Solheim Cup 2024: day one – live | Solheim Cup Emergency USA

Feisty Meghan Khang joins the birdie party in the top match. She makes one when partner Nelly Korda can’t and the pair now lead Georgia Hall and Leona Maguire four up through seven. That’s a significant disadvantage for the Europeans against a duo including the world number one.

Linn Grant walks in a birdie-2 at four and she and Charley Hull are now one up again. It’s important for the Europeans to see some blue on the leaderboard (although we keep being told that there are not many leaderboards on the course – is that a Stacy Lewis ploy maybe?!).

Roars around the course. Nelly Korda makes birdie at 6 to go three up in the top match. Rose Zhang drains a much longer putt (from another state claims the commentary team) to bring the final match back to all square. And then Lexi Thompson makes birdie at five from 18 feet to go all square in the second match. Minutes ago Europe looked close to sitting 3-1 up in this session, now the provisional score is 2.5-1.5 to the Americans.

Korda/Khang 3UP v Hall/Maguire (6)
Lee (Alison)/Thompson A/S Norqvist/Sagstrom (5)
Coughlin/Schmelzel A/S Pedersen/Stark (5)
Lee (Andrea)/Zhang A/S Grant/Hull (3)

The on-course commentator Jim Gallagher gets in a bit of a muddle. “Emily Pedersen didn’t hole much this morning,” he says. “But it’s a different day this afternoon.” Tremendous. Pedersen missed her birdie putt at 4, Maja Stark also missed, Sarah Schmelzel has eight feet for par. She drains it. Well played rookie. Pedersen then misses her par putt. Jeepers. Now Stark is under pressure – and all this after Lauren Coughlin’s ball went for a swim. Stark … makes it look straightforward. Par. Half. Still tied.

Hmm, a potentially key point in the day, maybe? Europe lead in two, USA in one and the tied match might be about to go the way of the Europeans. Lauren Coughlin has found water at 4 and partner Sarah Schmelzel has dragged her tee shot into sand. Their European opponents will have two looks at birdie from on the green.

Clutch from Lexi Thompson. She holes from eight feet for birdie at four to halve the hole with the Swedes. Up ahead Nelly Korda pops a short birdie putt in the hole to go two up in the first match. And then Sarah Schmelzel cleans up a par to halve the third.

A little bit of history as these fourballs take shape. Pretty much everyone now knows that Europe is seeking to become the first Solheim Cup team to retain the trophy four times in a row. That’s the history they are chasing. But the USA faces the appalling prospect of becoming the first Solheim or Ryder Cup team to go four matches without lifting the cup since Europe/GB&I were utterly hapless in the Ryder Cup of the 1970s and early 1980s. That’s a bleak prospect for the hosts.

Charley Hulls knocks in a short putt to win the first in the last match with a par. Sloppy from the Americans. A very early advantage for the visitors on the scoreboard.

Korda/Khang 1UP v Hall/Maguire (4)
Lee (Alison)/Thompson v Norqvist/Sagstrom 1UP (3)
Coughlin/Schmelzel A/S Pedersen/Stark (2)
Lee (Andrea)/Zhang v Grant/Hull 1UP (1)

What’s the key to good fourball golf? I spoke to the strategy consultant Duncan Carey a few years ago (he was involved in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory in 2018) and he stressed that two golfers who hit a lot of greens are the ideal combination because they will more often have two birdie putts.

Lauren Coughlin doesn’t miss with her birdie putt to equal Maja Stark’s effort at 2. Ahead of this year, Coughlin had just three top 10s on the LPGA with not one top five. This year she’s recorded eight top 10s, two of them wins.

Great golf at 2. Lauren Coughlin hits her approach to five feet and Maja Stark bests it by leaving her ball inches from the hole – it is conceded. Up ahead Georgia Hall has a fine opportunity to return to all square in the first match out but misses from nine feet.

Some extraordinary vocals from the announcer on the first tee. Linn Grant is a little pumped from his efforts and thumps her ball through the dogleg into the rough, Charley Hull flays her drive right and finds sand. Rose Zhang follows Hull into the bunker but is further back. Andrea Lee is the shortest hitter of the four and steers her ball into the middle of the fairway. Everyone is out on the course and … Nelly Korda makes a birdie at 3 to win the hole and go one up.

And to the final match. Sweden’s Linn Grant and England’s Charley Hull combine for Europe, taking on the all-Stanford University partnership of Andrea Lee and Rose Zhang for Team USA. The latter played together once last year and lost 2&1. Those present for Team Europe prepare for this clash by grabbing a quick photo with Barack Obama.

A little aside about this morning’s foursomes results and the ongoing backward slide of Celine Boutier in the Solheim Cup. Since she went 4-0-0 on her debut in 2019, the Frenchwoman has gone a slightly worrying 1-5-1.

The third match of the session sees this morning’s only winning European team reunited. Emily Pedersen and Maja Stark are up against the US rookie combo of Lauren Coughlin and Sarah Schmelzel. Meanwhile, Khang misses her golden chance to win 2 – the opener remains all square.

Korda/Khang A/S Hall/Maguire (2)
Lee (Alison)/Thompson v Norqvist/Sagstrom 1UP (1)

Anna Nordqvist has 12 feet for birdie and a win on the first. Bang in the middle. Early blue on the board. Nordqvist is a European Solheim Cup legend who has top-scored and also made a hole in one. She’s also a playing vice captain this week.

Meghan Khang’s ball is tight to the flag on 2. Partner Nelly Korda is further away. Europe will have two long distance birdie putts on the same green but they might need to hole one of them for a half.

Europe’s captain Suzann Pettersen is bullish as she talks to Amy Rodgers on TV. “We’re trending,” she says, referring to an improved first session compared to last year. “It’s progression. I thought it was a good morning. We’re on the board. Fun to see the girls go out there and play. We have a strong team out there this afternoon.”

The first hole in the first match is halved. Korda could only make par and Maguire’s birdie putt was makeable but her stroke was very tentative. Europe will hope she just needs warming up. Her Solheim Cup (indeed, her career matchplay record) is very, very good. But her form is poor.

The second match sees the all-Swedish pairing of Anna Nordqvist and Madelene Sagstrom take on Alison Lee and Lexi Thompson. Nordqvist is straight and solid from the tee so captains have tended to play her most often in the foursomes but her fourball record is better (5-3-0). Sagstrom hadn’t won a point on Friday or Saturday in her first two appearances but won 1.5 points from two fourball starts last year. TV’s Karen Stupples makes the shrewd point that the Swedes have the potential to birdie different holes.

The first quartet has taken aim at the first green. Leona Maguire went first and found it. Meghan Kang missed left and has made an early journey toward the second tee. Georgia Hall is in sand. Nelly Korda has joined Maguire in putting for birdie but the Irishwoman’s ball is the nearest.

Stacy Lewis has a quick chat with TV on the first tee. “I love where we are,” she says. “We’re doing good.”

Plenty of noise for Nelly Korda on the tee. She finds the fairway. Then partner Meghan Khang whips the crowd up yet more and tells them to keep cheering. The pair of them dance off the end of the first tee in a manner vaguely reminiscent of Boo Weekley riding his imaginary horse at the Ryder Cup in 2008.

A reminder for any readers who might be new to the Solheim Cup. This morning’s games involved one ball each and alternate shots. The afternoon both golfers play a ball and the best score counts for their pairing.

The first match out this late afternoon (for us) is Georgia Hall and Leona Maguire up against Nelly Korda and Megan Khang. The European duo played together in both of the last two Solheim Cups in the fourballs (but just the once both times). Most importantly they won both of them. Europe would, of course, love a repeat. Barack Obama is on the first tee to the acclaim of Stacy Lewis and the crowds. “Let’s go USA”! that famous deep voice barks.

Thanks Scott. A slight improvement for Europe on its start 12 months ago (in arrears by a score of 3-1 now as against 4-0 last September), but a vast upgrade for myself. On Friday morning in Spain I contrived to get stuck in a lift on the way to the course. It is alarming how what begins as a funny incident rapidly becomes a panicky one. The same could have been said for Suzann Pettersen’s state of mind when her team was trounced in those foursomes but she and they responded in style. The big question of this afternoon is: how will they rebound from this year’s early deficit?

… and with that, my work here today is done. The afternoon rollercoaster will be driven by our old friend Matt Cooper. Enjoy, enjoy, and I’ll see you tomorrow for the second day of foursomes.

The afternoon fourballs

Day one foursomes: results

USA 3-1 Europe