DEN BOSCH, Netherlands — To a backdrop of party music, smoke blowers and loud chanting on a boisterous first tee, the Solheim Cup got underway early Friday with American golfer Allisen Corpuz defying nerves by splitting the fairway with her opening drive at Bernardus Golf.
And so began the U.S. bid to retain the crystal trophy that was perched on a stand just behind every player teeing off on Day 1 of the noisiest event in women's golf.
There was star power in the first foursomes match out at 7:40 a.m. local time in the Netherlands, with Team Europe's top two players, Lottie Woad and Charley Hull, up against Corpuz and top-ranked Nelly Korda, who were aiming to become the first pairing to have a 5-0-0 record in Solheim Cups. Woad poured in a 15-footer for birdie at No. 1 to put the Europeans 1 up, as the party continued about 350 yards back down the fairway.
The first tee is always the place to be in these big teams events and it lived up to its billing Friday inside the horseshoe-shaped grandstand containing around 3,000 spectators.
U.S. captain Angela Stanford danced onto the tee after emerging from the tunnel. Maja Stark and Linn Grant, Europe's Swedish pairing, swayed their hips to ABBA's “Dancing Queen.” U.S. rookie Lindy Duncan took video with her cell phone. Irish player Leona Maguire teed off in Match 3 after chants of “We've got Maguire, USA is terrified!” and cheers for each of her backswings.
“They’re living the dream,” European captain Anna Nordqvist said of the players, “and as a golfer it doesn’t get better than this.”
It was all very jovial, though, with respectful silence for each drive in front of a banner that read: “Dutch Courage. European Glory.”
The United States has an 11-7-1 advantage in a series that dates to 1990 and needs 14 points to ensure retaining the trophy, two years after a 15½-12½ win in Virginia.
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