Europe Reclaimed the Solheim Cup as Lowry Ran Away With the Irish Open
In this week’s ‘The Starter,’ Europe breaks an 8-8 tie by taking seven Sunday singles points and reclaiming the Solheim Cup at Bernardus Golf. Shane Lowry leaves far less room for suspense in Ireland, closing with a 63 to win his national open by a tournament-record 11 shots.
SOLHEIM CUP: Europe Turns an Even Match Into a Blue Sunday
Six of the First Eight Go Europe’s Way
The tie at Bernardus gave Sunday a clean start and both captains a dozen separate problems. Anna Nordqvist’s lineup solved more of them early. Europe won six of the first eight singles matches and took the session 7-5, turning an even contest into a 15-13 victory. It was Europe’s eighth Solheim Cup win and the third time in four meetings that Europe left with the cup.
Getting back to 8-8 had required the teams to trade control twice. Friday ended 4-4, the first opening-day tie since 2002. Europe then won Saturday morning foursomes 3-1, including a second victory for the rookie partnership of Mimi Rhodes and Nastasia Nadaud. The United States answered by taking the afternoon four-ball session 3-1, leaving the entire match to be decided in singles.
Charley Hull went first and beat Megan Khang 3 and 2. Linn Grant followed with a 4-and-3 victory over Angel Yin, while Nanna Koerstz Madsen defeated Allisen Corpuz 2 and 1. By then, blue had spread across enough of the board that every American point felt like an interruption rather than a turn in the match.
Nelly Korda supplied one of those interruptions with a 4-and-2 win over Mimi Rhodes. Alison Lee supplied the best American recovery of the day. Four down to Esther Henseleit after 11 holes, Lee won on the 18th green, completing the largest comeback in Solheim Cup singles history. The United States needed several more matches to move that way, and it did not.
The Rookies Supply the Separation
Europe’s rookies did much of the separating. Nastasia Nadaud beat Andrea Lee 3 and 2, Julia López Ramírez beat Yealimi Noh by the same margin, and Lottie Woad beat Auston Kim 2 and 1. Three singles wins from four first-time players gave Nordqvist the return she needed from the youngest part of her roster.
Woad’s point raised Europe’s total to 14. Carlota Ciganda was already 3 up on Jennifer Kupcho with three holes remaining, which guaranteed at least the half point Europe needed to take back the cup. Ciganda finished the job with a 4-and-2 win, securing Europe’s 15th point before the last three matches were completed.
Nordqvist’s Faith Gets Its Return
That sequence also answered the most obvious questions left by Saturday. Kupcho had holed two enormous closing putts to win her four-ball match with Lindy Duncan and pull the United States level. Hull and Woad, meanwhile, had spent two days producing good stretches without the points to match. Nordqvist sent Hull out first in singles and put Woad eighth, positions that allowed each player to change the shape of her week.
The final score was close enough to fit the Solheim Cup’s history, but Sunday did not feel like a coin flip. Europe’s advantage came from different places: Hull winning at the front, three rookie wins through the middle, and Ciganda delivering the point that removed the remaining arithmetic. The Americans won five singles matches, yet only Lee and Korda scored among the first eight pairings. By the time the bottom of Angela Stanford’s lineup added points, Europe was celebrating.
IRISH OPEN: Lowry Turns Four Shots Into Eleven
The Chase Ends Before the Turn
The Irish Open produced a different kind of Sunday. Lowry began with a four-shot lead over Jacob Skov Olesen and made a 16-foot birdie at the first. Olesen bogeyed the second, and the margin was six before the final pairing reached the third tee. Lowry then birdied Nos. 5, 7 and 8, reaching 20 under while the players behind him competed for second.
Patrick Reed made six birdies in his first 10 holes and climbed to 12 under. On most Sundays, that run would have forced the leader to notice. A bogey — his only one of the round — briefly cut Lowry’s lead to seven, but a tap-in birdie at the 10th restored an eight-shot margin. Birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 pushed the lead to 10.
One More Birdie for the Record
Lowry carried that cushion to the last and still found one more shot. His 29-foot birdie putt gave him a closing 63, a 23-under total and an 11-stroke victory over Reed and Joaquin Niemann. The margin surpassed the previous tournament record set by Bernhard Langer at Portmarnock in 1987.
Reed parred his final eight holes after reaching 12 under, while Niemann joined him with a closing 67. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen shot 63 to finish alone in fourth at 11 under. Those were excellent Sunday scores. Lowry’s advantage kept each of them from changing the name at the top of the leaderboard.
Seventeen Years Between Irish Open Wins
Friday had supplied the week’s first warning. Lowry’s course-record 62 moved him to 11 under and three clear at the halfway point. He added to that advantage Saturday, then made eight birdies against one bogey in the final round. His seventh DP World Tour title became his second Irish Open victory, 17 years after he won at County Louth while still an amateur.
The home element will shape how both victories are remembered. Europe fed off a crowd that saw its side take control match by match. Lowry gave Irish supporters a runaway and kept attacking after the outcome had stopped being a serious question. One winner needed roster depth across 12 singles matches. The other made the leaderboard feel like it belonged to one player.
The Closing Thought
The cup lift and the trophy presentation will last in the photographs. The more useful record of Sunday lives a few minutes earlier: Nordqvist sending Hull first after a difficult pairing week, Woad reaching the 17th after Kim had made three straight birdies, and Lowry walking to the 18th with 10 shots in hand before rolling in a 29-footer.
The margins were nothing alike. Europe still had points to find, while Lowry had long since removed the chase. Neither winner spent the final day waiting for the ending to arrive.