San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Europeans seize early advantage
TOLEDO, Ohio — Defending champion Europe rode a dominant performance in the alternate-shot format to surge to a 5½ - 2½ lead at the Solheim Cup on Saturday.
The Europeans took 3½ of a possible four points during the foursome matches and split the afternoon four-ball session to for some early momentum in their push to win on U.S. soil for just the second time in the event’s 31-year history.
The three-point margin tied the biggest lead after one day in the 17 editions of the Solheim Cup. The Americans led by three after Day 1 in both 1998 and 2017 on their way to comfortable victories.
Playing in front of a decidedly pro-U.S. crowd at Inverness due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Europe hardly looked intimidated by the stakes or the stage, hanging tough on a taut day in which seven of the eight matches made it all the way to the 18th green.
Europe’s advantage could potentially have been even bigger if not for an inadvertent rules violation by Madelene Sagstrom during her and teammate Nanna Koerstz Madsen’s four-ball match against top-ranked Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing.
The match was all square at the par-5 13th when Korda sent a 20foot eagle putt curling right to left toward the hole. It hung on the lip as Korda dropped to her knees in exasperation. Sagstrom bent down and picked Korda’s ball up quickly. Too quickly.
Rules officials determined Sagstrom didn’t wait the required 10 seconds before lifting it, making Korda’s putt good, a decision that put the Americans in front and opened the door for them to win 1 up.
“It was definitely awkward,” Korda said. “And you don’t want to win a hole like that. I got off the green, and we kind of were talking, and (the rules official) already came up to us and was like, ‘I’m calling it in, I want to check it out.’ We didn’t even have a say honestly.”