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After a rollercoaster of an opening day at the 2023 Solheim Cup, both Team USA and Team Europe went into day two with an element of momentum. While USA were 5-3 up after day one, Europe had responded well to losing the opening foursome session 4-0 by bouncing back in the afternoon foursomes.
Day two was a more tense affair across both sessions, however, it was Europe who performed better winning 5-3. It has left the overall score tied at 8-8 going into the final day on Sunday where there will be twelve singles matches to decide which team goes home with the trophy.
Solheim Cup scoreboard after day two
Contents
Day one morning foursomes
 | Results |  |
|---|---|---|
| Pedersen/Ciganda |  2 & 1 | Vu/Kupcho |
| Nordqvist/Maguire |  1 up | Thompson/Khang |
| Hall/Boutier | 5 & 3 | Korda/Corpuz |
| Stark/Grant | 1 up | Kang/Lee |
| 2 | Session | 2 |
| 5 | Overall | 7 |
Day one afternoon fourballs
| Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Hull/Maguire | 4 & 3 | Korda/Ewing |
| Nordqvist/Hedwall | 2 up | Knight/Yin |
| Sagstrom/Pedersen | 2 & 1 | Zhang/Lee |
| Ciganda/Grant | 2 & 1 | Kang/Vu |
| 3 | Session | 1 |
| 8 | Overall | 8 |
Highlights from Saturday
Nothing to split the foursomes
The morning foursomes felt like a crucial session going into the day. Although Europe had clawed their way back into the competition on Friday afternoon, a similar foursomes session to the one on Friday would have resulted in the Solheim Cup all but ending up in American hands.
Thankfully for Europe, they competed far better on Saturday morning and ended up sharing the spoils with the USA. In the first match of the day, Pedersen and Ciganda came out on top against Vu and Kupcho two and one in a match that the Europeans controlled from the off.
Stark and Grant were the other Europeans to pick up a vital point for Suzann Pettersen’s team. The Swedish duo fought off the talented US pair with Maja Stark sinking two clutch birdie putts on 17 and 18 to bag the point for Europe to ensure they were in touching distance ahead of the fourballs session.
A birdie from Grant wins the match! 🇪🇺
Europe 5-7 USA 👀 pic.twitter.com/0D5rCZOIGT
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) September 23, 2023
For the Americans, Thompson and Khang earned them a point after coming from behind to defeat Nordqvist and Maguire. Meanwhile, the most dominant display of the morning came from Korda and Corpuz who battered Hall and Boutier five and three.
Europe draw level via the fourballs
With the score 7-5 to the USA ahead of the afternoon fourballs on Saturday, Europe knew that they needed to close the gap if they were to be in a decent position going into Sunday. A loss would have been catastrophic while a tied session wouldn’t have done them much good, either. In the end, they secured a 3-1 victory which has left the competition on a knife edge.
Charley Hull, who was selected to play again despite being humbled by Korda and Corpuz earlier in the day, was paired with Leona Maguire to take on Korda and Ewing. The Europeans didn’t mess around and had their match effectively wrapped up by the eighth hole when they went four up. Eventually, the match ended four and three.
Sagstrom and Pedersen earned another point for Europe when they overcame Zhang and Lee despite some monstrous putts from the American pair. Meanwhile, in a match played to the highest of standards, Ciganda and Grant won Europe’s third fourball point when they defeated Kang Vu two and one.
Europe level the match 8-8! 🤩🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/gj53ukLGrt
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) September 23, 2023
The only bit of fourball joy for Team USA on Friday came courtesy of Knight and Yin who managed to beat Nordqvist and Hedwall in a match that went all the way to the 18th. On the final hole, Yin took matters into her own hands when she gave USA a look at birdie which gave them two putts to win the point.
Emily Pedersen leads the comeback
The star of the day was Emily Pedersen who won two points for Europe in both of her matches. The Dane was paired with two different players in each session but played a leading role in both matches to help earn her team two valuable points. Pedersen has featured in every single session so far and will be looking forward to the singles tomorrow to try and win a third point for Europe.
Her impressive showing on day two follows a disappointing opening day, points-wise, where she only managed to earn half a point. Despite that, she still managed to make the headline on Friday thanks to a sensational hole in one which is undoubtedly one of the moments of the competition so far.
Solheim Cup updated odds
- Team Europe – 11/10
- Team USA – 6/5
- Tie – 13/2
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