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GLENEAGLES, Scotland – After a day of extraordinary returns, twitches at the 18th hole and some of the most brutal weather conditions in the history of the Solheim Cup, nothing can separate Europe and the United States to Gleneagles.
It is 8-8 towards the last singles and there is no way to know how this one will fall.
He was just gone at 7 pm On Saturday, local time, when Danielle Kang scored a long shot in the shadows to win the last match of the four afternoon balls for the United States at the 17th hole, depriving the Europeans of the head.
Kang hugged his playmate, Lizette Salas, who wore giant ear protectors and a thick coat. They were congratulated by American captain Juli Inskster, who wore three hats. The golf cars parked around the green had their lights on.
It was one of those days when bullets were falling off T-shirts and police officers wandering the course were seen holding their hats.
"I'm sure they would like to play in Spain right now," Inkster said of the players. "But we are here."
This is the first time since 2011 in Ireland that Europe and the United States are linked to singles. The Europeans then lifted the cup that year and tried to prevent the victory of three rounds of the United States in the first women's team tournament.
After sharing both morning 2-2 teams, leaving Europe with a 6 1 / 2-5 1/2 lead, Inkster made the bold decision to let the three undefeated players of his team rest for the first time. four balls. The Korda sisters, who had just won a record 6 and 5 win, and Morgan Pressel, who won seven of his nine holes with Marina Alex, came through to a 2-1 win.
Inkster came out of her "pod" system that guided her in her selection and trusted the cooler players to bring home points in winds reaching 44 mph (70 km / h).
The United States won the four balls 2 1 / 2-1 1/2, with the match between Kang and Salas – the winners of the double against Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz – the only one not to reach the 18th hole.
Brittany Altomare and Annie Park took a 1-up win in the match against Anne van Dam and Suzann Pettersen, who left a short 15-foot putt on the last goal that would have earned Europe a half-point .
Caroline Masson saw a curling putt on number 18 while her European teammate Jodi Ewart Shadoff was content to half a point against Alex and Lexi Thompson, the world number 3 who has still not winning a match this week. .
Then, in the third match, Georgia Hall and Celine Boutier won the last five holes to recover by 3 points and get a 2-point win for Europe against Ally McDonald and Angel Yin. Hall and Boutier played together in three games and won them all.
"The weather was horrible, I could not stand up," said Hall, British British Open champion last year. "At nine, we started and played a very good golf."
The slowness of the game was another feature and each of the four ball games lasted more than 5 and a half hours. Ciganda and Salas were both warned by the referee of the bad weather and each match was timed.
"We are playing for our country and we are playing in these kinds of conditions, so we are playing as fast as we can," said Thompson, who said the weather was "definitely the hardest I've ever seen." . "
"We do not want to be there before six o'clock, but we have a lot to do."
Indeed, what is at stake for the Americans is a third consecutive victory – the third time they realize such a series – and an 11-5 lead in the final series. It would be an amazing feat for a team that has a record six rookies and for Inkster, who would become the first American captain to win three wins.
Inkster said his players would play music – "I'm from Motown to Sam Smith to Khalid, Bruno Mars to Temptations, "she says – and" relax "rather than giving a motivational speech.
As for European captain Catriona Matthew, she thinks Sunday can go both ways.
"The first two days, you can see that there is not much to choose between the two teams," she said. "So we start with a lot of confidence that we can do it."
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