If there is one thing the United States team may have learned after falling to the Europeans in the Solheim Cup over the weekend, it’s that not everything needs to be shared on social media for the world to see.
Following the morning foursomes sessions on day two of the biennial event, the U.S. found itself trailing 7-5, and with all the momentum on the European’s side already playing on their turf in the Netherlands, the Americans could not afford to dig a deeper hole in the afternoon fourball matches.
While the U.S. dropped the first of the four fourball matches, the Americans won the final three, and none were bigger than the anchor match with Jennifer Kupcho and Lindy Duncan erasing a 2-down deficit with four holes to play against Carlota Ciganda and Celine Boutier.
Kupcho made a 90-foot putt to extend the match on the 17th hole and proceeded to make another lengthy birdie putt on the 18th to earn a full point for the red, white, and blue to knot things up at 8-8 heading into Sunday singles. It was certainly a celebratory moment for the Americans, with Kupcho’s late heroics, and celebrate they did.
The team’s official X account shared photos of American captain Angela Stanford stepping onto the team bus with a case of beer.
Having a beer or two after an unforgettable day never hurt anyone, but it did not go unnoticed by the Europeans.
After Team Europe won seven of the 12 singles matches on Sunday to snatch back the Solheim Cup from the Americans, the Europeans did some partying of their own on their team bus while taking a swipe at the U.S. side.
Dame Laura Davies, Hall of Famer and European legend, not only passed out drinks to Team Europe on the bus, but started a “We drink on Sunday, they drink on Saturday” chant that rubbed some salt in the Americans’ wounds.
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Stanford expressed that she had no regrets for celebrating on the team bus and having that moment with her players after Saturday’s session when asked about it after Europe had hoisted the cup.
“The worst thing I could have done is go in there and be like, ‘OK, y’all, come off this high,’” Stanford said. “You don’t want to take away from those moments. We’re never going to see anything like that again.”
With their 15-13 victory in the Netherlands, the Europeans have won or retained (2023) the Solheim Cup in four of the last five iterations. The U.S. last hoisted the cup on Europeans soil in 2015 when it was contested in Germany.
