Saturday 19 September 2015 10:51, UK
Europe win the first two matches of the afternoon session while the final two matches are stopped due to darkness and will be completed tomorrow.
Anna Nordqvist and Caroline Hedwall set the pace with a 4 & 3 victory over morning foursomes winners Morgan Pressel and Paula Creamer. Charley Hull and Gwlayds Nocera added the second European point of the afternoon on the 16th, defeating Angela Stanford and Alison Lee 3&2 with a half on the last hole.
As the light ran out, the last fourball of the afternoon decided to come back on Saturday to finish the remaining three holes. At the close of play on Friday, the German girls Sandra Gal and Caroline Masson are 1 up after 15 over Gerine Piller and Brittany Lang in their home country.
With two holes left to play and Americans Lexi Thompson and Christie Kerr 1 up, the third group decided to carry on down the 17th. Thompson and Kerr were in control of the match for the majority of the day, so it was up to Carlota Ciganda and Melissa Reid to do something special. Ciganda then surprised everyone with the shot of the day, holing her second shot for an eagle two and squaring the match before the last hole.
Anna Nordqvist & Caroline Hedwall beat Morgan Pressel & Paula Creamer 4&3
It was Nordqvist's second birdie of the afternoon on the par-three third that gave Europe the advantage in this match. A testing birdie for a half on the second hole kept them at all square, but after Pressel missed her six-foot effort on the third, Nordqvist held her nerve to go 1 up.
With both Pressel and Hedwall looking uncomfortable during the opening holes of the afternoon, it was Creamer and Nordqvist who halved the fourth hole with pars as both missed birdie putts. Hedwall struggled to find her form for the majority of the round but Nordqvist held her own. Together with a birdie on eight, a missed USA par on nine, and birdies on 10 and 11, Europe went 5 up with seven holes to play.
Nordqvist missed an opportunity to put Europe 6 up on 12 and after both teams made birdie on 13, a Creamer birdie putt sent the match down the 15th. Although she had a birdie putt on the par-three 16th, Creamer left it just short and right to give Europe a convincing 4&3 victory.
Charley Hull & Gwlayds Nocera beat Alison Lee & Angela Stanford 3&2
A slow start for all players as missed birdie putts from Hull on the first, Stanford on the second and Lee on the fourth kept the match at all square.
By the fifth there was a momentum change. Hull drained a long putt for a birdie, and while both Lee and Stanford hit good shots they couldn't convert their birdies and the Europeans went in front.
A brilliant approach shot and a converted birdie on the 10th for Hull put them in front by two, and another couple of birdies on 11 and 12 put the European pair to 4 up with six to play.
Stanford chipped in on 13 to bring it back to 3 up with five remaining, and then holed a long par putt on 15 to keep the match going down 16 after Nocera missed a birdie putt. The match finished on 16 as Hull holed out for a half to secure a 3&2 win and the fourth European point of the day.
Melissa Reid & Carlota Ciganda Halved With Cristie Kerr and Lexi Thompson
She rolled another birdie on four, but this time Ciganda was there to start a birdie run of her own to keep it at 2 down.
Ciganda's putter helped to get her fourth birdie in five holes on the seventh to reduce the deficit to one hole, but Thompson replied with a birdie at eight to put the Americans back into a two-hole advantage and improve her own score to six under after seven.
Thompson missed a chance on the eighth for yet another birdie to extend the lead, but after the storm break it was Reid who began to gather momentum. With back to back birdies on both 11 and 12, Reid took the match back to all-square heading down 13.
But the American pair were not to be down long, and after Kerr pulled it back to 1 up on 13, Thompson holed her birdie putt on 14 to regain the two-hole lead they had lost. Both Kerr and Thompson missed their opportunity to halve 16, so they elected to play on through the darkness leading 1 up with two holes left to play.
With a spectacular shot from Ciganda on the 17th, holing out for an eagle two, the match became all square. Although the European team wanted to carry on in the near total darkness, Team USA did not, so the game was suspended at all square with one hole left to play.
The players returned on Saturday to play the 18th and Reid, on her 28th birthday, appeared to have snatched victory for Europe by holing a birdie putt from 18 feet on the final green.
However, the 20-year-old Thomson matched this with a birdie of her own from 12 feet to keep matters all square. And it was probably the least the Americans deserved having never been behind throughout the match.
Caroline Masson & Sandra Gal Halved With Gerine Piller & Brittany Lang
Four missed birdies on the first started the match on equal footing, but it looked as though Europe would edge in front at the second. A lip out on the second from Gal's fairway shot provided a tap in birdie, but the United States team also managed a three.
Gal almost put Europe ahead on the third hole before her attempt horseshoed around the hole, but she made no mistake with a long range putt on the fourth to but Europe one hole to the good.
Piller holed out on the fifth to take it back to all square, but this lasted all of one hole as Gal put her putt in on the sixth to go back to 1 up. A rules decision forfeited Gal's eagle putt on the eighth, which gifted the United States pairing the chance to bring the scores level.
The back nine started with a huge putt from Piller, equalled by Masson to keep the scores even. Gal's putter edged Europe ahead on the 11th, and with halves on the next four holes, the Europeans were one ahead when they finished the day's play on the 15th green.
On resumption, the Americans quickly won holes 16 and 17 to go ahead for the first time. But back came the hosts to tie the match at 18 with their first birdie in seven holes.
Gerina Piller was the visitors' star on Saturday morning holing from all of 50 feet on the 16th green and then from eight on the penultimate hole.
However, Gal hit a stunning approach to two feet at the 18th to win the hole and halve the match.
Match score: Europe 5-3 United States
