2012 LET Tour Guide (pdf) - Ladies European Tour

The History of The Solheim Cup continued
and Suzann Pettersen were four down after 12 holes to Michele Redman and Laura Diaz. Sorenstam
lipped out for a hole in one at the 13th, which set up a run of five winning holes, four with birdies for
an unlikely one hole victory.
In the afternoon four-ball matches both Europe and the USA won two points each to give
The European Team a 5 - 3 overnight lead.
The US Team, led by Nancy Lopez, claimed three of the four Saturday foursomes matches, to even
the overall score at 6 - 6 heading into the afternoon four-balls. Both Europe and the USA claimed two
points each and the overall score was intriguingly poised at 8-all heading into the final day. Europe's
hopes of making history remained very much alive as a total of 6 points were required to retain the
Cup with the home side needing 6 1 ⁄2 to regain it.
The home team won five of the first six singles matches and looked set to sweep to a comfortable
victory when they added another point from Natalie Gulbis. But the extra half point for the necessary
14 1 ⁄2 winning total took a while to be secured.
After Catriona Matthew, Carin Koch and Gwladys Nocera had won their matches, Meg Mallon
eventually clinched the deal with a 3 and 1 win over Karen Stupples. The Americans, backed by the
home crowd, eventually won 7 1 ⁄2 points in the singles and regained The Solheim Cup by 15 1 ⁄2 - 12 1 ⁄2.
The three-point win tied the record for the smallest margin of victory in Solheim Cup history set in
2000 when The European Team won and in 2002 when the US Team won.
At The 2007 Solheim Cup in Halmstad, Sweden, Halmstad Golfklubb was the longest venue in The
Solheim Cup history at 6,615 yards. Swedish captain Helen Alfredsson’s European team attempted
to regain The Cup from Betsy King’s US squad in conditions which included cold, severe winds and
heavy rain. The US team had moved ahead by 2 1 ⁄2 – 1 1 ⁄2 after the Friday morning foursomes. Yet a
rally from the Europeans earned a share of the afternoon four-balls and ended with the US leading
by 4 1 ⁄2 – 3 1 ⁄2 overall.
Laura Davies pulled off one of the most remarkable winning pars in the history of the competition at
the 179-yard par 3 16th hole in the afternoon fourballs. Having hit her tee shot right into a bush, she
blasted a shot from the undergrowth and down a slope between two bunkers. From there, she holed
a 50 foot chip shot. With the match all square, Davies and Trish Johnson amazingly halved the match
with Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel.
The Americans held the lead after the first day of the competition for the first time since The 1996 Solheim
Cup at The Marriot St Pierre Hotel and CC, which was the first time they had won on foreign soil.
The start of play on day two was delayed by two hours and ten minutes due to gale force winds and
the teams halved the Saturday morning foursomes two-all in testing conditions. The second day’s
fourball matches were suspended due to darkness with Europe up in three of the four ties. They took
the series 3 - 1 on Sunday morning to take a one point lead at 8 1 ⁄2 – 7 1 ⁄2 going into the 12 singles
matches. Europe needed six points to win but their hopes were dashed when the US team claimed
the singles 8 1 ⁄2 - 3 1 ⁄2 to finish 16 - 12 ahead overall.
Nicole Castrale defeated Bettina Hauert 3&2 to claim the victory that gave the US the 14 1 ⁄2 points
required to win The Cup outright. It was only the second time that an away team had won The
Solheim Cup and the US team now leads the series by 7 - 3.
Ladies European Tour 2012
294