One of those sayings you oftentimes hear in competitive golf circles is "The most important shot in golf is the next one." Like many dramatic sporting moments, such as the quarterback who has just thrown an interception or the relief pitcher who has just served up a homerun ball, it's crucial to have a very short memory and focus on the immediate and not the past. Carlotta Ciganda of Spain put that saying to her benefit as she secured the final point for Team Europe as they retained the Ryder Cup last Sunday at the Finca Cortesin Golf Course in Andalusia, Spain.
Carlotta Ciganda has been a familiar figure in the world of golf for the past 15 years. The 33 year old first started playing golf in her native Spain as a five year old. In 2007 she won the British Ladies Amateur and parlayed that into playing college golf at Arizona State University from 2008 through 2011. Carlotta was a two time Pac-12 champion and was a member of ASU's NCAA championship team in 2009. She graduated with a degree in Business Administration and is fluent in four languages. Ciganda turned pro in the summer of 2011. In 2012 she won the Order of Merit on the Ladies European Tour with two victories and 12 top 10 finishes in 19 events. While she has had a home on the LET, Carlotta also started playing in LPGA tournaments and has two wins to her credit. She has a trio of top three finishes in LPGA majors including a tie for third this past year at the Women's PGA Championship.
After falling behind 0-4 on the Friday morning of Solheim Cup alternate shot play, Team Europe gradually got itself back into striking range of Team USA. On Friday afternoon, the Euros won two better ball matches and tied the other two to cut their deficit to 3-5. They held serve on Saturday morning's alternate shot portion by winning two matches and losing two matches. On Saturday afternoon Team Europe won three of the four better ball matches and after two days and four rounds of competition, the score stood at Team Europe 8 and Team USA 8. It would all come down to the singles matches on Sunday. It would be pressure packed.
Sunday's individual matches were highly competitive and neither side could pull away from the other. Ireland's Leona Maguire, who played in all five matches, won her match over former Stanford University golfer Rose Zhang to give Europe a 9-8 lead. American Megan Khang used her brilliant short game to tie things up with a win over Linn Grant. Danielle Khang gave Team USA a one point lead with her win over Charley Hull of England but it was short-lived as Sweden's Anna Nordqvist defeated Jennifer Kupcho. Andrea Lee and Georgia Hall tied their match as did Cheyenne Knight and Gemma Dryburgh and things remained knotted up at 11-11. Lilia Vu, winner of two majors this year, won her match over Madeline Sagstrom while Angel Yin defeated France's Celine Boutier and suddenly Team USA was up by a 13-11 margin. Lexi Thompson was America's anchor in the 12th and final match and had a big lead over Emily Pedersen. Her win would get the Americans to 14 points. All Team USA needed was to tie one of the three remaining matches out on the course to bring home the Solheim Cup.
Unfortunately for Team USA, it wasn't meant to be. Caroline Hedwall defeated Ally Ewing and Solheim Cup rookie Maja Stark of Sweden beat Allisen Korpuz, the reigning Women's U.S. Open champ at Pebble Beach. With the score a nail-biting Team USA 14 and Team Europe 13, it would all come down to the 11th match of the day between American Nelly Korda, the second ranked woman in the world, against Spain's Carlotta Ciganda.
Ciganda had a three up lead after eight holes, but Korda won the 9th and 10th holes to close the gap. With a one up lead going into the 15th hole, Ciganda gave up her lead over Korda by posting a double bogey six that included a shanked iron shot. With just three holes to go, Korda needed to tie or win her match for an American win. Ciganda would have to win the match for Europe to retain the Cup.
Korda led off and hit her iron shot into the 16th green to just eight feet but Ciganda matched her by knocking her approach shot to five feet. Korda missed, Ciganda made, and the Spaniard was up one with two holes to go. Going into the par three 17th hole, Ciganda knew she was playing for her team and the Cup, her country, her family, and even the King of Spain who was in her gallery. With a seven iron in her hand, Carlotta hit the golf shot of her life, knocking her tee shot to just two feet. Team Europe was just a two foot putt away from retaining the Solheim Cup because of Ciganda's memory of a lifetime shot. She knocked in the two footer, and while the Thompson- Pedersen match was still out on the course, it didn't matter. The Euros had their 14 points and that was all that was needed.
Following the conclusion of play, there was talk about the eventual end of the Solheim Cup and the possible merits of tie-breakers. Both the Ryder Cup and the Solheim Cup have established rules that a tie will go to the previous winners. If you think about the 1920s when the Ryder Cup was initially contested, perhaps the biggest sporting event in America was heavyweight boxing with big time matches contested in places such as Yankee Stadium and Comiskey Park in front of crowds of 60,000. The heavyweight champ had to defend his title while the challenger had to take it from him. A draw after 15 rounds meant that the champ was still the champ. Thus began the tradition of the Ryder Cup, Curtis Cup, and the Walker Cup with a tie resulting in the retention of the Cup. If you want to get it back, then you have to win it.
In the past, the Solheim Cup has been contested in even numbered years while the Ryder Cup has been held in odd numbered years. The Solheim Cup is off-schedule because the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic. Next year it will return to even numbered scheduling with Team USA hosting the matches at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia. It has previously hosted several editions of the Presidents Cup.
For now, we do know some basic tenants when it comes to team golf. No lead is safe as evidenced by the Team USA 4-0 lead after Friday morning. Anything can happen even at golf's highest levels in the case of shanked shots by Lexi Thompson on Friday and Carlotta Cigunda on Sunday. Finally in every high-powered and dramatic golf moment, someone will invariably take charge of that moment and hit a historic shot of note. This time around it was Carlotta Cigunda who stayed in the present realizing that the most important shot was her next one.
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