Even though she hadn’t seen it from Thompson for the majority of the LPGA Tour season, U.S. team captain Stacy Lewis noticed something positive in the experienced Solheim Cup player’s game during practice rounds at Finca Cortesin earlier this week.
Lewis’ risky decision to start Thompson in the opening round of the 18th Solheim Cup, leaving rookie Rose Zhang and two-time major championship winner Lilia Vu on the sidelines, paid off handsomely on Friday morning as the Americans swept the foursome (alternate shot) matches to take a 4-0 lead over Europe.
The United States is off to a 4-0 Solheim Cup start for the first time. Before Friday, it had never won a foursomes match.
Later on Friday, the teams will return to the course for four four-ball (best ball) matches. The first-place team has won the Solheim Cup eight times out of the previous 11 times (there were also six ties).
Since the competition’s debut in 1990, Europe has never won the competition three times in a row.
In the opening match, Thompson and Megan Khang provided the American side with a lot of early momentum. The Swedish combination of Linn Grant and Maja Stark showed early trepidation as the American team won each of the opening three holes. The Europeans finished with two bogeys, falling down by three strokes. In the end, the Europeans rallied to tie the game with a birdie on the par-3 14th.
The Americans then made a birdie on the par-4 15th to go ahead by one, and they finished off the Europeans with a par on the par-3 17th to earn the U.S. another point.
The 28-year-old Thompson struggled through one of her worst professional seasons, failing to make the cut in eight of her 11 starts on the LPGA Tour. In the overall standings for the circuit, she finished 138th.
To earn the Americans’ first point, Ally Ewing and Cheyenne Knight defeated Charley Hull of England and Emily K. Pedersen of Denmark with a score of 5-and-4. The American team played six holes on the front nine and didn’t look back.
While remaining consistent, Ewing and Knight also profited from a number of errors made by the Europeans, who made bogeys on holes Nos. 2, 5, and 6, as well as double bogeys on the par-5 eighth & par-4 ninth. The par-3 10th hole was where the Europeans’ lone victory in the game occurred, but it was too little, too late.
By defeating Georgia Hall of England and Celine Boutier of France 1 up, Danielle Kang and Andrea Lee won the third point. Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz completed the sweep by defeating Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist and Ireland’s Leona Maguire on the 18th hole to win 1-up.