LODDEKOPINGE, Sweden -- Annika Sörenstam and Suzann Pettersen denied the Americans another rally Saturday, each making birdies on the final two holes for a 1-up victory that gave Europe a three-point lead entering the final round.
In a spectacular conclusion to a day when emotions started to run high, the United States was poised to take three of four better-ball matches, just as it had done Friday to keep the score close.
It all unraveled on the final two holes.
With Laura Diaz having already birdied the 17th, Sörenstam rolled in a 20-foot putt from the fringe. When the putt dropped, she leaped so high that she lost control of her putter.
With the match all square going to the 18th, Diaz again came through in the clutch -- but only momentarily.
She hit her approach to 4 feet, while Sörenstam followed with a shot within 6 feet. Pettersen, the only player who hasn't lost a match at Barseback Golf & Country Club, was 15 feet away.
Kelly Robbins was on the other side of the green, 50 feet away, meaning it was the Americans' turn to putt. They elected to have Diaz go first, with hopes she would make the putt and apply enormous pressure on Europe.
But Diaz badly pulled her putt, and Pettersen started charging across the green before her putt even got to the hole. When it dropped, about 15,000 fans roared and Pettersen leapt into Sorenstam's arms.
Across the green, Diaz wept as her husband consoled her.
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| Europe's Suzann Pettersen and Annika Sörenstam celebrate their win Saturday. (AP) |
The Americans have never won after trailing by more than two points going into the singles at the Solheim Cup. A year ago, they were down 9-7 before capturing 8½ points at Interlachen in Minnesota to win.
Still, some of their stars were starting to shine.
Juli Inkster and Beth Daniel resumed their Hall-of-Fame pairing and blasted Mhairi McKay and Anna Belen-Sanchez, who were playing their first matches. Inkster and Daniel won 5 and 4, the biggest rout of this Solheim Cup.
The lift came from Kelli Kuehne and Cristie Kerr, who took turns hitting clutch shots in a 2 and 1 victory over Laura Davies and Sophie Gustafson.
Kuehne hit a wedge from the left rough on the par-5 16th into 4 feet for birdie and a 1-up lead, and Kerr closed the match with a 6-iron from 150 yards that stopped inside 2 feet, a birdie that was conceded.
That's when tensions started running high.
Kerr, who has never lacked for confidence despite only one LPGA victory, was celebrating as she walked closer to the green and saw how good her shot was. Her caddie, Worth Blackwelder, raised his hands repeatedly to egg on the small group of Americans in the gallery.
"I don't mind losing, but only to the best," Davies said to her caddie, as Gustafson lined up a 25-foot putt that would have extended the match.
Janice Moodie and Catriona Matthew went 3-0 as a Scottish tandem by never trailing in a 4 and 3 victory over Rosie Jones and Wendy Ward. Ward is 0-3 this week, while Diaz and Heather Bowie are 0-2.
The final match was the best one, and it got better and more tense with each shot.
It started on the 16th, with the match even. Pettersen hit a wedge that spun and stopped within 5 feet of the cup. Robbins, unflappable as always, chipped into the glaring sun to about 4 feet, and it appeared the hole would be a routine halve.
Pettersen holed her putt, and Diaz rolled a 20-footer from off the green about 5 feet by the hole, right on Robbins' line. She began to mark it, but Sörenstam wisely conceded. Diaz continued to line up her marker.
"It's good. It's for par," Sörenstam called out to her. Because Europe was already in the hole for birdie, the United States could not take a putt for a score higher.
"I know what it's for," Diaz barked back.
She picked up her coin and, even after Robbins easily holed the birdie putt, Diaz complained all the way to the 17th tee and even brought a rules official for clarification.
Then, Diaz hit two great shots in the 17th and 18th. The final one was so good that she raised her arms and walked to the green, only Sörenstam and Pettersen had not hit their shots yet -- and both were so good, the gallery was deafening as the Europeans jogged to the green.
Diaz, euphoric moments earlier, was distraught when the match ended.
At least the Americans still have a shot. They traditionally are better playing their own ball, and this week was proof of that.
Robbins produced more clutch shots, including a chip that hit the flag for a crucial halve on the 17th hole of her alternate-shot match, to earn a halve with Meg Mallon over Moodie and Matthew.
Michele Redman and Angela Stanford also earned a halve over Elisabeth Esterl and Iben Tinning.
But the others were a rout -- Gustafson and Petterson over Kuehne and Kerr, 3 and 1; and Sörenstam and Koch over Ward and Bowie, 3 and 2.
That meant the Americans failed to win an alternate-shot match in both sessions for the first time since the Solheim Cup began in 1990. And it meant they had a big deficit waiting for them Sunday.
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