare against a team made up from players from South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Australia??
baxter cepeda
It would be quite competitive. But I’ll give the Asians and aussies the edge.
The only problem with the Ryder and solheim cups is they come out a bit exclusionary more than exclusive these days because there are so many great golfers in Asia and around the globe now.
That being said the traditions of the rivalry between the US and Europe are a beautiful thing. I have been saying for a while we need more of these team events and more match play. But there is still a place for this traditional rivalry between Europe and americas best.
I think Australia should be part of an international team.
Asia should have its own team. Heck we know South Korea could beat the Americans or the euros on their own so an Asian team certainly would not need Australia.
The team events are incredibly exciting. It’s important to remember with golf clearly establishing itself as an Olympic sport now, many countries will become more and more competitive in both men’s and women’s golf.
I don’t think the Koreans are quite as powerful as they were a few years ago. Americans and others have raised their levels to match the Koreans while being in America has softened the Koreans some. As they spend more time away from tough Korean coaching and more time around soft coaching alliances here, things get better for us. It’s all part of our master plan.
It would all be competitive in time.
Your opening a Pandora’s box here. I’ll repeat no doubt there is an appetite in golf for more team events. More match play. And More passion from crowds these events create.
As the levels in golf rise around the world, the opportunities especially in the women’s game because the calendar is not overly booked year round are endless, which is exciting. IMO.
Tom Edrington
We’re going to address this on Friday.