Staff USA received the Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership 15-5-12.5.
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GAINESVILLE, Va. — Coming into Sunday singles at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership, the U.S. workforce appeared prefer it was on its approach to a stress-free Solheim Cup-winning Sunday. With a 10-6 lead — and dominant performances from their largest stars — it felt like a matter of when, not if, the Individuals would earn the successful level.
But because the latter half of the 12 singles matches performed the again 9, the Europeans had stolen again all of the momentum. Europe’s probabilities of retaining the Cup had been nonetheless slim, however with blue flooding the leaderboard, there was hope for the visiting workforce.
You would sense the anxiousness creeping into the American psyche. Nelly Korda stood simply off the sixteenth inexperienced and nervously checked her telephone each jiffy. Alison Lee sat on a chair behind the seventeenth inexperienced with an American flag draped over her knees and quietly chatted together with her teammates about how the matches wanted to complete for an American win. Lexi Thompson, seemingly enjoying in her closing Solheim Cup, choked again tears after shedding 1 all the way down to Celine Boutier.
That angst was relieved solely when Lilia Vu, enjoying within the third-to-last match of the day, cozied her closing strategy inside two toes of the cup on the 18th inexperienced, successfully clinching the Cup for the Individuals.
“I appeared on the leaderboard, noticed we had 14 factors, and like Stacy [Lewis] stated initially of the week, half factors matter,” Vu stated. “I solely had one objective: get it shut and get that birdie.”
The victorious U.S. workforce stormed the inexperienced, waving the celebs and stripes as they mobbed Vu and her caddie. It had been seven lengthy years since they final hoisted the Cup. Seven years of heartbreak and tears. Seven years of developing simply brief.
That is what catharsis seems like.
The U.S.’s successful second was not born in a single day. The journey to that 18th inexperienced celebration had begun greater than two years in the past, when Lewis was named the American captain. Her preliminary appointment was only for the 2023 match, however with only one yr between the 18th and nineteenth editions of the occasion (a trickle-down impact from Covid-19 postponements and cancelations), Lewis was tapped for back-to-back captaincies.
Lewis wasted no time shaping her technique. She poured herself into the job, researching tirelessly in hopes of concocting a successful system.
“I began doing analysis and studying, together with [Shane Ryan’s] e-book in regards to the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits,” Lewis instructed GOLF.com. “It talked so much about analytics — what the fellows do, the 2 totally different [analytics firms] the groups used. So we did conferences with each of them.”
In comparison with the lads’s sport, the highest tier of the ladies’s sport lags far behind in relation to analytics. Strokes-gained information (within the type of the KPMG Efficiency Insights platform) has been accessible on the LPGA solely since 2021, and all the information is manually tracked by caddies. For that purpose, there hadn’t been a lot reliance on superior analytics in Solheim Cups previous. Lewis sought to alter that.
The U.S. workforce retained sports activities intelligence firm Twenty First Group to supply perception and secured the providers of information guru Justin Ray, who serves because the KPMG Efficiency Insights lead information analyst. There can be no extra counting on intestine emotions and hunches to find out pairings. With Lewis on the helm, each resolution can be backed by information.
Lewis known as Ray a “large asset,” including, “He’s been an amazing buddy, and he loves his stats however he loves golf, and he loves watching this workforce compete.”
The U.S. received the foursomes periods in Spain 5-3 and continued its dominance at RTJ Membership with a 6-2 edge. For the primary time within the historical past of the occasion, the Individuals had received alternate shot in two straight Solheim Cups.
With Lewis main the workforce, what was as soon as a transparent weak point had change into an awesome power. And within the U.S.’s quest to reclaim the Cup, this shift in ways proved to be the distinction.
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The again 9 of Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership winds alongside the shore of Lake Manassas. It supplies beautiful visuals and has a many pure amphitheaters for prime viewing. For the U.S., this ending stretch was not only a lovely setting to place purple on the board, however was additionally essential run of holes that proved key for his or her foursomes dominance.
Should you take a look at the scorecards in these matches, you’ll see a definite sample emerge. The American foursomes groups had been comparatively quiet on the entrance 9, both falling behind or holding serve. After they reached the again 9, although, they shifted gears.
The U.S.’s back-nine dominance will not be a coincidence. Lewis and her analytics workforce recognized that stretch — particularly holes 10 via 14 — as part of the course on which they believed they might assert their dominance.
“There’s a six-hole stretch there on the again 9, sort of that 10 via 14, 15 stretch, I don’t even know what it’s — however there’s six holes in a row that you’d be hitting the birdie putts,” Lewis stated. “So we sort of put that as our deal with placing our higher putters on the chances. It allowed us to essentially benefit from that a part of the golf course, and that’s actually what our alternates pairings had been arrange for.”
With the most effective putters teeing off on the odd holes, the early portion of the again 9 grew to become a feasting floor for the Individuals. In the course of the two foursomes periods on that pivotal stretch, the Individuals received 26 holes, in comparison with simply 12 for the Europeans.
“It’s been a extremely essential stretch,” Lewis stated. “And I believe it confirmed largely in alternates.”
Lewis’ numbers-heavy strategy stood in stark distinction to her European counterpart, Suzann Pettersen. For as analytical because the Individuals had been, the Euro captain was equally reliant on feels.
“Does it seem like I’m a quantity particular person?” Pettersen stated. “It’s in all probability the largest distinction between Stacy and I.”
Regardless of the foursomes beatdown in two consecutive Cups, Pettersen refused to second-guess her strategy. Her instincts had been an instrumental asset in her enjoying profession, when she received two main titles, and he or she introduced that very same mentality to the workforce room.
The strategy had earned Pettersen’s workforce a tie and retention of the Cup in Spain, however on American soil, Lewis’ technique prevailed.
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Though the ultimate margin of this Solheim Cup learn 15.5-12.5, for a lot of Sunday afternoon, the consequence felt unsure. If one or two holes had gone in another way, it could properly have been the Europeans who had been celebrating.
“That was the longest hour and a half of my life, I’m not going to lie,” Lewis stated of watching the final a number of matches. “Simply actually nerve-racking. You felt fairly helpless.”
The U.S. dominated the primary two periods of the competitors, constructing a 6-2 lead that was the biggest Day 1 lead within the occasion’s historical past. However from that time ahead, the Europeans performed higher golf. Over the ultimate three periods, they outscored the Individuals 10.5 to 9.5.
However the Europeans’ comeback bid didn’t come to fruition. In a battle of wits and guts, the previous reigned supreme.
“I’m simply so happy with them,” Lewis stated.
The identical may very well be stated of how the gamers really feel about their captain.
