Europeans stage a comeback to claim Junior Solheim Cup

Facing a four-point deficit heading into Thursday’s singles matches, the European side staged a massive singles comeback, picking up nine points during the 12 singles matches to win the PING Junior Solheim Cup, held at Ohio’s Sylvania Country Club, by a final score of 13-11.

12 matches on deck.
12 points up for grabs.

One #JrSolheimCup 🇪🇺🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/rJi9z3iuim

— AJGA (@AJGAGolf) September 2, 2021

After an alternating 3-3 split during Wednesday morning’s four-ball matches, it appeared that the American side would be en route to their fifth consecutive Junior Solheim Cup victory, capturing five of the six possible points in the afternoon foursomes, to finish the first day leading by a margin of 8-4.

The Americans struck first on the scoreboard on Thursday in Match No. 2, as Anna Davis (Spring Valley, Calif.) was able to extend the leading margin to five points for the Americans, going two up through four holes and never looking back, defeating Spain’s Andrea Revuelta5&4, the largest winning margin during the singles matches.

Germany’s Paula Schulz-Hanssen won holes 16 and 17 over California’s Catherine Rao in Match No. 1 to win Thursday’s first match by a final margin of 2&1, the first point of the day for the Europeans.

Match 3 between Yana Wilson (Henderson, Nev.) and Spain’s Cayetana Fernandezwas halved with a clinching putt by Wilson to make the margin 9.5-5.5, and then all of the momentum began to shift in favor of the Europeans. The next several points on the scoreboard all went to the European side, with none of the matches lasting the full 18 holes.

The European Junior Solheim Cup Team with Captain Annika Sorenstam, Photo: AJGA

Sweden’s Meja Ortengren overcame a four-hole deficit at the turn, winning six of eight holes on the inward nine to defeat Jacksonville, Fla.’s Kaitlyn Schroeder in Match No. 4 by a final margin of 2 and 1. Ortengren’s fellow Swede Nora Sundberg was able to hold onto a lead for most of her match over Bailey Shoemaker (West Edmeston, N.Y.), ending Match No. 5 with a final margin of 3 and 1. France’s Variana Heck used back-to-back-to-back wins on holes 11, 12, and 13 of Match No. 6 to gain a three-hole lead over New Jersey’s Katie Li, in a match that ended 2&1 in favor of the Europeans.

At the halfway point of the singles rounds, the Europeans had gained 3 full points on the Americans, trailing by one point. Following Match No. 7, as Italy’sFrancesca Fiorellinidefeated California’s Kelly Xu, the standings were tied at 9.5 apiece. The next several points also went in favor of the Europeans (Constance Fouillet (France) def. Avery Zweig (McKinney, Tex.) 5&3, Helen Briem (Germany) def. Alexa Pano (Lake Worth, Fla.) 4&3), and the morning’s 8-4 margin in favor of the American side now stood 11.5-9.5 in favor of the Euros.

🇪🇺 OLE OLE OLE 🇪🇺

The celebrations for #TeamEurope are underway 🙌#JrSolheimCup pic.twitter.com/CovQY44bBL

— Solheim Cup Team Europe (@SolheimCupEuro) September 2, 2021

The deciding match proved to be Match No. 8, where the Czech Republic’s Denisa Vodkickova defeated Sara Im (Duluth, Ga.) by a final margin of 2 and 1 to give the European side the needed 12.5 points for victory, their third-ever Junior Solheim Cup, and first ever on United States’ soil. It was the first win for the European side in the Junior Solheim Cup since 2007, where they defeated the Americans by a final margin of 14-10.