The Europeans were as unrelenting as the early afternoon rain Sunday at the Solheim Cup, adding blue and blue and more blue to the leaderboard.
The math ultimately fell the home team’s way when Lottie Woad defeated Auston Kim, 2 and 1, to secure the necessary 14 ½ points for victory.
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At the time, with four matches remaining on the course, Europe had won six of the first eight singles.
It’s the third time in the last four competitions that Europe has won or retained the cup. The Americans remain winless on foreign soil since 2015.
It was a wonderful sendoff as well for European captain Anna Nordqvist, who announced her professional retirement two weeks ago.
U.S. captain Angela Stanford was part of the victorious ’15 team in Germany. She was hoping that experience would pay off this week in the Netherlands, and things looked good Saturday night.
Jennifer Kupcho’s late-evening heroics, where she made two lengthy putts, tied the overall score at 8-8 and set off a U.S. celebration on their bus ride back to the hotel.
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The tide quickly turned in favor of the home team on wet and chill Sunday morning at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands.
Charley Hull, winless alongside Lottie Woad in their four matches this week, won the first hole of her singles match against U.S. firecracker Megan Khang and prevailed, 3 and 2.
That gave Europe a 9-8 advantage with leads in seven other matches at the time. The home team needed to win a total of 6 ½ of the 12 available points to win back the cup (the U.S. could have retained with 6 points).
Linn Grant go the Euros closer to their goal with an easy 4-and-3 win over Angel Yin. Yin was a question mark for the U.S., having been sidelined for much of the summer because of an undisclosed stomach issue. She only played twice this week, going 0-1-1.
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There was, however, a glimmer of hope for the U.S. Alison Lee recorded the biggest comeback in Solheim Cup singles history, rallying from 4 down through 11 holes to Esther Henseleit to win, 1 up. Lee, the only mom on either team, played her final seven holes in 4 under.
Soon thereafter, world No. 1 Nelly Korda finished off rookie Mimi Rhodes, 4 and 2, to draw even, 10-10.
With eight matches remaining, Europe led in five – with multiple-hole leads in four of those. The U.S. had comfortable leads in two other matches and the final one, between Celine Boutier and Rose Zhang, was tied.
Europe was in control, but could they close?
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Yes, yes they could
Rookie Nastasia Nadaud, a 21-year-old captain’s pick and the youngest player on either side, took down Andrea Lee, 3 and 2. Nanna Koerstz Madsen then beat Allisen Corpuz, 2 and 1.
Another rookie captain’s pick, Julia Lopez Ramirez, followed suit with an emotional 3-and-2 victory over Yealimi Noh.
That made it 13-10 with Europe needing 1 ½ points. Carlota Ciganda was 3 up 13 in her grudge match against Kupcho. Three years ago, the Spaniard earned Europe’s retaining point at Finca Cortesin.
In order to be the hero again, she needed Lottie Woad to close out Auston Kim. Woad, who was 0-3-1 for the week, held a 4-up lead through 11 holes. But by the 16th, that advantage was just 1 up. Playing the par 5, Kim ran into some trouble and made bogey while Woad made birdie. That put Woad dormie and secured at least a half-point.
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Ciganda had a chance to win her match and the cup on the 15th hole but left her 12-foot birdie putt short. Still, it was another half-point secured. The Euros were guaranteed at least 14 points and need just one more domino to fall.
It came in the form of a 2-foot par putt by Woad on the 16th. That gave her a 2-and-1 win over Kim, and locked up 14 ½ points for Europe.
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