Sunday was a sigh of relief for the Americans. For the first time in seven years, the U.S. team knocked off the Europeans to win the 2024 Solheim Cup.
There were numerous standouts for the United States at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, including Megan Khang and Virginia native Lauren Coughlin, but none moreso than Rose Zhang, the 21-year-old phenom who went 4-0-0, including a dominating 6-and-4 victory in singles against Carlota Ciganda.
Zhang’s second Solheim Cup appearance went a lot better than her first last year in Spain, where she admitted she struggled to get comfortable while going 0-2-1 at Finca Cortesin.
On home soil, she had a historic week.
Zhang is the eighth different player and third different American in Solheim Cup history to finish 4-0-0 or better. The other two Americans to go 4-0-0 are Dottie Pepper (1998) and Morgan Pressel (2011). She is also the first player ever to go 4-0-0 or better and never reach the 17th hole in any match. This week, Zhang led all players by winning 28 holes and only losing eight; that 20+ win/loss hole differential is the most dominant in the last 20 years.
The next best performance over that time is Jessica Korda in 2019, winning 29 holes and losing 14 holes
“It’s been absolutely incredible,” Zhang said of her week. “I feel like starting off the beginning of the week, I just felt so comfortable with everyone. The whole team has just been — they’ve just been so friendly, and everyone has had a good time in the team room, on the golf course. Like Stacy (Lewis) said, it translated over to the golf course.
“I felt a lot more loose than I did last year, and it was good vibes all around.”
Khang (3-0-0), Coughlin (3-0-1) and Andrea Lee (2-0-1) were the other Americans to go undefeated. It is the second time the U.S. team had that many undefeated players at one Solheim Cup.
Zhang’s dominance was no surprise to U.S. Captain Stacy Lewis, who along with stats guru Justin Ray put together a plan with plenty of data to lead the Americans to victory.
“The golf course was made for you, Rose,” Lewis told her star after winning Sunday.
