I had the pleasure of watching 3 W Golf alums compete in the Solheim Cup in Virginia Friday-Sunday: Rose Zhang and Andrea Lee for the U.S., Albane Valenzuela for Europe.
After Zhang's unfortunate Solheim Cup debut last year, winning only 1/2 point, this year she was the dominant player of the competition: she was the only player on either team to go 4-0. She is only the third American ever to achieve that score, and the first to do so while never seeing the 17th or 18th holes. In Sunday's match play she won 6 and 4. According to the WaPost, she led all players this week by winning 28 holes while losing just eight, the most lopsided differential of any player over the past decade.
Andrea Lee had an excellent tournament, undefeated and contributing 2.5 points. She was one of the only 3 Americans without a loss. On Sunday, a late European surge put the outcome very much in question: at one late point we needed 1.5 points to win, but we were leading in none of the remaining matches and were tied IIRC in 3. Lee was one down going into 16, where I had a prime seat to watch her sink a long birdie putt. Her opponent, whose ball was right on Lee's line but a lot closer, just missed hers and the resulting all-square and ultimate half-point were important. A quote from an article:
“I think the highlight was probably on 16 when I made that birdie putt on the par-3. Just as soon as I saw it go in, I've never yelled like that before.”
Valenzuela only played 2 matches and contributed a half-point, and even that half-point was a disappointment: she played well and was 2-up going into 17 but lost the next 2 holes. Her opponent Lilia Vu's half-point put the U.S. over the top with 14.5. Valenzuela's half-point was the second-lowest on the European team.
After Zhang's unfortunate Solheim Cup debut last year, winning only 1/2 point, this year she was the dominant player of the competition: she was the only player on either team to go 4-0. She is only the third American ever to achieve that score, and the first to do so while never seeing the 17th or 18th holes. In Sunday's match play she won 6 and 4. According to the WaPost, she led all players this week by winning 28 holes while losing just eight, the most lopsided differential of any player over the past decade.
Andrea Lee had an excellent tournament, undefeated and contributing 2.5 points. She was one of the only 3 Americans without a loss. On Sunday, a late European surge put the outcome very much in question: at one late point we needed 1.5 points to win, but we were leading in none of the remaining matches and were tied IIRC in 3. Lee was one down going into 16, where I had a prime seat to watch her sink a long birdie putt. Her opponent, whose ball was right on Lee's line but a lot closer, just missed hers and the resulting all-square and ultimate half-point were important. A quote from an article:
“I think the highlight was probably on 16 when I made that birdie putt on the par-3. Just as soon as I saw it go in, I've never yelled like that before.”
Valenzuela only played 2 matches and contributed a half-point, and even that half-point was a disappointment: she played well and was 2-up going into 17 but lost the next 2 holes. Her opponent Lilia Vu's half-point put the U.S. over the top with 14.5. Valenzuela's half-point was the second-lowest on the European team.
