Carin Koch and Sophie Gustafson did their best to boost Europe’s dream of winning the Solheim Cup for a first time on US soil, but it was the Americans that on three of the four points in the second day foursomes to level the score 6-all at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Indiana, today.
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| Nocera and Kreutz made their debut |
Making their Solheim debuts, the all-French pairing lost three holes from the second and, while they steadied the ship, they were always fighting a losing battle.
Juli Inskter, the seven-time major winner, and 19-year-old Paula Creamer then put another red point on the board with an inspired win over Davies, who had been in such great form on day one, and Maria Hjorth.
Europe’s solitary point came from Gustafson and Koch in the third match. Never behind, the two Swedes comfortably beat Diaz and Wendy Ward by 5 and 3.
The scoreline left the match finely poised, and confirmed that it would all come down to the 12 singles tomorrow. Europe, aiming to win in America for the first time, need to get 14 points to retain the Cup while the home side need 14.5 to get it back.
Foursomes results (US names first): Christina Kim and Natalie Gulbis beat Gwladys Nocera and Ludivine Kreutz 4 and 2 Paula Creamer and Juli Inkster beat Laura Davies and Maria Hjorth 3 and 2 Laura Diaz and Wendy Ward lost to Sophie Gustafson and Carin Koch 5 and 3 Michele Redman and Pat Hurst beat Annika Sorenstam and Catriona Matthew two holes
Score: USA 3 Europe 1
Overall score: USA 6 Europe 6
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