Sunday, September 16, 2007

Solheim Sunday – Four-ball Matches

Team Europe won three of the four points from the four-ball matches completed early Sunday morning to take its first lead at the Solheim Cup, 8.5 to 7.5. The results were:

Creamer/Lincicome halved with Wessberg/Hjorth
Inkster/Prammanasudh halved with Johnson/Tinning
Gulbis/Castrale lost to Brewerton/Davies 2 up
Kerr/Pressel lost to Sorenstam/Pettersen 3&2

Creamer/Lincicome were down two after three holes but hung in there and took the lead when the Euros bogeyed 14 and Paula birdied 15. A U.S bogey at 17 gave back a hole and it ended square. That same result at 17 cost Inkster and Prammanasudh a half-point as well. Gulbis/Castrale trailed by one going to 18 and could not halve their match. Kerr and Pressel trailed after the very first hole and stayed within reach until a bogey at 14 and an Annika birdie at 15 put them dormie.

The singles matches are underway with the first one approaching the turn. The pairings are:
Diaz vs Matthew
Hurst vs Gustafson
Prammanasudh vs Pettersen
Inkster vs Tinning
Steinhauer vs Brewerton
Stanford vs Johnson
Pressel vs Sorenstam
Lincicome vs Davies
Castrale vs Hauert
Creamer vs Hjorth
Kerr vs Wessberg
Gulbis vs Nocera

Playing her fifth match in three days, I would have bet that Sorenstam would be ripe for picking today, but she drew Pressel. Morgan just missed another short putt to win a hole and she will NOT beat Annika if she can’t make three-footers. The U.S usually has the advantage in singles and they still have a good chance to win, but falling behind after leading since Session One isn’t a good sign. They need 6.5 points from these 12 matches to get the 14 needed to retain the Cup – can Diaz, Prammanasudh, Pressel, Lincicome, Kerr and Gulbis possibly scratch out 2.5 points from their six matches? If so, I think the other six players can get the other 4.

No comments: