With 1 epic putt, an all-time Solheim Cup is brewing in the Netherlands

This article was all set to have a different headline. It was ready to praise the top American players who have dominated the Solheim Cup for years, and who are very much doing so again. 

But then Carlota Ciganda stepped in over her ball, roughly 15 feet from the cup and drilled the putt, center of the jar, halving the final match of the second session and keeping the Cup tied through Day 1 for just the second time in its 36-year history. 

Did it matter that the day ended 4-4 instead of 4.5-3.5? Yeah, it did, because Ciganda said it did in her post-match interview. (This is her eighth Solheim Cup, gotta trust her instincts.) Did it matter that it happened against World No. 1 Nelly Korda — the same player who Ciganda beat to retain the Cup in 2023? We’re pretty comfy taking that leap. Did it matter that Korda’s teammate was the (still) undefeated Lauren Coughlin? And that both Americans left match-winning putts short, and that it also helped baptize European teammate (and fellow Spaniard) Julia Lopez Ramirez in this tense competition? 

It all matters.

And based on how this Solheim Cup plays out, we may be talking about that putt a lot come Sunday night. And even in years to come. These team events come with a lot of pomp and circumstance, stars and stripes and formal ceremony, but they all boil down to putts made and putts missed. Ties can feel like wins, and ties can feel like losses. Ask Russell Henley and Shane Lowry.

It also matters that Ciganda flipped her putter to the ground beneath her, and that her teammates rushed the green in celebration. When the Cup is done in 48 hours, Friday will have just been the start, simply 28 percent of the points on offer. But through that 28 percent, we can still call it what it is thus far— stage-setting for what could be an all-time Solheim Cup, knotted square through the first session, knotted square through the second. If it’s knotted-square through three, oooh boy.

These events always begin at a slow boil, and then things start to just pop. You had that finish from Ciganda, but you also had American Auston Kim shushing the European crowd during her match. Every hour the temperature seems to increase, bit by bit. 

Some of it feels forced. A lot of the team histrionics feel out of place for golfers who are normally so individualistic, but these team events have a naturally fluid energy to them. Each team is trying to create that energy and suck some from the other side, from the crowd, from the captains and the emcee and the caddies. Paula Creamer is wearing a cowboy hat, an all-American callback to Texas. Megan Khang is dancing all over the course, something you can be so brash to do only when you’ve dominated this event before. Every match that reaches the diabolically difficult 18th hole is the biggest opportunity to contort some positive energy … or lose some, too. 

The Americans took their matches by greater margins, and saw their horses show up. Korda paired with Allisen Corpuz in the morning and won 4 and 3 over Charley Hull and Lottie Woad — widely considered the Euro’s best pair. Team Kor-puz — or Cor-da — has never lost a match in the five times they’ve played together. Khang, a captain’s pick brought along largely for her 7-3-3 career record, made it 8-3-3 with a 5-and-3 drubbing in the afternoon. Team USA is well-positioned to hold on to the Cup. 

And yet, they’re somehow just tied. They’ll feel that. And Europe will feel it completely differently. See you Saturday morning.