Corpuz goes close with her 20-foot birdie opportunity, but the ball sticks stubbornly on the lip. No shame in an opening par, but it’s not good enough for Team USA, because Woad calmly rolls in her putt, and what a way to announce yourself on your Solheim Cup debut! Farnham’s finest smiles warmly and saunters off in her trademark no-fuss style. Europe wasting no time at all!
Corpuz/Korda v Hull/Woad 1UP (1)
Korda and Corpuz have a perfect record in Solheim foursomes. Played four, won four. They’re not hanging about, as Korda eases the first approach shot of the week over the flag to 20 feet. Hull quickly follows, landing her iron pin high, a similar distance to the right of the flag. A couple of half-decent birdie chances there. Back on the tee, the strains of Club Tropicana by Wham! ripples out as Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin arrive for match two. A disclaimer: drinks at Bernardus are not free. Fun and sunshine a definite possibility, though.
Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz are announced to the crowd. The starter can be barely heard over the chanting of the gallery. Then the noise doubles, triples as the European duo of Charley Hull and Lottie Woad are introduced. Corpuz takes the opening shot of the tournament: straight down the middle. Woad, making her Solheim Cup debut, sends a slightly nervous drive into the semi-rough down the left of the 364-yard par-four 1st. This is on.
Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz arrive at the 1st tee. A lot of whooping and hollering. Nelly taking a few selfies with her phone as she emerges from the tunnel. Charley Hull and Lottie Woad follow soon after. More of the noise and bedlam. A party atmosphere in the stands. The 2026 Solheim Cup is about to happen!
A reminder of the format
For the benefit of folk who fancy following events at Bernardus this weekend but don’t always keep tabs on the greatest sport in the world, we usually cut and paste the following explainer. Hey, if it’s worth reading once, it’s worth reading a dozen times. Here we go ...
The Solheim Cup is a matchplay event. Each match is worth a point. There are 28 points available over the three days, so the first team to get to 14.5 points will win the Cup. Should the scores be tied at 14 points apiece, the USA will retain the trophy as current holders.
Match-play explained for those dipping their toe into the murky world of golf for the first time: In common-or-garden championship golf, such as the Evian or the British Open, tournaments are scored using the stroke-play system. Whoever takes the fewest shots over all four rounds in a championship wins. All shots count and are added up for a cumulative total. So if, say, in next year’s Dinah Shore (Chevron Championship-speak for hipsters), Nelly Korda shoots 63-63-63-63 and Charley Hull shoots 87-87-87-87, Nelly will have taken 252 strokes, and beaten Charley by 96 shots. (Good luck if you bet large on this exact outcome.)
Anyway, in match play, each player or team wins a hole for every hole they better their opponents. So if Nelly takes five shots at the 1st, but Charley needs only three, Charley goes 1up. If Charley wins the next hole too, she’s 2up. If the pair share the same number of shots on the 3rd, the hole is halved, and Charley remains 2up. It doesn’t matter if Nelly took 13 shots on her way to losing the 2nd, by the way; a bit like the unwritten rule of visits to wallet-sewer-interface-venue Las Vegas, what happens on each hole stays on each hole. There is no knock-on effect.
So let’s say Hull wins the first nine holes of our make-believe match. With nine played, and nine remaining, she is 9up. Nelly can only tie at best; Hull can’t lose. This is known as dormie. (And more specifically, in this slightly ludicrous example, as dormie nine.) If Nelly wins the next nine, the game will end all square, and each team will get half a point to their overall total. But if Charley wins the 10th, she’s 10up with eight holes to play. She has won 10&8. If the 10th hole is halved, Charley would be 9up with eight to play. She’s won 9&8. Similarly Nelly can be said to have lost 9&8. Europe would add a point to their overall total. I’ve probably made this sound way more complicated than it needs to be, but there it is anyway.
There will be three types of match: foursomes (teams of two players use one ball, taking alternate shots); fourballs (teams of two players play a ball each and take the best score, known as the better ball); and singles (this is when it gets quite wild and everyone across two continents starts with the shallow breathing and chest clutching). And these matches are arranged in a schedule like this:
Today: four matches of morning foursomes; four matches of afternoon fourballs.
Tomorrow: four matches of morning foursomes; four matches of afternoon fourballs.
Sunday: 12 singles matches.
Preamble
The Solheim Cup has delivered in spades recently. Bronte Law leading the charge as Europe snatched victory from under the USA’s nose at Gleneagles; the Leona Maguire Show; ♫ Maja Stark, doo doo doo doo doo doooo, doo doo doo doo doo doooo, doo doo doo doo doo doooo, MA-JA STARK! ♪♫; Lilia Vu’s birdie-birdie finish to hold off an unexpected European comeback and finally reclaim the cup for America. Any repeat of any of the above … yes please, we’ll take it!
… and this year’s tournament is off to a flyer, with Europe’s two biggest draws facing the world number one and a former US Open champion in the opening foursomes. This promises to be epic. It’s early, so make yourself a strong cup of tea and strap in, because … it’s on!
6.40am (BST): Allisen Corpuz and Nelly Korda v Charley Hull and Lottie Woad
6.52am: Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin v Nanna Koertz Madsen and Celine Boutier
7.04am: Andrea Lee and Lindy Duncan v Esther Henseleit and Leona Maguire
7.26am: Rose Zhang and Jennifer Kupcho v Maja Stark and Linn Grant
