Worldwide Golf

TEAM USA won their third Solheim Cup in a row thanks to a dominant singles display at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois.

Going into the Sunday tied with Europe on 8 points, the Americans took the singles matches by a margin of 8 points to 4 to give them a 16-12 winning total – the same score of the 2007 Matches at Halmstad in Sweden.

The Americans got off to a flyer with early wins for Paula Creamer, Angela Stanford and Michelle Wie.

Stanford was first to score after crushing Becky Brewerton 5&4 shortly before Creamer claimed a 3&2 victory over Norway’s Suzann Pettersen to take a two-point lead.

Wie then made it 11-8 after halving the difficult par-5 18^th hole with Europe’s 2007 Captain Helen Alfredsson to win 1up.

Europe got their first point on the board thanks to the recently crowned Ricoh Women’s British Open champion Catriona Matthew who defeated Kristy McPherson 3&2.

However, there was little time for celebrations on the European side as Cup stalwart Laura Davies – playing in her 11^th consecutive Solheim Cup – halved her match after Brittany Lang made a birdie to share the spoils to make the score 11½-9½.

Brittany Lincicome, who won her first LPGA Tour title at the 2006 HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship, added another point to the U.S Team’s tally with a 3&2 victory over Sophie Gustafson before American veteran Juli Inkster took her team to within one point of retaining the Cup after she halved her match with Gwladys Nocera.

Italian Diana Luna – a two time winner on this year’s Ladies European Tour – convincingly beat Nicole Castrale 3&2 after leading from the first but European celebrations were again short lived as Floridian Morgan Pressel defeated Anna Nordqvist on the 16^th hole 3&2 to get to the magic number of 14 points and retain the Cup.

“It’s been a long week,” smiled Pressel. “We played great and I’m so proud of my team. It’s a great feeling.”