Leona Maguire was back to her brilliant best in the afternoon fourball matches as she and Charley Hull ran out comprehensive 4&3 winners over Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing to secure a point that took Europe, for a while at least, back within one having trailed 4-0 after Friday’s opening session.
Out of sorts in the foursomes matches, particularly on the back nine when she lost a lot of shots to the right, she was a different prospect entirely in the afternoon and she attributes Hull’s energy as one of the primary reasons.
“Yeah, I really struggled on the back nine this morning,” she admitted, “but I suppose that’s match play, that’s team golf. You dust yourself off and you go out again.
“I think this was a pairing, me and Charley, I’ve been looking forward to for awhile.” She went on to add: “I think that was something I said to Suzann; I needed someone with energy for this afternoon, and Charley has lots of it. So, yeah, we had a lot of fun, lots of chats, lots of good times with the caddies, and so it was just a really enjoyable walk out there.”
Hull was full of praise for her partner who birdied seven of the 15 holes and gave their opponents no chance to build any momentum. “She played unbelievable,” Hull said. “It was great. It was an honor to play with her. We got on really well. She’s done herself proud.”
“Leona kind of started us off pretty strong she played brilliant today and you couldn’t really break her down,” she added.
.@leona_maguire wedge game 💯#TeamEurope | #SolheimCup pic.twitter.com/daB33bi2AD
— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) September 23, 2023
Resisting the temptation to rest on her star performers who looked a little jaded, Suzann Pettersen kept faith in Maguire who had now lost both of her foursomes matches, and sent them out with a simple message.
“Come out, get your point, simple as,” Maguire explained. “She said, “Do what I do,” and that would be get a point. So, yeah, it was nice to get out early and get off early with Charley and just really never give the Americans a chance to have a sniff at it.”
With three matches still up for grabs at the time and Europe looking strong to win the session and potentially tie the match overall going into the singles, Maguire is relishing the opportunity to have another go in the singles and feels that Europe will fight until the bitter end.
“One more day to give it our best shot,” she said, “and I think that’s the great thing about this team, there’s so much fight in this team. We’ve never given up. We believe in each other, and hopefully, we can come on strong this afternoon and we’ll give it our best go tomorrow.”
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