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Europe got off to a bright start on the second morning of the 12th Solheim Cup at Killeen Castle, Co. Meath, Ireland.
The home team went into the second day with a narrow 4 ½ -3 ½ lead after the first day’s foursomes and fourball matches and promptly went ahead in all four foursomes matches to be played on Saturday morning.
Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall and Sophie Gustafson started out under brightening skies at 07.40 and won the first hole with a par against American duo Angela Stanford and Stacy Lewis. The Swedes increased that lead to two after the Americans failed to par the 155-yard par-3 6th hole and then went further ahead with a par on the 421-yard par-4 7th. They won that match by 6&5 on the 13th green.
Holland’s Christel Boeljon sat out both series on the first day but she made her Solheim Cup debut alongside veteran Karen Stupples in the second foursomes match against Morgan Pressel and Ryan O’Toole. Boeljon and Stupples made a promising start leading the Americans by one through five holes. However the Americans then birdied the 6th and eagled the 460-yard 7th to go one up.
The third foursomes match featured another strong all-Swedish combo. Maria Hjorth and Anna Nordqvist lost to Cristie Kerr and Michelle Wie in the top foursome the previous morning but made a solid start to their match against Brittany Lang and Juli Inkster and were one up through the 7th.
The final foursome pitted Catriona Matthew and Azahara Muñoz against Cristie Kerr and Paula Creamer always looked like being a closely-fought contest and true to form the first two holes were halved before the home pair won the 343-yard par-4 3rd to take an early lead. They maintained that advantage through the 6th.
This morning’s four foursomes matches will be followed by four fourball matches this afternoon. The contest concludes with 12 singles tomorrow (Sunday).
