Lilia Vu stuck her approach shot at the 18th hole 2 feet from the cup to give herself the winning birdie putt, and the United States team clinched its first Solheim Cup victory since 2017 over Team Europe on Sunday at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va.
With the U.S. leading Europe 14-11 with four matches to go, Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela led her match against Vu 1 up heading into the final hole. Valenzuela had a long birdie putt to win her match but left it about a foot short.
Vu then made her birdie to halve the match and guaranteed the U.S. the 14 1/2 points necessary to end a three-event losing streak to Europe.
The U.S. entered the day with a 10-6 lead over Europe and needed just 4 1/2 points out of Sunday’s 12 singles matches in order to wrest the Solheim Cup back from their rivals.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda was 3-0-0 entering Sunday but came out flat Sunday in the first singles match against Charley Hull of England. She sprayed her opening drive way off target and had putting troubles all day, and Hull cruised to a 6-and-4 victory.
Megna Khang dominated Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen 6 and 5, while Georgia Hall of England answered back for Team Europe with a 4-and-3 victory over Alison Lee.
Rose Zhang was the only player on either team to go 4-0-0 for the week. Her 6-and-4 win over Spain’s Carlota Ciganda gave the United States a 13-8 lead, but Europe was not out of the fight.
Andrea Lee, who trailed by two during the back nine, made a clutch birdie on the par-3 16th hole and went on to halve her match against Germany’s Esther Henseleit, which scored a half-point for both sides.
Lexi Thompson, who’s retiring from full-time golf at the end of the season, led France’s Celine Boutier 3 up through eight holes but Boutier charged back. Boutier gave herself a short birdie putt at the par-4 18th and drained it to win the match 1 up.
Ireland’s Leona Maguire then defeated Ally Ewing 4 and 3 to cut Europe’s deficit to three points.
Virginia native Lauren Coughlin had a birdie putt at No. 18 to win the Solheim Cup, but it came up just short. Sweden’s Maja Stark had blown her birdie try at least 7 feet past the cup, but she saved par from there to halve the match and make the score 14-11 U.S.
