GAINESVILLE, Va. – It’s been nine years since the biggest comeback in Solheim Cup history took place at St. Leon-Rot Golf Club in Germany. Suzann Pettersen galvanized Team USA with one of the most controversial moves in Solheim history. Trailing 10-6 going into singles, the U.S. won 8.5 points in singles play to defeat a stunned European team. The Americans won the final five matches to complete the upset, with Paula Creamer securing the winning point.
Now, Pettersen will try to lead her charge down a similar path. This time, however, it’s Europe that trails the Americans, 10-6, going into the final day at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
“I think the biggest thing is we know it can happen,” said U.S. captain Stacy Lewis. “That’s why I did the lineup the way I did. I want to go and try to close this thing out as quickly as possible.”
The 2015 incident occurred early Sunday morning on the 17th green when a then-rookie Alison Lee picked up an 18-inch putt for par that she thought Europe had conceded. As Charley Hull walked off the green, Pettersen told the group’s rules official that the putt hadn’t been given.
The miscommunication resulted in a loss of hole for Lee and partner Brittany Lincicome, who walked to the 18th tee in a state of shock.
All the main characters from that day are on the grounds in Virginia, with both Creamer and Lincicome serving as assistant captains and Lee making her first Solheim appearance since 2015.
“If there’s a hope, there’s always a chance,” said Pettersen, whose team needs to get to 14 points to retain the cup.
Of course, the “Miracle at Medinah” is also on Pettersen’s mind, when Europe came back from a 10-6 deficit at the 2012 Ryder Cup.
“I was on the opposite side in Germany,” said Pettersen, “and I know what it feels like. I know what it feels like going into Sunday.
“Everyone remembers Medinah. I mean, it’s a tough task. It’s a lot to ask. But the situation is 10-6. All you can do is just literally go out hard, play your heart out, and hopefully we get enough points that we can kind of keep this exciting and fun for the bottom half to show up and get their points, as well.”
Here are five things to note going into Sunday:
Solheim Cup: Scoreboard, teams | Photos | Sunday singles pairings
Perfect start
In the last 25 years, only one American had started out a Solheim with a 3-0-0 record. That player was Morgan Pressel in 2011. This year, there are three players who accomplished the feat: Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang and Lauren Coughlin.
Zhang’s back-nine prowess is exceptional. The Solheim sophomore has won 11 holes and lost only one the back side this week.
“I think today was even more so ham-and-egg,” said Zhang of her second consecutive fourball victory with fellow Stanford alum Andrea Lee. “I think every single hole that I didn’t play well in, Andrea stepped it up and gave us a shot, and then vice versa.”
As a team, Zhang and Lee never played past the 14th hole. The Cardinal are a combined 5-0 on the week.
Historic pair
Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz made Solheim Cup history on Friday by winning a fourth consecutive foursomes match.
On Saturday morning, the pair beat Emily Pedersen and Carlota Ciganda, 1 up, thanks to a late push.
Two European tandems won three consecutive: Laura Davies and Alison Nichols (3 straight, 1990-1994) and Annika Sorenstam and Carin Koch (3 straight, 2002-2003).
Korda has never looked like she’s had more fun inside the ropes than she has this week. When asked what’s changed, Korda pointed to her alter ego Norry.
“I got announced on the opening ceremony as Norry,” she explained, “so we went with it as kind of a joke. It’s been such a fun week.”
A shocking absence
In two Solheim Cup appearances, Leona Maguire had never missed a session. And then 2024 happened. It was a shock to see Maguire not play in the first session on Friday. But the fact that she sat out all of Saturday, well, no one saw it coming.
Maguire’s lone appearance came in the Friday afternoon fourball session, when she and Georgia Hall lost 6 and 4 to Nelly Korda and Megan Khang.
“Like I told her, she doesn’t have to prove anything to any of us,” said Pettersen. “She’s kind of won us the Solheim the last two times. She has all the reasons to kind of be disappointed, but she also has the character and the guts to say, you know what, fair play, I’m not playing my best, and go play someone else who kind of has a better chance of getting points on the board.”
Worth the wait
As if two caddies taking off their shirts wasn’t enough action for the fourball team of Alison Lee and Khang, things got interesting on the 11th hole when Khang’s birdie putt hung on the left edge of the cup for what seemed like an eternity. Just as she started to walk to the cup … boom. The ball dropped.
“The fans were hilarious,” said Khang. “They’re like, we’ve got to get it down. Very thankful to have that ball drop within the limit. It was crazy.”
The wrong kind of streak
Ally Ewing’s tough times inside the ropes continued on Saturday afternoon as she lost her sixth consecutive match, dating back to last year.
In Day 2 fourballs, she and Lexi Thompson lost 2 and 1 to Carlota Ciganda and Emily Pedersen.
Her streak, however, isn’t the worst.
U.S. assistant captain Angela Stanford lost nine straight matches from 2011 to 2015. American Wendy Ward lost seven straight from 2003 to 2005 and Europe’s Caroline Hedwall lost six in a row from 2015 to 2023.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: From an undefeated trio to a shocking absence, here are 5 things to know from Saturday at the 2024 Solheim Cup
