No.1 Korda to face Hull in singles opener at Solheim Cup

GAINESVILLE, United States: Top-ranked Nelly Korda and England´s Charley Hull will meet to start Sunday´s 12 singles matches at the Solheim Cup as Europe seeks a historic comeback to beat the United States.

Pairings for the closing session at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club also feature Spain´s Carlota Ciganda against ninth-ranked Rose Zhang and France´s 10th-ranked Celine Boutier against Lexi Thompson.

After going 2-2 in Saturday´s four-ball and foursomes matches, the Americans take a 10-6 lead into Sunday´s 12 concluding singles matches, needing four wins and a draw to capture the Cup for the first time since 2017.

“We´re going to go try to win as many points early as we can and try to get this thing done,” US captain Stacy Lewis said. “I feel good with where we´re at and I´m excited about tomorrow.”

After Korda, Lewis has Megan Khang against Denmark´s Emily Pedersen, Alison Lee against England´s Georgia Hall, Allisen Corpuz against Sweden´s Anna Nordqvist and Zhang against Ciganda.

“Tomorrow´s lineup was based off how they´ve played this week,” Lewis said. “We have strokes gained data on every match and every round these players have played, so that´s where the pairings came from.”

Europe needs eight wins Sunday at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club to take the trophy for an unprecedented fourth consecutive time.

“We need a massive day tomorrow. We need to go another record singles series again. It has been done before,” European captain Suzann Pettersen said. “It will be a miracle, but we´ve seen it before.”

Europe would need to match the greatest last-day comeback in Solheim history, the Americans´ 2015 rally from 10-6 down in Germany.