CROMVOIRT, Netherlands — The United States retained the PING Junior Solheim Cup on Tuesday, but only after Europe turned a rout into a genuine scare, winning eight and a half of the 12 singles points at Bernardus Golf before falling 13-11.
Morgan Pressel's team arrived at the first tee needing just 2½ points from the session. It took most of the afternoon to find them. Eliana Saga's 4-and-3 win over Adriana Garcia Terol and Madeleine Conser's 5-and-4 dismantling of Lana Guyot moved the Americans within half a point, and Kelly Zhang closed it out with a 2-up win over Carolina Pérez-Tasso.
Everything else went Europe's way. Anne van Dam's side won eight of the remaining nine singles matches and halved the other, a run that briefly put the largest comeback in the event's 14-edition history within reach.
Tuesday singles: Europe 8½, United States 3½
| Match | United States | Europe | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Asterisk Talley | Annabel Peaford | Europe, 1 up |
| 2 | Eliana Saga | Adriana Garcia Terol | USA, 4 & 3 |
| 3 | Amber Lee | Lauren Crump | Europe, 3 & 2 |
| 4 | Grace Carter | Anna Ludvová | Europe, 2 & 1 |
| 5 | Madeleine Conser | Lana Guyot | USA, 5 & 4 |
| 6 | Aubrey Hilgers | Lena Geier | Europe, 2 up |
| 7 | Kelly Zhang | Carolina Pérez-Tasso | USA, 2 up |
| 8 | Amelie Zalsman | Sofia Maier-Borst | Europe, 2 & 1 |
| 9 | Honorine Ferry | Axelle Guillemard | Europe, 3 & 2 |
| 10 | Iris Lee | Carlota López Minguela | Europe, 3 & 2 |
| 11 | Anna Fang | Marta Muñoz | Halved |
| 12 | Lily Peng | Alice Kong | Europe, 1 up |
The bellwether was the top match. Asterisk Talley, the world's top-ranked amateur, stood 2 up through 14 holes against Annabel Peaford and lost three of the last four, the English player closing with a birdie at the 18th to take it 1 up. It was the sort of result that, had it landed an hour earlier, would have made the closing stretch far more uncomfortable for the Americans.
How Monday built the cushion
Europe's problem was that it spent Tuesday paying off a debt it ran up on day one. The United States won the opening foursomes session 5-1, then took the afternoon fourballs 4½-1½ to close Monday leading 9½-2½ — a seven-point margin, and the reason an 8½-point singles session still was not enough.
Monday foursomes: United States 5, Europe 1
| Match | United States | Europe | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Asterisk Talley / Amelie Zalsman | Alice Kong / Axelle Guillemard | USA, 6 & 4 |
| 2 | Eliana Saga / Kelly Zhang | Lauren Crump / Annabel Peaford | USA, 1 up |
| 3 | Grace Carter / Iris Lee | Adriana Garcia Terol / Carolina Pérez-Tasso | USA, 2 up |
| 4 | Madeleine Conser / Aubrey Hilgers | Carlota López Minguela / Marta Muñoz | USA, 4 & 3 |
| 5 | Anna Fang / Lily Peng | Anna Ludvová / Lana Guyot | Europe, 2 & 1 |
| 6 | Honorine Ferry / Amber Lee | Sofia Maier-Borst / Lena Geier | USA, 1 up |
Three of those matches were won at the 18th hole. "We won 18 three times this morning, which was huge," Pressel said.
Monday fourballs: United States 4½, Europe 1½
| Match | United States | Europe | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anna Fang / Asterisk Talley | Lauren Crump / Annabel Peaford | Halved |
| 2 | Iris Lee / Kelly Zhang | Alice Kong / Axelle Guillemard | USA, 3 & 2 |
| 3 | Eliana Saga / Grace Carter | Carlota López Minguela / Marta Muñoz | USA |
| 4 | Lily Peng / Amelie Zalsman | Carolina Pérez-Tasso / Adriana Garcia Terol | Europe, 4 & 3 |
| 5 | Honorine Ferry / Amber Lee | Anna Ludvová / Lana Guyot | USA |
| 6 | Aubrey Hilgers / Madeleine Conser | Sofia Maier-Borst / Lena Geier | USA |
A first for the two Cups
This was the first time the PING Junior Solheim Cup and the Solheim Cup have been contested on the same golf course in the same week. The juniors played Monday and Tuesday; the professionals take over the Kyle Phillips design from Friday through Sunday, September 11-13, with Anna Nordqvist captaining Europe and Angela Stanford leading the United States.
There was a second first attached to the week. Van Dam served as a PING Junior Solheim Cup captain while also working as one of Nordqvist's Solheim Cup vice-captains — no one had held both roles concurrently before. Bronte Law, a former Junior Solheim Cup teammate of Van Dam's, was her assistant with the juniors.
Bernardus Golf opened in 2018 and hosted the Dutch Open on the European tour from 2021 through 2023. It had never staged a match of this scale before this week.
The teams
United States (captain: Morgan Pressel)
- Grace Carter
- Madeleine Conser
- Anna Fang
- Honorine Ferry
- Aubrey Hilgers
- Amber Lee
- Iris Lee
- Lily Peng
- Eliana Saga
- Asterisk Talley
- Amelie Zalsman
- Kelly Zhang
Europe (captain: Anne van Dam)
- Lauren Crump
- Lena Geier
- Adriana Garcia Terol
- Axelle Guillemard
- Lana Guyot
- Alice Kong
- Carlota López Minguela
- Anna Ludvová
- Sofia Maier-Borst
- Marta Muñoz
- Annabel Peaford
- Carolina Pérez-Tasso
Format and history
The PING Junior Solheim Cup is contested by 12 girls per side, ages 12 to 18, over six foursomes, six fourballs and 12 singles matches. Twenty-four points are available; the holder retains with 12. College golfers are ineligible regardless of age.
John Solheim established the match in 2002, and its alumni list has become an argument for the event's value on its own: Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Charley Hull and Carlota Ciganda all played here before graduating to the senior competition. The result moves the United States to 9-4-1 in the all-time series, following an 18½-5½ win at Army Navy Country Club in 2024.
