The US split the afternoon foursomes with Europe, but led 4.5 to 3.5 after the first day of the Solheim Cup on Friday.
Paula Creamer made a 20-footer for par on the 17th to give her and Juli Inkster a 2 and 1 victory over Europe’s Catriona Matthew and Janice Moodie in the afternoon’s last foursomes match — giving the Americans their one-point lead.
That doesn’t augur well for Europe. The Americans are 4-0 when they lead after the first day, and only once in the previous 10 editions of the US v Europe tournament has a team come back and captured the trophy after trailing after day one.
PHOTO: AFP
The foursomes win also made Inkster the highest-scoring US player in the history of the biennial women’s match play event, with 17.5 points.
Only Europe’s Annika Sorenstam with 24 points and Laura Davies with 23 points have scored more points than Inkster in Solheim Cup play.
Creamer and Inkster were 3-up by the 12th hole, when Inkster knocked her approach stiff and Europe conceded the birdie.
Matthew and Moodie responded. They won both the 13th and 14th holes to cut the margin to 1-down, but Moodie, as she did most of the match, missed a short birdie putt at 15 to lose the hole and fall 2-down with three to go.
Both teams parred 16 and Inkster drove into the rough at 17. Creamer had no option but to lay up short of the water and Inkster hit a solid third to 20 feet.
Europe made their par and Creamer needed to hole her par putt or the match would go to 18.
“It was good,” Inkster said. “We had some sloppy play in the middle — I did. The thing with alternate shot, is you’ve just got to ham-and-egg it, do the best you can and ride it out.”
Natalie Gulbis and Christina Kim had jumped out early against Europe’s Sophie Gustafson and Suzann Pettersen in the first foursomes match en route to a 4 and 2 win.
Gulbis and Kim went 3-up at the 14th hole, and they were on the green at 16 with a putt for par as Pettersen’s chip hit a tree and the Europeans conceded.
Europe’s Becky Brewerton and Gwladys Nocera responded with a 3 and 1 foursomes victory over Americans Angela Stanford and Nicole Castrale.
LPGA Champion Anna Nordqvist and Maria Hjorth then beat Kraft Nabisco Championship winner Brittany Lincicome and Kristy McPherson 3 and 2.
The defending champions need only 14 points to retain the cup, while Europe, who have never won on US soil, need 14.5 to win.
Matthew and Hjorth claimed a morale-building half-point in the last of the morning four-ball matches, spoiling Michelle Wie’s Solheim Cup debut as Matthew made a birdie at the last to halve with Wie and Morgan Pressel.
Despite not getting an outright win, Wie was thrilled with her first Solheim Cup experience.
“I think this was the most fun I’ve ever had playing,” she said. “It was just unbelievable — the crowd, the cheers, everything about it. It was the most fun I’ve ever had on the golf course.”
■WYNDHAM
REUTERS, GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA
Sergio Garcia came to Greensboro in search of his game and on Friday at the Wyndham Championship it looked like he was starting to find it.
The Spaniard shot a six-under 64 that included two eagles in his second round, pulling within two strokes of leaders Chris Riley and Ryan Moore, on a day when 28 players failed to complete the second round because of a back-log from Thursday’s bad weather.
Riley carded a second-round 63 to move to 11-under, while Moore, also on 11-under, had one hole left in his second round when play resumed yesterday. Jeff Maggert was on 10-under with one hole to play.
The short Donald Ross-designed Sedgefield course has only two par-fives, and Garcia made short work of both, reaching the green with five-iron approach shots and rolling in respective putts of 30 feet at the fifth and five feet at the 15th.
Riley birdied three of the first five holes and four of the final six for a bogey-free round.
Riley, 35, played on the US Ryder Cup team in 2004, but his game subsequently went into a tailspin and he has been on-and-off the Tour since.
Meanwhile, 16-year-old amateur Justin Thomas is expected to become the third-youngest player to make a cut at a PGA Tour event after shooting 72 for a three-under 137.
The Kentucky native qualified to play in Greensboro by winning a local American Junior Golf Association tournament.
Thomas is aged 16 years and three months. Bob Panasik was 15 years and eight months when he made the cut at the 1957 Canadian Open, while Tadd Fujikawa was 16 years and four days old when he made the cut at the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii.
■DUTCH OPEN
AFP, ZANDVOORT, NETHERLANDS
Defending champion Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland carded a second round 67 to share the halfway lead of the Dutch Open with Swede Peter Hedblom on Friday.
Clarke, who won by four shots last year, is aiming to be the first man to retain the title since American Bob Byman in 1978 and he looked in good form on Friday.
After mixing three birdies with three bogeys on the front nine, Clarke came home in 31 by picking up strokes on the 10th, 12th and 15th.
Hedblom joined Clarke on eight-under for the tournament with his second successive 66.
Clarke and Hedblom are a shot ahead of Kenneth Ferrie, Bradley Dredge, Peter Lawrie, Oskar Henningsson and Wade Ormsby. First round leaders Paul McGinley and Gary Orr both slipped back. McGinley had a 70 to remain six-under and Orr’s 73 put him five behind.
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