The United States collected the Solheim Cup for the first time seven years thanks to a 15½-12½ victory over the Europeans in what was a thrilling and nail-biting final day.
Heading into the Sunday singles at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Stacy Lewis’ team took a 10-6 lead over Suzann Pettersen’s Europeans after dominating Friday’s matches to build a 6-2 lead and strengthening their position in Saturday’s foursomes and fourballs.
The U.S. required 4½ points to lift the trophy for the first time since 2017 while Europe needed eight points to retain their title and it was Europe who came out on the front foot with English duo Charley Hull and Georgia Hall leading the charge. Hull convincingly defeated World No. 1 Nelly Korda 6&4, while Hall secured a 4&3 victory over Alison Lee, fueling hopes of a remarkable comeback.
However, in between those result, Megan Khang thrashed Emily Pedersen 6&5 to place the U.S with a 11-8 lead with now just three and a half points required.
The U.S. went onto to come out on top in two further matches as Allisen Corpuz defeated Nordqvist 4&3 and Rose Zhang dispatched Carlota Ciganda 6&4 to leave them on the cusp of victory.
But the Europeans refused to back down and continued to threaten an unlikely comeback as the bottom half of the leaderboard saw a sea of blue, reigniting hopes in what was building up to be a thrilling conclusion to the 2024 event
Esther Henseleit, who won silver in the 2024 Paris Olympics, halved her match against Andrea Lee, while the likes of Madelene Sagstrom and Leona Maguire were on top in their matches.
But it was too little too late for the Europeans as World No. 2 Lilia Vu sunk the decisive birdie putt on the 18th to secure the winning half-point for the U.S. against Albane Valenzuela sparking jubilant celebrations among the U.S. team.
“I can’t even put it into words,” Vu said. “I felt like I didn’t do my part this week and I wanted to get something done. I was in the back bunker on 16 and had to get it up and down, somehow birdied 17 and birdied 18 to get the half point.”
Lewis said: “It really could have gone either way. It’s crazy there at the end kind of how it all unfolded. I was just hoping and praying it went our way. Just proud of the team, and Lilia [Vu]’s finish there was unbelievable. That’s what you expect from one of the best players in the world.”
“We gave them a run for their money,” Pettersen said. “I don’t think anyone expected us to be here at 2.30pm and to still have a chance. It’s kind of hard to believe that we actually had a chance with kind of that poor of a start, giving them such a head start.
“It’s always exciting on a Sunday. There was possibilities out there, and several times we thought we could get it done. It came down to a couple of matches. Happy for Stacy [Lewis], obviously, on home turf, but we’ll come back very hungry.”