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Key events
There’s a bit of a nip in the air and the wind is picking up. So the tee shot over water onto a severely sloping green at the par-three 6th is a testing one. Nelly Korda looks to have passed that test, landing in the middle of the green, but the slope takes her ball off down a swale back-left. Korda looks disgusted with the outcome. But it’s better than Charley Hull’s effort, which sails off in the same direction, but with a harsher bounce, and Lottie Woad will be left with an awkward chip back up from semi-rough and a downhill lie. This looks like a really fun hole.
Birdie for Linn Grant and Maja Stark on the par-five 2nd, and suddenly Europe are up in three of the four matches. A chance for more good news for the hosts on 4, but Celine Boutier leaves a straight 12-foot birdie chance a couple of turns short. The greens on the slow side at Bernardus.
Corpuz/Korda A/S Hull/Woad (4)
Coughlin/Al. Lee v Koerstz Madsen/Boutier 1UP (4)
An. Lee/Duncan v Henseleit/Maguire 2UP (2)
Zhang/Kupcho v Stark/Grant 1UP (2)
Strike that about Europe having just a slight advantage. Celine Boutier and Leona Maguire roll a couple of mid-range birdie efforts confidently into the cup, at 3 and 2 respectively, and suddenly Europe enjoy more of a buffer. The hosts looking collectively confident early doors.
Corpuz/Korda A/S Hull/Woad (4)
Coughlin/Al. Lee v Koerstz Madsen/Boutier 1UP (3)
An. Lee/Duncan v Henseleit/Maguire 2UP (2)
Zhang/Kupcho A/S Stark/Grant (1)
Linn Grant and Jennifer Kupcho take turns to pop their wedges on 1 near the flag. The hole halved in birdie. Up on the first par-three, the 4th, neither Nelly Korda nor Charley Hull go particularly close with their tee shots, and that one’s halved in par. All the matches properly up and running now, Europe with a very slight advantage after the early exchanges.
Corpuz/Korda A/S Hull/Woad (4)
Koerstz Madsen/Boutier A/S Coughlin/Al. Lee (2)
An. Lee/Duncan v Henseleit/Maguire 1UP (1)
Zhang/Kupcho A/S Stark/Grant (1)
Lottie Woad sends her tee shot at 3 into heather down the left. Charley Hull does well to advance the ball to greenside, but Europe are out of position while the US are on the green in regulation. Allisen Corpuz has a 15-footer for birdie and the hole, but leaves it short, and Hull, having been left a tricky six-footer by Woad, tidies up for par and the half. That’s a big save.
Corpuz/Korda A/S Hull/Woad (3)
Koerstz Madsen/Boutier A/S Coughlin/Al. Lee (2)
An. Lee/Duncan v Henseleit/Maguire 1UP (1)
Zhang/Kupcho v Stark/Grant
Andrea Lee gives her long birdie putt on 1 a good rap. It looks like it’s heading in, and she walks after it excitedly, but the ball pings off the pin and stays out. She grins nonetheless. But that’s cost the USA the hole, because Leona Maguire isn’t missing Europe’s birdie chance from a couple of feet.
Corpuz/Korda A/S Hull/Woad (2)
Koerstz Madsen/Boutier A/S Coughlin/Al. Lee (1)
An. Lee/Duncan v Henseleit/Maguire 1UP (1)
Zhang/Kupcho v Stark/Grant
Lindy Duncan is one of two American rookies this week. The 35-year-old from Florida looks a wee bit nervous as she sends her approach at 1 a good 40 feet to the right of the pin. The British Open runner-up Esther Henseleit had put the pressure on by knocking Europe’s second close. Advantage Europe early doors, but can they convert? Meanwhile back on the tee, the final morning foursomes match emerges from the tunnel. Rose Zhang, Jennifer Kupcho, Linn Grant and Maja Stark the stars. No bespoke chorus of Baby Shark, because Dancing Queen is blaring from the speakers. Everyone having the time of their lives.
Europe do indeed escape from their travails on 1 with a half. Alison Lee leaves her birdie putt short, and Nanna Koertz Madsen tidies up. But the USA strike back on 2, Nelly Korda wedging close with her approach on the par five, and Lottie Woad can’t save the day with her 15-foot right-to-left putt. All square in the opening two matches.
Corpuz/Korda A/S Hull/Woad (2)
Koerstz Madsen/Boutier A/S Coughlin/Al. Lee (1)
Boutier makes up for her opening error by wedging Europe’s third delicately to a couple of feet. A chance for Europe to escape with a half. Meanwhile back on the tee, Andrea Lee, Lindy Duncan, Esther Henseleit and Leona Maguire turn up for work. Lee and Maguire take turns to send fairway finders down the track.
Koertz Madsen is right up against a tree, almost bent double. As she prepares to punch out, she clips a hanging branch with her practice backswing. A penalty? The match referee comes over and allays her fears. But she can only hack back out onto the fairway, and after Lauren Coughlin sends the USA’s second into the heart of the green, Europe are suddenly up against it on the opening hole.
Nanna Koertz Madsen and Celine Boutier join Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin on the 1st tee, and the second match is under way. Lee splits the 1st fairway with her opening drive, but Boutier hooks nervously into thick heather down the left. Trouble there. Koertz Madsen might not even have much of a swing, the ball sitting down, near a tree.
Corpuz goes close with her 20-foot birdie opportunity, but the ball sticks stubbornly on the lip. No shame in an opening par, but it’s not good enough for Team USA, because Woad calmly rolls in her putt, and what a way to announce yourself on your Solheim Cup debut! Farnham’s finest smiles warmly and saunters off in her trademark no-fuss style. Europe wasting no time at all!
Corpuz/Korda v Hull/Woad 1UP (1)
Korda and Corpuz have a perfect record in Solheim foursomes. Played four, won four. They’re not hanging about, as Korda eases the first approach shot of the week over the flag to 20 feet. Hull quickly follows, landing her iron pin high, a similar distance to the right of the flag. A couple of half-decent birdie chances there. Back on the tee, the strains of Club Tropicana by Wham! ripples out as Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin arrive for match two. A disclaimer: drinks at Bernardus are not free. Fun and sunshine a definite possibility, though.
Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz are announced to the crowd. The starter can be barely heard over the chanting of the gallery. Then the noise doubles, triples as the European duo of Charley Hull and Lottie Woad are introduced. Corpuz takes the opening shot of the tournament: straight down the middle. Woad, making her Solheim Cup debut, sends a slightly nervous drive into the semi-rough down the left of the 364-yard par-four 1st. This is on.
Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz arrive at the 1st tee. A lot of whooping and hollering. Nelly taking a few selfies with her phone as she emerges from the tunnel. Charley Hull and Lottie Woad follow soon after. More of the noise and bedlam. A party atmosphere in the stands. The 2026 Solheim Cup is about to happen!
A reminder of the format
For the benefit of folk who fancy following events at Bernardus this weekend but don’t always keep tabs on the greatest sport in the world, we usually cut and paste the following explainer. Hey, if it’s worth reading once, it’s worth reading a dozen times. Here we go …
The Solheim Cup is a matchplay event. Each match is worth a point. There are 28 points available over the three days, so the first team to get to 14.5 points will win the Cup. Should the scores be tied at 14 points apiece, the USA will retain the trophy as current holders.
Match-play explained for those dipping their toe into the murky world of golf for the first time: In common-or-garden championship golf, such as the Evian or the British Open, tournaments are scored using the stroke-play system. Whoever takes the fewest shots over all four rounds in a championship wins. All shots count and are added up for a cumulative total. So if, say, in next year’s Dinah Shore (Chevron Championship-speak for hipsters), Nelly Korda shoots 63-63-63-63 and Charley Hull shoots 87-87-87-87, Nelly will have taken 252 strokes, and beaten Charley by 96 shots. (Good luck if you bet large on this exact outcome.)
Anyway, in match play, each player or team wins a hole for every hole they better their opponents. So if Nelly takes five shots at the 1st, but Charley needs only three, Charley goes 1up. If Charley wins the next hole too, she’s 2up. If the pair share the same number of shots on the 3rd, the hole is halved, and Charley remains 2up. It doesn’t matter if Nelly took 13 shots on her way to losing the 2nd, by the way; a bit like the unwritten rule of visits to wallet-sewer-interface-venue Las Vegas, what happens on each hole stays on each hole. There is no knock-on effect.
So let’s say Hull wins the first nine holes of our make-believe match. With nine played, and nine remaining, she is 9up. Nelly can only tie at best; Hull can’t lose. This is known as dormie. (And more specifically, in this slightly ludicrous example, as dormie nine.) If Nelly wins the next nine, the game will end all square, and each team will get half a point to their overall total. But if Charley wins the 10th, she’s 10up with eight holes to play. She has won 10&8. If the 10th hole is halved, Charley would be 9up with eight to play. She’s won 9&8. Similarly Nelly can be said to have lost 9&8. Europe would add a point to their overall total. I’ve probably made this sound way more complicated than it needs to be, but there it is anyway.
There will be three types of match: foursomes (teams of two players use one ball, taking alternate shots); fourballs (teams of two players play a ball each and take the best score, known as the better ball); and singles (this is when it gets quite wild and everyone across two continents starts with the shallow breathing and chest clutching). And these matches are arranged in a schedule like this:
Today: four matches of morning foursomes; four matches of afternoon fourballs.
Tomorrow: four matches of morning foursomes; four matches of afternoon fourballs.
Sunday: 12 singles matches.
Preamble
The Solheim Cup has delivered in spades recently. Bronte Law leading the charge as Europe snatched victory from under the USA’s nose at Gleneagles; the Leona Maguire Show; ♫ Maja Stark, doo doo doo doo doo doooo, doo doo doo doo doo doooo, doo doo doo doo doo doooo, MA-JA STARK! ♪♫; Lilia Vu’s birdie-birdie finish to hold off an unexpected European comeback and finally reclaim the cup for America. Any repeat of any of the above … yes please, we’ll take it!
… and this year’s tournament is off to a flyer, with Europe’s two biggest draws facing the world number one and a former US Open champion in the opening foursomes. This promises to be epic. It’s early, so make yourself a strong cup of tea and strap in, because … it’s on!
6.40am (BST): Allisen Corpuz and Nelly Korda v Charley Hull and Lottie Woad
6.52am: Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin v Nanna Koertz Madsen and Celine Boutier
7.04am: Andrea Lee and Lindy Duncan v Esther Henseleit and Leona Maguire
7.26am: Rose Zhang and Jennifer Kupcho v Maja Stark and Linn Grant
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