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Top seed Nelly Korda and England’s Charley Hull meet on Sunday at the start of 12 singles matches in the Solheim Cup as Europe seeks a historic comeback to beat the United States.
The pairings for the final session at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club also include Spaniard Carlota Ciganda against ninth-seeded Rose Zhang and 10th-seeded Frenchwoman Celine Boutier against Lexi Thompson.
After a 2-2 tie in the fourball and foursome matches on Saturday, the Americans go into Sunday’s final 12 singles matches with a 10-6 lead and need four wins and a draw to win the Cup for the first time since 2017.
“We’re going to try to get as many points as we can and finish this thing off,” said US captain Stacy Lewis. “I’m happy with where we are and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
After Korda, Lewis’s Megan Khang will face Denmark’s Emily Pedersen, Alison Lee will face England’s Georgia Hall, Allisen Corpuz will face Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist and Zhang will face Ciganda.
“Tomorrow’s lineup is based on their play this week,” Lewis said. “We have data on every game and every round these players have played and that’s where the pairings come from.”
Europe needs eight wins at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club on Sunday to lift the trophy for an unprecedented fourth time in a row.
“We need a great day tomorrow. We need to have another record-breaking singles series. It’s happened before,” said European captain Suzann Pettersen. “It will be a miracle, but we’ve seen it before.”
Europe would have to match the greatest comeback in Solheim history on the last day, namely the Americans’ comeback from a 10-6 deficit in Germany in 2015.
“Earn your own point. Have fun out there. Enjoy it,” Hull said. “Just kick some people’s butts.”
Pettersen cited the European men’s comeback at the 2012 Ryder Cup as a source of inspiration, when they overcame a 10-6 deficit to win and receive the title of “Miracle of Medinah”.
“We’ve seen miracles,” said Pettersen. “Medinah. Germany 2015. We gave ourselves a chance. As long as there’s hope, these girls will fight – 10:6? That’s absolutely doable.”
Germany’s Esther Henseleit, the Olympic silver medalist in Paris, will play Andrea Lee in the seventh match ahead of Boutier and Thompson, followed by Sweden’s Maja Stark against Lauren Coughlin, Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela against second-placed Lilia Vu, Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom against Sarah Schmelzel, Ireland’s Leona Maguire against Ally Ewing and Sweden’s Linn Grant against Jennifer Kupcho in the last match.
“If we don’t get enough points in the first six or seven games, the game is over anyway,” said Pettersen. “We have to play strongly. We have to try to cover the top half.”
“It’s a difficult task. A lot is required. You can only give it your all, do your best and hopefully get enough points to keep things exciting and entertaining even in the bottom half.”
– Lewis loves joy –
After failing to lift a trophy three times in a row, Lewis enjoyed watching her players dance and laugh all week.
“To do it with the same joy that they do it is the coolest thing to me,” Lewis said. “Standing on that first tee and watching them jump around, dance and have fun is pure joy.”
“Because we were on the wrong side of this thing three times in a row, that didn’t happen. There was a lot of other stuff going on. I enjoyed that more than the scoreboard.”
Pettersen said she had benched Maguire, who started five games last year and picked up three points, for three fixtures this time because of form issues.
“We’ve had to kind of go with form,” she said. “Unfortunately, Leona hasn’t been the rock I hoped she would be. But that doesn’t mean she’s not eager to go out there and do her best.”
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