Europe’s women snatched a 4.5-3.5 lead over US after a dramatic opening day in the Solheim Cup at Killeen Castle on Friday.
The morning foursomes were shared 2-2, but the home side had the advantage in the afternoon fourballs, winning them 2.5-1.5 after being up in all four matches at one point.
“My team played with passion and purpose,” Europe captain Alison Nicholas told reporters. “It’s been a long day and I’m exhausted, but it was entertainment from start to finish. Tomorrow I want the crowd to come out and shout and scream for Europe. This is a home match and I want them to really get on our side — they mustn’t be shy.”
Photo: AFP
Suzann Pettersen and Sophie Gustafson both picked up two points for Europe, while Paula Creamer shone for the visitors.
The 25-year-old American teamed up with Brittany Lincicome to defeat Karen Stupples and Melissa Reid one up in the morning after winning the final two holes.
Creamer then combined with Morgan Pressel to overcome Reid and Laura Davies by the same margin after again taking the final two holes, Pressel sinking an 18-foot birdie putt at the final hole.
It means Briton Davies, who has played in all 12 Solheim Cups, must wait to record the half-point she needs to overtake Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam as the all-time leading scorer in the event.
World No. 2 Pettersen rolled in a birdie putt on the final green to win her foursomes with Gustafson and then joined Anna Nordqvist in a stunning two-hole win over US pair Cristie Kerr and Michelle Wie.
Kerr is the world No. 3, while Wie was unbeaten as a teenage rookie in the 16-12 victory in the women’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup in Illinois two years ago.
In the afternoon fourballs Gustafson was sent out to “mother” 22-year-old newcomer Caroline Hedwall and the two Swedes scored a crushing 5-and-4 win over Lincicome and Vicky Hurst.
“I had so much fun out there and Sophie was great to play with,” Hedwall said. “I loved every moment.”
Catriona Matthew, the 2009 British Open champion, was handed the task of guiding two rookies and did so with aplomb, winning her foursomes with Spain’s Azahara Munoz and adding a half-point in the fourballs with German Sandra Gal.
The afternoon match against Christina Kim and rookie Ryann O’Toole reflected the swinging change in fortunes. Two down after five holes, Matthew then birdied five in a row.
The Europeans were two up with three to play, but then the US duo hit form, Kim holing a monster putt for a two at the short 16th and O’Toole making a 25-foot putt at the 17th.
“My side showed a lot of heart to come back in the fourballs after there was a lot of [European] blue on the board,” American captain Rosie Jones said. “It was really exciting golf to watch. I just can’t give these girls enough praise for digging it out when they really needed to.”
The US have won eight of the 11 Solheim Cups including the past three editions.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier