It was a competitive battle until the very end, as Carlota Ciganda and Nanna Koerstz Madsen eked out a point for Team Europe over Jessica Korda and Megan Khang of Team USA with a 1-up victory. There was no lead greater than that margin throughout the match for either team.
After sitting out the morning foursomes, Korda gave the Americans an early advantage by draining a 32-foot eagle putt from the first cut of rough on No. 2. Europe tied it with par on No. 4, then jumped out front at the par-4 seventh when Koerstz Madsen found the bottom of the cup from 27 feet for birdie. It did not faze Korda, as she blasted out of the greenside bunker on the next hole to inches for a tap-in birdie on the par 5. Khang kept the momentum rolling on No. 9, chipping in from 9 feet out of the rough off the back of the green.
“If I was in trouble, Carlota played great and the other way around. If she was in trouble, I did some good stuff,” said Koerstz Madsen, a Solheim Cup rookie. “The other girls played really good, so it was a really fun match going back and forth. The crowd was crazy.”
The back nine of the match was quiet compared to the front nine, but it did have its moments. A birdie by Koerstz Madsen on No. 12 tied Europe with the Stars and Stripes. Three holes later, Ciganda buried a right-to-left 40-foot birdie to give Team Europe the lead for good.
“I think it was really important to get that point,” said Ciganda, a five-time member of Team Europe. “It was a really tight match. The Americans were happy after they had a great morning, so we knew it was going to be a tough afternoon. Going into tomorrow, winning these two days was key.”
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