The 16th Solheim Cup made a memorable final day in Gleneagles with Europe claiming a dramatic 14.5-13.5 success over USA with all the final putt. Here is an overview of the 12 matches that resulted in this thrilling conclusion…
Kang hit a great approach to eight feet and, after the 15-footer of Ciganda was brief of pace, hers rolled in to give an early increase to the Americans. However, Ciganda’s answer was instant, getting down and up from the rear of the green to degree.
The Spaniard did well to hole out of 10 feet to scramble a par at the tough fourth, when the daring flat putt at the seventh of Kang driven via the break, and also Ciganda edged ahead.
Ciganda holed a terrific putt to get a half at the eighth, but a wayward drive to the knee-high rough in the ninth proved costly as she desired two stabs in getting her ball straight back into the fairway, from where she’s fatted her fourth and also let Kang to draw level at the turn.
Both hit magnificent approaches to gimme array at the 11th, however Kang recovered the lead with a birdie at the 13th and did well to scramble a par at 15 to remain one-up with three to play.
However, Ciganda followed a perfect drive using a superb fairway-wood to the center of the green at the long 16th, setting up a two-putt birdie for the triumph, and she nearly guaranteed half a point minimal on 17 only for Kang to pull off a superb par save from the left bunker.
But after both hit good drives up the lastthey bunkered their seconds and Kang chunked her third to the snare nearer to the green. And, when Kang finally found the green and missed by 12 feet for diploma, she reluctantly conceded defeat to provide Europe the first point of the final moment.
Hedwall had struggled for precision on Friday and didn’t feature whatsoever on Saturday, but the Swede with a storied Solheim Cup album hammered a great drive down the very first, knocked her next to 10 feet and nailed the putt to go one up.
Her lead awakened, although the glow was returned by Korda on the next green, but she subsequently gifted a hole back with a overlook from short collection for par at the next.
Hedwall’s Friday struggles were a distant memory when she emptied another excellent putt to move up three at the sixth and she claimed that lead at the turn before Korda stopped the rot with a great 10-footer for birdie at the 10th.
The American left it three in a row using an eight-foot birdie putt on 11 which Hedwall could not fit, and the battle was flat on 13 if the Swede couldn’t accompany Korda in for level.
And Korda was the direct when she nailed a 12-footer for one more birdie, and when the three-footer for par of Hedwall grazed the edge, the debutant went two-up with three to play.
However, Hedwall dug deep to hole a clutch putt to get a birdie at 16, and she pumped a nice tee shot to seven feet at the simply to see break into the putt.
Hedwall then missed the green with her third to 18 as well as with her competitor on in three, Hedwall’s must-make birdie putt from the run-off area raced past the pin and then compelled her to concede defeat.
There was drama before match three had teed off if it appeared that Thompson suffered a recurrence of a back injury whilst on the range.
However she took an early lead following pitching to six toes, the par putt lipped out since Thompson got down in two to attack first and, when Hall’s next to the very first came. Once Thompson underwent treatment on her back after the third before alarm bells rang in the USA camp both birdied the moment.
The world No 3 stayed in Hall and control had to dig deep to save par from 10 feet at the fifth and Hall then spurned two makeable putts to claw back the deficit onto each of the subsequent two greens.
However, Thompson three-putted the 10th as Hall pulled out a sublime up-and-down to win the hole with a par, and a four at the 11th gave Hall a third straight win and the lead after Thompson’s putter again mis-fired.
A remarkable up-and-down in a tricky place from a vine from Thompson bought a par and a halved hole in 14, and she was again wayward in the 15th and lipped out for par to move two down with three to play with.
Hall missed a chance to shut it out at the long 16th, but she made no error in 17 as she found the edge of this green from the tee and also lagged her putt after Thompson blocked her iron into the greenside trap and neglected to pit away from the sand.
Boutier got off to a dreadful start when she missed the green left at the first and needed three attempts to chip in, and she could not fit Park’s birdie. The French newcomer had a wonderful opportunity to pull you back in the third, only to lip from six feet, but she refused to panic and pars at the fifth and seventh were sufficient to level the experience.
Both birdied the ninth, and the 10th looked set to be halved in birdies after Park holed from within 10 feet, just for Boutier to misread her six-foot effort, however she atoned to the next green to revive parity prior to obtaining the guide for the first time in the match when Park’s par putt at 13 horse-shoed outside.
Following halving the 14th at birdies, Boutier almost holed her moment to 15 just for Park to strike her approach even closer, but both failed to convert until Boutier went dormie-two with a brilliant birdie at 16.
Both found sand out of the tee in the short 17th, however, Boutier held her nerve to play a sublime splash-out to gimme stove, along with Park’s bunker escape was better but not enough to extend the competition.
Munoz replicated Boutier processor in the few minutes before as she dropped a hole behind, and the birdie at the moment of Yin got off the American to a flyer.
Things got worse for the Spaniard if she three-putted the fourth green to hands away another hole, and although she rattled at a 30-footer for birdie on the seventh, then followed in from 20 ft to remain three ahead.
Yin then went up four at the flip when Munoz could not make birdie at the ninth, however, the home player regrouped and also birdied 10 and 11 to halve the deficit, along with the rejuvenated Munoz pinpointed a birdie putt from 20 feet to on 12 for her third successive win.
However, her momentum stalled once she missed the target from short range at the next, although Munoz hit back with a winning birdie at the 14th before Yin was able to scramble a good par at 15 to remain up one.
Yin then restored her two-hole edge when she tickles from eight feet for a winning birdie at 16, and the match ended when Munoz failed to muster the birdie she needed about the penultimate hole.
Khang appeared anything-but a rookie early on as she won the first with a good level, and 2 meaty blows into the very long second set up another win with Hull unable to get into rhythm. In which her tentative four-foot putt for birdie lipped out, the kid, playing her fourth Solheim Cup at 23, wasted a few opportunities to react and yet another in the very least. Hull looked exasperated at the second when her five-footer completed a 180 round the lip and stayed out, but she finally got you to drop as the ninth was halved in birdie-fours.
Hull’s more-confident stroke over the 10th led to a winning birdie as well as following pars in 11, both got in 12 and traded bogeys. Khang erred at 13 as Hull levelled the match with a par before birdied the 14th.
The house superstar moved to the lead for the first time in the match with a clutch birdie at the long 16th, also she had a good opportunity to close it out at 17 to depart her one-up at the last.
But Hull subsequently made a wreck of the long 18th, duffing a pitch with her before her raced across the green from where she was not able to chip-in such as level, downing Khang the pit and a match suit.
Van Dam got off to a flying start, clipping a leash in near at the very first before Salas failed to save par anyhow and, once they exchanged birdies in the second, Van Dam went two up with another birdie at the minute, but a short-range overlook on the next halved her benefit.
Van Dam stayed forward at the flip when both birdied the ninth but, following Salas holed to get a three at the 10th, the Dutch newcomer dropped out of eight feet.
A Salas birdie at 13 gave her lead for the first time in the game, and both birdied 14 before Van Dam hauled herself back to level pegging if she tickles a confident four-footer for a winning birdie at the long 16th.
But Van Dam subsequently made a huge mistake in 17th if she divides her tee-shot to an embarrassing lie near the gloss of the greenside trap, and she grabbed her splash-out thin and was not able to coincide with Salas’ solid par from the opposing side of the surface.
Van Dam appeared in great shape to birdie the final and grab a half while she drilled her next to within several yards of the green, however she got heavy-handed with her pitch and missed from 10 feet before tearfully conceding defeat.
Masson, eager to atone for missing a excellent chance to win her fourballs on Saturday day, appreciated the ideal start with a winning birdie in the first, and she doubled that lead when Korda missed a putt for par in the fourth from only two feet off.
However, the German’s back-to-back bogeys in seven and eight enabled the American to level with a pair of pars, and Korda made it three straight wins with a birdie at the ninth to grab the lead at the halfway stage.
Masson’s apartment at 10 levelled the battle, however, Korda went back ahead with a birdie at 12 before chipping in from the front knee in the 13th to dual her direct, though Masson’s response was swift and immediate as she won the 14th with a good three.
But, her joy was short lived as she lost the 15th into Korda’s level, along with the American wrapped up the stage with a different slip putt for birdie at the 16th as Masson’s putt to expand the competition slid wide.
Ewart Shadoff struck the first blow when Altomare bogeyed the first, but also the American debutant levelled instantly using a birdie at the moment. Altomare edged ahead in the fifth thanks to a delightful second that was close enough for the Englishwoman to concede.
Altomare has impressed her placing during the week, and she was on purpose to double her lead in the eighth, along with a shocking miss from within two feet over the ninth by Shadoff gifted her competitor a three-up lead at the turn.
Altomare went further ahead with a ideal 10-footer for birdie at the 10th, along with a par at 12 gave her a fourth win in five pockets lifted her to some commanding five-up lead.
And the 28-year-old restricted a hugely impressive rookie performance together with her sixth birdie of the day at the 14th to finish a 5&4 thrashing of their out-of-sorts Shadoff.
What would end up being the game that decided the Solheim Cup started low key, using the first four holes shared before Pettersen went forward with a cracking 25-footer for birdie at the time, and another fell on another to take the Deadly stalwart up two.
Alex dropped her second birdie of the day at the eighth to pull one back and both made great fours in the long ninth before Pettersen proceeded two-up once again with a birdie at the 11th.
Alex pulled back when Pettersen bogeyed the 13th, and the game was all-square one hole later when Alex birdied. A sensational pitch from Pettersen snatched a half at the long 16th later Alex’d stiffed her third, and the two missed long-range birdie chances on the penultimate green.
The strain had been relegated into the limit heading up the past with all eyes on the final match to complete, and Pettersen atoned for a poor drive with a gorgeous third which almost summoned back to the pit prior to coming to rest six feet from the flag.
Alex’s next was arrow-straight however 12 feet , and her tricky, downhill putt for birdie missed the right to leave Pettersen staring in a six-footer to win the trophy back for Europe.
Along with the 38-year-old held her guts to bury the putt in the middle of this cup to prompt wild celebrations from European fans and players amid emotional scenes around the 18th green.
Law’s opening par earned her a win at the very first, along with also McDonald birdied the next to par only to bogey the next, even though a great approach to the fifth set up yet another winning birdie for its American.
They traded birdie-twos in the sixth before Law’s three in the next regained her the guide, only for McDonald to strike back at the eighth and a pair of birdies in the long ninth left them flat heading to the back nine.
Legislation then fell behind with a bad miss from three feet in 10, and the two were unable to save par in the 12th before Law levelled what was becoming an increasingly crucial game with a birdie at 14.
The English newcomer subsequently got away with a error at 15 when she needed two tries to escape a greenside trap, becoming up-and-down for bogey after McDonald’s 10-foot par putt shaved the edge of the cup.
Clearly pumped with adrenaline, Legislation nailed a 20-foot putt to get a winning birdie at the 16th after a small heavy-handed along with her pitch from just short of the green, and then that she was celebrating success when McDonald bogeyed 17 until all eyes turn to the big screen to see the finish of the Pettersen battle beforehand.
Nordqvist gained the early advantage if she birdied the ninth before a diploma at the demanding, par-three fourth had been sufficient to go two up when Pressel missed the green from the tee.
Pressel got into further trouble at the failed to pit a six-footer for level to present the Swede that a three-up direct, but it had been Nordqvist’s turn to suffer on the greens on the second as she opened the door using a lip-out out of four feet.
Both missed out on birdies in the long ninth, also Norqvist restored her three-up guide when Pressel bogeyed the 10th before the home star added another birdie at 11 to cruise to a four-up lead.
Following the couple traded pars over the next two holes, and then birdies in the 14th, Nordqvist closed out a one-sided victory with a cast-iron par in the next.
Read more here: http://exodos.co.za/italian-gp-you-realise-you-are-not-invincible/