Sunday, September 16, 2007

Solheim Cup 2007: Down to the Wire

The only nice thing about Saturday's four-ball matches finishing out this morning is that it gives you a good sense of how well people are playing on Sunday.

Paula Creamer is carrying Brittany Lincicome on the back, just as Lincicome carried her on the front--even though they're -4 through 17, their bogey on the 17th allowed Maria Hjorth and Linda Wessberg to pull all square heading into a final hole that has not treated the Americans kindly. This match has turned into a preview of the upcoming Hjorth-Creamer showdown, as Hjorth has been carrying Wessberg (not that she's been playing badly--quite the contrary) on the back.

In the Juli Inkster-Stacy Prammanasudh vs. Trish Johnson-Iben Tinning match, it's been Stacy vs. Iben, which should give both of the relative youngsters confidence heading into their singles matches against Pettersen and Inkster. At the moment, though, what matters is that this is the only match the Americans are leading--1-up through 16.

The lack of fireworks from Natalie Gulbis and Nicole Castrale has to be a concern for captain Betsy King--Gulbis has lost her two matches thus far, and is in danger of losing a third, as they are 1-down to Laura Davies and Becky Brewerton with the same two holes left to play on which the Englishwomen collapsed on Friday. Will history repeat, or will they redeem themselves?

The battle of the big names is looking very bad for the Americans--Annika Sorenstam and Suzann Pettersen are 3-up on Cristie Kerr and Morgan Pressel with three holes to go. Can Kerr help fashion another unexpected comeback, or will she fall short again, just as she did with Castrale on Saturday?

Stay tuned!

[Update 1 (4:09 am): Well, the first match ended at all square. Heading into it, with Creamer and Hjorth playing well and Wessberg and Lincicome x-factors, I would have called it a toss-up, and that's what it turned out to be. USA 7, Europe 6. Match 2 is all square, too, headed into 18. Blame Tinning's birdie on 17.]

[Update 2 (4:13 am): Sorenstam and Pettersen just closed out their 3 & 2 victory over Kerr and Pressel. The #1 Super Soph's only hope of keeping her first Solheim Cup from being a nightmare will be taking down Sorenstam in singles. Meanwhile, Kerr will be fighting for her reputation as a leader among the Americans as she'll face Wessberg, who played well in her first Solheim Cup match. USA 7, Europe 7.]

[Update 3 (4:20 am): Gulbis and Castrale will need a great 18th to even halve their match with Davies and Brewerton, who are showing no signs of collapsing. Match 2 is taking a long time to finish the 18th--must be dramatic. In the end it was matching pars for Tinning and Inkster to deny the U.S. that point they really needed. Preview of the late morning? USA 7.5, Europe 7.5.]

[Update 4 (4:32 am): It's been Brewerton vs. Castrale in the last match on the course, which should give the former some confidence in her showdown with Steinhauer and the latter confidence against fellow Solheim Cup rookie Bettina Hauert. With Lincicome playing well in her four-ball match, Davies might be in for a bigger fight than I anticipated last night. And if the Solheim Cup comes down to the final Gulbis-Nocera match, well, Natalie has just as big a shot for redemption as does Morgan. Wow, Davies just sent a message with her birdie on 18 for the 2-up win. Europe 8.5, USA 7.5. Is it too early to start calling friends about borrowing their Golf Channel feed this morning?]

[Update 5 (4:44 am): As this is Mostly Harmless's 300th post, I'll keep it going rather than start a new one for the singles matches....]

[Update 6 (11:24 am): USA 16, Europe 12. Click on the names for the hole-by-hole results. I don't have time to now, but will later today or tonight. I'll tell you one thing: I didn't expect it to be this much of a blowout!]

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