After three sessions of the Solheim Cup, the Americans are firmly in position to recapture the trophy for the first time since 2017 but, despite their early domination, one of their key players was left out of the afternoon four balls on Saturday.
So far, at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Nelly Korda has won 3&2, 6&4 and 1-up to be 3-0-0 but, on Saturday afternoon, the World No.1 was rested, much to the bemusement of Solheim Cup legend, Catriona Matthew.
Speaking to the media following the 2-2 Saturday morning foursomes session, Matthew stated: "I'm surprised on the American side that they're resting Nelly. I thought Nelly and Megan (Khang) would have gone out again. They were so good yesterday, and it's not as if Nelly has played that many holes. Okay, today she played a few more, but yesterday she didn't play that many".
The two-time winning Solheim Cup captain then added: "I wouldn't be surprised if she's (Korda) out following that Lee-Khang match, just kind of giving them support. Yeah, surprised not to see her out there. When you win three games you are going to love it. She's playing well. She's really embraced the whole atmosphere, the crowd, everything this week so far."
In 15 matches at the Solheim Cup, Korda now has a 10 wins, 4 losses and 1 tie record and, with a win tomorrow in the singles, it would be the first time that she has gone undefeated in a Solheim Cup.
Certainly, with an 8-4 deficit going into the afternoon, it's all to play for in regards to team Europe, who will need a strong afternoon to get back into contention in Virginia. Can they do it? Well, according to Matthew, "I believe they can."
"I really do think they have to win this session. If they can get to within two, three points of the Americans going into the singles, you just never know... They (Europe) got off to a good start this morning. Suzann will be telling them, get off to another good start, but then you've just got to finish them off. It's that kind of (holes) 8 to 14 the Americans seem to turn it on a little bit, so if we can play that 10 to 14 holes well (we'll have a chance)."
