Europe rides foursomes rout to early lead at Solheim Cup

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Defending champion Europe spent the run-up to the Solheim Cup doing what it could to feed the narrative that it came to Inverness as the underdog.

The Americans were deeper. Maybe more talented. And with travel from across the Atlantic restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Europeans knew support would be limited at best. That's if it existed at all.

None of it mattered. Not with a fearless rookie spending the morning going head-to-head with the top player in the world and the afternoon helping Europe seal its best-ever Day 1 in the 31-year history of the event.

Leona Maguire, the first Irish player to make the Solheim Cup, made a series of clutch putts during the alternate-shot session to help her and teammate Mel Reid edge world No. 1 and Olympic champion Nelly Korda and older sister Jessica 1 up.

The 26-year-old then worked with Georgia Hall to earn a 1-up win over Yealimi Noh and Brittany Altomare in four-ball as Europe took a 5 1/2-2 1/2 lead.

“Trying to stay as calm as possible," the even-keeled Maguire said. “Soak it all in. It’s been good.”

Really, really good.

Europe rode a dominant performance in alternate shot — where it captured 3 1/2 of a possible four points — to tie the biggest lead after one day in the 17 editions of the Solheim Cup. The Americans went up by three after the opening matches in both 1998 and 2017 on their way to comfortable victories.

Despite playing in front of a decidedly pro-U.S. crowd, Europe hardly looked intimidated by the stakes or the stage, hanging tough on a taut day in which seven of the eight matches made it all the way to the 18th green.

“We didn’t hear too many European cheers, all USA, but I’m quite adept at ignoring them now, so it’s not too bad,”...