By Le Figaro with AFP
Published
21 minutes ago,
Updated right now
Aaron Doster/REUTERS
The Americans are still leading the Solheim Cup golf tournament against the Europeans (8-4), at the end of Saturday’s morning session of the foursomes, which saw Frenchwoman Céline Boutier bring a point to her team.
The Europeans are the three-time champions of this trophy, the women’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup. But the Americans, whose last victory dates back to 2017, confirmed their good start on Friday in front of their home crowd, on the course of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville (Georgia).
Having been battered in the first encounter by the pair of Carlota Ciganda of Spain and Emily Pedersen of Denmark, the Americans were able to count on the talent of world No. 1 Nelly Korda who, along with Allisen Corpuz, snatched the first point of the morning. “Nelly played very solidly all day,” said Corpuz. “Every time you play with her, it’s like it’s going to change at some point, you just have to be patient.” “We have the world No. 1 and that’s very helpful when she plays well,” added American captain Stacy Lewis.
A large audience present
In the next match, France’s Céline Boutier (world No. 10) and her Swedish teammate Anna Nordqvist earned a point for Europe by beating the duo formed by Lilia Vu (world No. 2) and Sarah Schmelzel. The crowd this time filled the stands from the first tee, thanks to the extra buses put in place to avoid a repeat of the long waits on Friday.
Thousands of spectators had indeed missed the start of the competition due to a lack of sufficient shuttles. A fourball session (each player plays her ball, the best of the four players wins the point for her team) is planned for the end of the day, while twelve singles will be played on the last day on Sunday.
