CASARES (Spain) — If you did not set an alarm for the foursomes session on Saturday at the 2023 Solheim Cup, you missed out on some fantastic golf.
The Americans won the Friday morning session, for the first in the 17-year history of the biennial tournament. Team Europe continued the momentum with a 3-1 win over the afternoon fourball and split the Saturday morning session 2-2. Team USA has a 7-5 lead as the event moves into afternoon foursomes.
Carlota Ciganda, a fan favorite Spaniard, said that changing the momentum was important. “You don’t want the Americans to get too much,” she said. They are hard to beat. “They are strong and really good so we can do it, but we need to play well golf and be very present. Hopefully that will be enough.”
Ciganda & Emily Pedersen were never behind in their match with world No. The Europeans scored the first point in the opening match with No. 2 Lilia Kupcho and Jennifer Kupcho. The Euros took Nos. The Americans then won Nos. The match went to the back nine with a tie. Pedersen & Ciganda then took over with a victory on No. Then, they never looked back.
Pedersen said after the match, “We knew the job was to go out and score points.” “Carlota and myself spoke last night. From the beginning, every shot counts. And we did that. We were very good at being present. We were able to move on after making mistakes, and kept fighting. We did a great job as a team.”
Stacy Lewis’ foursomes pairing is a powerhouse. Nelly Korda, a veteran and Allisen Corporationz, a rookie, have won their second match in foursomes of the week. This time they beat Georgia Hall and Celineboutier by a score of 5-and-3. The European foursomes entered the week unbeaten in this format, but now have lost both days. Korda and Corpuz have a history of beating high-profile pairs. They beat Anna Nordqvist and Leona Maguire, 1 to 1, on Friday.
Korda calls game
This is a 5&3 win for Nelly & Allisen.
#SolheimCup2023 pic.twitter.com/b552Uc1qqQ
— Solheim Cup Team USA
“Allisen played well with me the last two days. “I think we just really bonded on the golf courses,” said Korda. We didn’t make many mistakes today, and we made a lot of putts.
“I’m not sure if Nelly has the energy I need, but she seems to be calm.” “I play with a lot of low-energy,” said Corpuz. “She has experience too.” Just knowing that I have someone like her at my side helped me to feel more comfortable.”
Corpuz is undefeated in all three matches, having won twice and earned a tie on Friday fourball.
Lexi Thompson, Megan Khang, and Maguire were the foursomes who won or lost the matches on Friday and Saturday. On Day 2, they defeated Maguire and Nordqvist by 1 after Nordqvist’s playing assistant captain missed a putt on the 18th hole to tie the match.
Thompson and Kang had been 2 holes down after eight but won the Nos. The match was flipped by winning holes 9-11. Nordqvist & Maguire tied the game with a birdie at No. Team USA won the match with a par on the 17.
The last match was between European rookies Maja Stark, Linn Grant and Team USA’s Danielle Kang against Andrea Lee and Team USA. The Swedes were able to eliminate Kang and Lee, but Team USA fought back and kept the match under control.
Stark also made a birdie at No. Grant then followed suit, making a 10-footer to birdie on No.
