TOLEDO, Ohio – A partisan crowd of yanks packed Inverness for the 2021 Solheim Cup, but it was the road team that overcame the sea of red, white and blue to capture their sixth Cup win. Team Europe came out red-hot for Monday’s singles and hung on to capture its second victory on foreign soil, edging the stars n stripes 15-13. It was the second Cup win for European captain Catriona Matthew.
“Deep down I knew the Americans were going to come back like they did, and Saturday, I think the finish we had that last day, getting kind of that two and a half to one and a half, I think was what that session was, it just kind of buoyed our team” Matthew said. “I think Mel and Leona getting that win on the last, or half point, just kind of kept us going, kept the momentum with us. We had kind of great momentum on Sunday night going into the singles, and I think having that two-point lead obviously was a great advantage to us playing away from home. I think you probably needed to have a little bit of a lead going into the singles.
Very few European fans were on hand in Ohio to cheer on the underdogs – due to COVID restrictions, which only made the road triumph that much more impressive. Team Europe led after every session, just as they did in 2013 when they won 18-10 in Colorado.
Rookie Leona Maguire came up big for Europe, going 4-0-1, dusting off Jennifer Kupcho 5 & 4 in Monday’s singles match. US stars, Lexi Thompson, World No. 1 Nelly Korda, and sister Jessica Korda combined to go 4-6-1, which was too much for Captain Pat Hurst to overcome. She benched Lexi and Nelly Sunday afternoon, opting to insert a pair of rookies instead – Yealimi Noh and Mina Harigae. The rookies won the only point Sunday afternoon for Team USA.
“I had a plan and I stuck to it,” Hurst said Monday evening. “I’m pretty consistent. Everyone knew what we were going to do, and I wasn’t going to go away from that, and I didn’t.”
Scores: https://www.lpga.com/tournaments/the-solheim-cup/results
