The United States rallied late to forge an 8-8 tie with Europe through two days of the Solheim Cup on Saturday, with Colorado’s Jennifer Kupcho giving her side plenty of final-day momentum.
Kupcho sank a pair of long putts of more than 110 feet combined on the final two holes of four-ball competition Saturday as the United States turned a deficit into a tie at Bernardus Golf near ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
Sunday’s 12 singles matches are only expected to increase the drama.
With Kupcho and Lindy Duncan down a hole at 17, Kupcho put her drive into a waste area along the right side of the fairway. She sent her approach shot over a pair of trees and to the back of a long green.
Putting first, Kupcho drained a 91-foot, downhill putt, while Europe’s Celine Boutier and Carlota Ciganda missed their short birdie putts. That tied the match and sent it into a deciding hole.
Kupcho won that too, with an estimated 20-foot left-breaking putt. Instead of Europe leading through two days, Kupcho’s putter evened the match.
With the 12 singles ahead, the United States needs 14 total points to retain the trophy.
While the putt at 18 won the match, it was the putt at 17 that left Kupcho feeling invincible.
“I don’t know, walking up to the (17th) green, I just thought, ‘OK, during all these practice rounds, I’d just get up and whack it,'” Kupcho said afterward on the Golf Channel broadcast. “So, yeah, really didn’t read it. I was, like, ‘All right, we’ll just give it a run, make sure we get it there.’ But what the heck, it went in. That was insane.”
After a 4-4 tie on the opening day, Europe forged ahead in foursomes competition earlier Saturday. Maja Stark and Linn Grant opened for Europe with a 3 and 2 victory over Allisen Corpuz and Nelly Korda.
Leona Maguire and Esther Henseleit had a 1-up victory over Kupcho and Rose Zhang in morning foursomes, while Mimi Rhodes and Nastasia Nadaud completed Europe’s dominating morning with a 4 and 3 victory over Andrea Lee and Auston Kim.
The only United States victory in the morning came in impressive fashion, 6 and 5 from Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin over Charley Hull and Lottie Woad.
The day looked even worse when Europe opened four-ball play with a 2 and 1 victory from Stark and Grant over Megan Khang and Lauren Coughlin.
The United States went to work from there. Yealimi Noh and Andrea Lee earned a 1-up victory over Hull and Woad. Zhang and Kim added to that with a 3 and 2 win over Nadaud and Maguire leading into the final match of the day.
Kupcho, who entered this week with one win in her last six Solheim Cup matches, showed her resiliency to win a key point with Duncan.
“Kupcho, look, she’s had a tough couple days, her two matches have been tough,” United States captain Angela Stanford said. “Today they were down, but she’s a fighter, I’ve said that all along. … She just doesn’t give up, and she’s a fighter. Now her team has seen that in person. They knew it, but then when you see it, it’s awesome.”
With more pressure on her putt at 18, than her bomb at 17, Kupcho did not blink.
“For me, it’s a lot easier when I can know which way it breaks,” Kupcho said about lining up the right-to-left breaker at 18. “So if it breaks more, I have the line down. Just to put a good stroke on that. It was amazing. Great finish to the match.”
Europe captain Anna Nordqvist moved to put the day into perspective after the drama of Saturday’s final match.
“It’s been a great match,” Nordqvist said. “I think overall it’s been a great day. We’re tied going into tomorrow. We have 12 matches and I know the girls are ready for tomorrow.”
