Team Europe battled back in the fourballs to keep their hopes of a Solheim Cup threepeat alive, but what can Suzann Pettersen’s side learn from an eventful opening day against Team USA?
Europe arrived as pre-tournament favourites and with a side that Pettersen felt was the strongest in their history, with the hosts looking to build on victories at Gleneagles in 2019 and Ohio in 2021.
Momentum quickly went in the way of Stacy Lewis’ USA side after a dominant foursomes session, where they enjoyed a clean sweep for the first time in their history, only for Europe to fight back superbly to claim three of the four points on offer in the fourballs.
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On day one of the 2023 tournament Emily Pederson followed Anna Nordqvist’s 2013 ace with just the second hole-in-one in the history of the Solheim Cup
Europe now trail 5-3 heading into another double-session on Saturday, live from 6.30am on Sky Sports, although will be encouraged by their afternoon performance that their hopes of a historic threepeat remain on track.
Beware of Team USA’s talent
Team USA hadn’t led after an opening Solheim Cup session since 2009, when fourballs used to be played first, which makes the manner of their fast start to this year’s contest even more remarkable.
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A putt from Allisen Corpuz secured Team USA a clean-sweep in the morning foursome matches on day one at the Solheim Cup in Spain
It’s the first time since 1996 that the United States went undefeated in the opening round of a foursomes session and the first time in the biennial contest’s history that they swept a foursome round.
The fast start is just the sixth time in the Solheim Cup that a team has managed to win all four matches in a session and the first time since 2017, when Team USA won all four Friday fourball fixtures on their way to a 16.5-11.5 success.
One hope for Team Europe is that there has been a previous occasion when a team has recovered from losing a session 4-0 to win the Solheim Cup, with Team USA achieving that in 2002 after bouncing back from being swept in the Saturday fourballs.
Mixed fortunes for line-up gambles
The decision to lead off with two rookies quickly felt like a mistake for Europe, with Maja Stark and Linn Grant losing each of their opening three holes to immediately see Team USA dominate the leaderboard.
Although the Swedish pair battled back into the contest and were level with four holes remaining, they never led and were eventually beaten 2&1 by Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang.
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Linn Grant and Maja Stark were defeated 2&1 by Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang in the Friday morning foursomes session after Grant missed a short putt on the 17th hole at Finca Cortesin.
Thompson hit the opening tee shot despite struggling for form this season, with the Solheim Cup veteran without a top-10 all year on the LPGA Tour, with that decision a last-minute call from captain Stacy Lewis.
“She wasn’t in my line-up that I’ve had for a couple weeks and just the way the last four days have gone, just the way she seemed mentally, I had a good feeling about it,” Lewis explained.
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Lewis also left out world No 2 Lilia Vu and rising star Rose Zhang from the opening session, although unlike Pettersen – who left out Caroline Hedwall all day – elected to use all 12 players in at least one match.
“You could not ask for much more,” Lewis added after the 4-0 session sweep. “We knew just seeing the pairings, those middle two matches were going to be tough. We saw a ton of fight in our girls and fortunately we were on the right side of it.”
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Team USA Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis claimed that Lexi Thompson wasn’t in her original plans for the Friday morning foursomes but her performance in practice convinced her to include her with Megan Khang
Europe’s character shines through
Having lost the foursomes 4-0, Europe went into the fourballs under extreme pressure.
Aside from the final pairing of Carlota Ciganda and Grant, who controlled their match from almost start to finish, the other six European players had to come through nail-biting finales knowing that coming up short would leave the team facing a mountain to climb over the weekend.
Rather than succumbing to the moment, the pressure produced the best play we saw from Europe all day.
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Leona Maguire chips in for birdie on the 18th to save the day for Team Europe at the Solheim Cup
Emily Pedersen, who had been heavily beaten alongside Charley Hull in the morning before struggling on the front nine of the fourballs, holed out at the 12th and almost did so again at the 17th to help herself and Stark to half a point.
Leona Maguire, having already made several clutch putts on the back nine, produced a shot that might have even upstaged Pedersen’s ace by chipping in at the 18th to turn a probable loss into victory for herself and Georgia Hall.
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Gemma Dryburgh puts a tough front nine behind her with this sensational chip-in birdie on the 16th at the Solheim Cup
Meanwhile debutant Gemma Dryburgh, who looked terribly nervous as she struggled on the greens in the front nine, came to life on the way in to hole out brilliantly at the 16th, having already holed a couple of crucial putts
If there was any doubt that Pettersen’s team had the characters to come back from an unenviable 4-0 deficit, they proved it on Friday afternoon.
‘No concerns’ for Hull despite record loss?
Hull mentioned she was dealing with a neck strain in the build-up to her sixth consecutive appearance for Team Europe, with the Englishwoman left out of the Friday fourballs after suffering the heaviest defeat of her Solheim Cup career.
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Emily Pedersen and Charley Hull went six down through nine holes as Team Europe struggled in the bottom match during the foursomes on day one of the Solheim Cup in Spain
Hull said midweek she was only swinging at 80 per cent and received physio ahead of partnering Pedersen, where they were an estimated eight over par for the front nine on their way to a 5&4 foursomes loss against Ally Ewing and Cheyenne Knight.
Hull was a late arrival at the first tee and was nowhere near her best during a convincing loss, although captain Pettersen played down any possible concerns over her fitness.
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“Charley is okay,” Pettersen told Sky Sports. “Probably didn’t feel the best in the front nine and the more she played she felt better, so she’ll be fine. She has some treatments but nothing to worry about – just Charley being Charley, so I have no concerns!”
Unbeaten partnerships end for Europe
Celine Boutier and Hall’s four match unbeaten partnership – across two Solheim Cups – came to an end when they suffered a final-hole loss against Danielle Kang and Andrea Lee, with the pair kept apart for the afternoon session as the Frenchwoman sat out.
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Georgia Hall misses the green twice on the ninth in her match-up with Lexi Thompson and Lilia Vu at the Solheim Cup
Europe’s top-scorer from their 2021 success in Ohio, Maguire was unable to build on her unbeaten debut two years ago as her and Anna Nordqvist – a playing vice-captain – were also beaten by the same margin.
It was that dominant of a display from Team USA that the European team only led for four holes across the entire morning session, Stark, Grant, Pedersen and Hull completing the group that were heavily beaten.
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