Key events<\/p>\n
Yealimi Noh, the best player on show this afternoon, knocks her approach at 13 to 12 feet. She ticked nine birdies in 13 holes earlier in the round. Not one golfer has achieved that on the LPGA this season. That\u2019s how hot her golf has been today.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n The par-five 16th was highlighted as a key hole this week. It\u2019s a par-five with water in front of the green. Maja Stark has just avoided heather with her drive and has a risky thrash with her second. It finds that water.<\/p>\n Now Megan Khang. Her blow just about finds the putting surface and gives her playing partner, Lauren Coughlin, freedom. She makes the most of it by taking aim at the flag and leaing herself about 20-feet for eagle. What can Linn Grant respond with? She goes through the green. Not bad, but the Americans, 2DOWN, have a chance of extending the match.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Andrea Lee has joined Yealimi Noh at the party. Her 15 foot birdie at 13 takes the US pair 2UP on Lottie Woad and Charley Hull. It\u2019s only the third counting score made by Lee today and the first that has won a hole.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Maja Stark has drained another sensational shot. \u201cAwesome,\u201d cries team mate Julia Lopez Ramirez as the Swede\u2019s rollercoaster putt at 15 drops. Lauren Coughlin matches her birdie from four feet. The match is hurrying to a conclusion.<\/p>\n 2UP Stark\/Grant v Khang\/Coughlin (15) Share<\/a><\/p>\n Linn Grant loves a home Solheim Cup<\/a>. She went 3-2-0 on debut in Spain, 0-4-0 in Virginia in 2024, and now she\u2019s firing again. 2-0-0 until lunchtime, 2UP in the top match and she\u2019s played a great shot into the par-three 15th. Huge smile on her face and entirely justified in a noisy corner of the course.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.57 EDT<\/p>\n The party feel here in Den Bosch is appropriate. The city has a famous annual carnival which transforms it into a village called Oeteldonk. Yes, for one week it has a completely different name.<\/p>\n The carnival history stretches back to the Middle Ages. The Solheim Cup<\/a> is a little younger – it was first held in 1990.<\/p>\n Can Lottie Woad add to the vibe? She has a birdie putt at 12 to pull level with Yealimi Noh and Andrea Lee \u2026 but it hits the hole and spins out. Carnival cancelled. Only briefly. Celine Boutier chips in for birdie at 10. It\u2019s giddy stuff.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n There is a lot of noise on the course currently. And Morgan Pressel notes that the holes are very tight at this point on the back nine. I was out there earlier and it\u2019s true. There are vantage points that allow you to watch two holes at once. The fans are thriving on it.<\/p>\n Rose Zhang slams a 10 foot birdie putt at 11 into the hole. She\u2019s now 3UP with Auston Kim on Europe\u2019s Irish-French combo of Leona Maguire and Nastasia Nadaud.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n An eagle-3 for Rose Zhang allows her and Auston Kim to edge 2UP on Leona Maguire and Nastasia Nadaud. Zhang has struggled a little this week, perhaps being a little careful having come into the week with injury concerns.<\/p>\n The other injury concern of the week was Angel Yin who has played just once and is currently on the range trying to find something for the singles.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Maja Stark makes birdie at 13, the third in a row for the Swedes. Big roars. And plenty, too, when the Americans cannot match it. She and Linn Grant now lead 2UP in the top match.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n There\u2019s a lovely sense of the Surrey heathland about Bernardus Golf<\/a>. Nowhere more so than the par-three 11th hole. The trees, the heather, the little ditch, the grass colour. Lottie Woad\u2019s family know it. \u201cIt\u2019s like Hankley Common,\u201d they said this morning. But she hasn\u2019t quite clicked on land that ought to make her feel right at home.<\/p>\n On the green, Woad and Charley Hull miss birdie putts. So does Andrea Lee. Can Yealimi Noh convert from seven feet? No, she lips out!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n At the par-three 11th Yealimi Noh doesn\u2019t think much of her tee shot – and yet it settles only 8 feet from the flag. She\u2019s not been becalmed for long.<\/p>\n Every match has only one hole in it. The next three hours promise to be dramatic. Europe could build a significant lead. America could pull level. And the visitors could even sneak clear ahead of the singles. It\u2019s game on.<\/p>\n 1UP Stark\/Grant v Khang\/Coughlin (12) Share<\/a><\/p>\n Turnaround at the top. Linn Grant\u2019s approach to 12 is conceded and the birdie earns a win. The Swedes hit the 11th tee 1DOWN and they leave the 12th green 1UP.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Lottie Woad reduces her deficit in match two. She and Charley Hull are now only 1DOWN up against the becalmed Yealimi Noh.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n If Yealimi Noh is a match play machine, Leona Maguire is a match play machine. Her Cup record reads 10-3-1 and this morning she became the fastest to 10 wins in matches played (13). The previous best was 15 by Nelly Korda and Dottie Pepper.<\/p>\n Maguire now makes a short birdie putt at 9 to win the hole. Added to her eagle-2 at 8, the deficit in match three is down to one hole.<\/p>\n Stark\/Grant A\/S Khang\/Coughlin (11) Share<\/a><\/p>\n The top match is all square again. Linn Grant drains a 10 foot birdie putt at the par-three 11th. It\u2019s a tremendous scrap there between two excellent and in-form combinations: Grant and Maja Stark, Lauren Coughlin and Megan Khang.<\/p>\n Stark told me earlier this week: \u201cAhead of my first Solheim Cup<\/a> I had played lots of team sports and I thought I was a quiet competitor. Then all of a sudden I was playing in the Solheim Cup and I didn\u2019t really recognise myself. I was screaming, and shouting, and reacting to every shot I hit or my partner hit. It was not just an adrenalin rush like I\u2019ve never experienced before, it actually transformed me.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked myself why it happens and I think it\u2019s because you\u2019re not just playing for yourself, you\u2019re playing for the continent, your team and also for the wider LET staff because I was chatting to them earlier today and learning how hard they work all week.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of them are sleeping only two or three hours a night \u2013 and they\u2019re doing that to make our life easier this week. I\u2019ll be thinking of them this week \u2013 and playing for them, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Playing rather well for them.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.06 EDT<\/p>\n By the way, Charley Hull and Lottie Woad are the first ever Solheim Cup<\/a> combination to play four sessions together. If that\u2019s surprising, the fact they\u2019ve only claimed half a point thus far makes it all the more so. They need to stop the Yealimi Noh birdie train to change that situation.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Yealimi Noh made 11 birdies in 16 holes to defeat Miyu Yamashita in last year\u2019s LPGA International Crown. She has now added another birdie at 9. That\u2019s six today and another five in her last nine holes yesterday.<\/p>\n She\u2019s a match play machine.<\/p>\n She is now 2UP on Charley Hull and Lottie Woad. In practice, of course, Andrea Lee is also in that position. But, as yesterday, Noh is more or less playing the English pair on her own \u2013 and doing it very well.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Leona Maguire delivers a Katie Taylor combination in response to a drained pitch. A swift one-two flattens fresh air and secures the eagle-2 at the short par-four 8th \u2013 and with it the hole is won. She and Nastasia nadaud are now 2DOWN in the third match. Tremendous excitement among the many Irish in the galleries.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Looks like Angel Yin, who isn\u2019t playing today, has channelled Evel Knievel and Elvis when choosing her outfit for the day. Photograph: Alastair Grant\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Eagle-2 for Yealimi Noh at 8. It\u2019s almost getting silly how well she\u2019s playing. At the 274-yard par-four she drove the green and then her putt tracked unerringly towards the pin, hit it, and plopped down into the cup. A far more restrained reaction from the Californian valley girl \u2013 at least in comparison with the feisty Carlota Ciganda.<\/p>\n Noh is now 10-under through her last 17 holes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Carlota Ciganda, not content with draining a big winning birdie putt at 5, does it again at 6. This one is from 35 feet, and drops down a level into a bowl area of the green. It takes Europe 2UP in the final match of the day. Fist pump from the Spaniard.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.33 EDT<\/p>\n The first fourball has hit the turn. The Swedish combination of Linn Grant and Maja Stark have secured par \u2013 and Lauren Coughlin joins them to remain 1UP alongside Megan Khang.<\/p>\n US captain Angel Stanford received a lot of criticism for handing Khang a wildcard. Her form was undoubtedly poor, but she has yet again proved herself a transformed golfer when wearing Team USA uniform.<\/p>\n Stark\/Grant v Khang\/Coughlin 1UP (9) Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.28 EDT<\/p>\n Lottie Woad drains a 10 foot birdie putt at 7 \u2013 and Yealimi Noh follows her in for the half. It\u2019s Noh\u2019s fourth par breaker of the day (and 10th in her last 17 holes).<\/p>\n Meanwhile Carlota Ciganda buries a 28 foot birdie putt at 5. It wins the hole. She and Celine Boutier move 1UP on Jennifer Kupcho and Lindy Duncan.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Rose Zhang has joined Auston Kim in making birdies in match three. A birdie at 5 sent the pair 3UP against Leona Maguire and Nastasia Nadaud. But can they make if five in a row at 6? They both have 10 feet tries but they slip past the hole.<\/p>\n They remain in control of that match, however.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Esther Henseleit played two magnificent chips and one outrageously good approach to help Europe win a foursomes point this morning. But her close putting was poor and she\u2019s currently on the practice putting green doing her best to sort out her strike ahead of the singles.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Who doesn\u2019t love a short par-four? The 274-yard 8th is a cracker and Lauren Coughlin finds the green with a terrific strike in the top match. But Linn Grant betters it, running her ball through and along the contours.<\/p>\n Back on 6 Charley Hull drains a winning birdie from 10 feet. She and Lottie Woad are now all square in the second match.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n This is only her second match of the week but Yealimi Noh is one of the stars of this week. She was superb yesterday, pinching a half with Hull and Woad when her partner Angel Yin was all over the shop. She\u2019s made three birdies in five holes today to take a 1UP lead with Andrea Lee over Hull and Woad (again). Sophie Walker on TV says Noh is \u201cstriping it\u201d.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve talked her up far too much, of course. At the par-three 6th she double crosses herself and finds the bunker back left. Sorry about that Yealimi.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Team USA badly need a strong comeback from a weak third session which left Europe leading 7-5.<\/p>\n Since 1998, teams that lead at the end of third session have an overall Solheim Cup<\/a> record of 11-1-1. That\u2019s significant. Mesnwhile, a Carlota Ciganda birdie in the bottom match has pulled that match all square.<\/p>\n Stark\/Grant v Khang\/Coughlin 1UP (6) Megan Khang of the United States plays from a bunker near the 6th green. Photograph: Alastair Grant\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.59 EDT<\/p>\n Chip in time for Auston Kim. The big hitter proves that she has touch around the green with a delicately played pitch over the edge of a bunker and across the green. Lots of noise from the American galleries and that\u2019s two birdies in a row for Kim. She and Rose Zhang lead Leona Maguire and Nastasia Nadaud 2UP.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe real Charley Hull has just stood up,\u201d cried Alison Whitaker on commentary. She\u2019s finally drained a putt, to win the 4th and bring the second match all square. A smile from the English veteran which is a welcome sight given that she\u2019s been so introverted all week.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The pressure is on the Swedes in the top match. At the par-five 5th they both find the green in three blows and have outside chances of birdie. But the Americans Megan Khang and Lauren Coughlin are inside both of them so favourite to move further clear.<\/p>\n Maja Stark misses with a bold bid from 20 feet then Linn Grant makes no mistake from 10 feet. Pressure withstood. Moreover, Khang fails to match her so it\u2019s up to Coughlin again \u2026 and she makes no mistake.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Lauren Coughlin, by the way, has become the first American to play all five sessions since Paula Creamer in 2011. This week\u2019s host course \u2013 Bernardus \u2013 is a Kyle Phillips design and Coughlin has been a winner of the Scottish Open on his redesign as Dundonald Links.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Lauren Coughlin wins the par-three 4th with a birdie to kick clear in the top match. Then Yealimi Noh drains an 18 foot birdie putt to win the 3rd in the second game. An early advantage for Team USA and the galleries are the quietest they\u2019ve been all day.<\/p>\n Stark\/Grant A\/S Khang\/Coughlin 1UP (4) Share<\/a><\/p>\n Can the US team edge clear on 1? Yes! Jennifer Kupcho drains a 12 foot birdie putt and they gain an early lead. On commentary Morgan Pressel approves. \u201cThat\u2019s the first fist pump we\u2019ve seen from Jennifer this week,\u201d she says. There\u2019s more than a touch of a disapproving teacher in the manner of Pressel.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Carlota Ciganda is in the last fourball out again. It\u2019s no coincidence because she\u2019s slow. It makes plenty of watchers \u2026 twitchy, shall we say?<\/p>\n Stark\/Grant A\/S Khang\/Coughlin (3) Europe\u2019s Carlota Ciganda tees off on the first hole during the Saturday afternoon fourball matches. Photograph: Kate McShane\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.07 EDT<\/p>\n Two chances for the Americans at 3 after both Swedes fail to make birdie. First up is Megan Khang from five feet. It slips by the hole. No mistake from Lauren Coughlin, however. The match is now all square.<\/p>\n Meanwhile back at the 1st tee, final action for the big crowds there as they cheer on Carlota Ciganda and Celine Boutier for Europe, and Lindy Duncan and Jennifer Kupcho for the Americans.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.53 EDT<\/p>\n Nastasia Nadaud and Leona Maguire are up against Rose Zhang and Auston Kim in the 3rd match out. None of them scaring the hole with their approach shots, however. Up ahead at 3, the American duo of Lauren Coughlin and Megan Khang are both in close with Maja Stark just outside them.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Yealimi Noh and Charley Hull set up short range birdie opportunities at the 1st, peppering the flag. It\u2019s a duel between the pair and Hull is up first from 7 feet \u2013 but she guns it past the hole. So to Noh, who more or less took this English pair on single handedly in yesterday\u2019s halved match (her partner Angel Yin struggled after the first few holes). She also misses, from 6 feet, so the hole is halved.<\/p>\n 1UP Stark\/Grant v Khang\/Coughlin (2) Share<\/a><\/p>\n Back on the 1st tee. Lottie Woad and Charley Hull, the misfiring English duo, are delighted when they spot team mates Esther Henseleit and Mimi Rhodes in among the singing galleries in the grandstand. It\u2019s just about the first time Charley Hull has been smiling this week. She\u2019s been very subdued. The obvious explanation is that she\u2019s not A1. But there\u2019s also a sense that she\u2019s trying to keep everything under control and actually just inhibiting herself.<\/p>\n They\u2019re up against Yealimi Noh \u2013 a star of yesterday afternoon \u2013 and Andrea Lee. Hull thrashes her ball down the fairway \u2013 can she shed those inhibitions and play to her potential?<\/p>\n
Woad\/Hull v Noh\/An. Lee 1UP (12)
Nadaud\/Maguire v Zhang\/Kim 3UP (11)
1UP Ciganda\/Boutier v Kupcho\/Duncan (11)<\/p>\n
Woad\/Hull v Noh\/An. Lee 1UP (10)
Nadaud\/Maguire v Zhang\/Kim 1UP (9)
1UP Ciganda\/Boutier v Kupcho\/Duncan (8)<\/p>\n
Woad\/Hull v Noh\/An. Lee 2UP (9)
Nadaud\/Maguire v Zhang\/Kim 1UP (9)
1UP Ciganda\/Boutier v Kupcho\/Duncan (8)<\/p>\n
Woad\/Hull A\/S Noh\/An. Lee (7)
Nadaud\/Maguire A.S Zhang\/Kim 3UP (6)
1UP Ciganda\/Boutier v Kupcho\/Duncan (5)<\/p>\n
Woad\/Hull A\/S Noh\/An. Lee (4)
Nadaud\/Maguire v Zhang\/Kim 2UP (4)
Ciganda\/Boutier A\/S Kupcho\/Duncan (3)<\/p>\n
Woad\/Hull A\/S Noh\/An. Lee 1UP (3)
Nadaud\/Maguire A.S Zhang\/Kim (2)
Ciganda\/Boutier v Kupcho\/Duncan 1UP (1)<\/p>\n
Woad\/Hull A\/S Noh\/An. Lee (2)
Nadaud\/Maguire A.S Zhang\/Kim (1)
Ciganda\/Boutier v Kupcho\/Duncan<\/p>\n
Woad\/Hull v Noh\/An. Lee (1)<\/p>\n