Lexi Thompson gets a pick-me-up from Nancy Lopez at Solheim Cup
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — In the end, five words from golf legend Nancy Lopez swung the tide.
"You have nothing to lose."
Europe came into Sunday Singles down five points and needing the biggest comeback in Solheim Cup history to seize the trophy. Halfway through day, it looked as if that might happen.
Lexi Thompson, playing in the first group of the day against Anna Nordqvist, found herself four down after nine holes. With Thompson visibly frustrated and the U.S., which ended up winning 16½-11½, leading just one of the 12 matches on the course, Lopez, an assistant captain, intervened.
"Having her there, picking me up, telling me that I can come back from this, it meant the world to me." Thompson said.
That's when Thompson, in her own words, "woke up."
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After a two-over front nine, she birdied the 10th to claw back to three down, then from 112 yards on the par-5 11th, jarred a wedge into the hole for an eagle.
She followed a par on the 12th with two more long birdie putts on the 13th and 14th. Then, facing a 50-plus foot putt with a hard right-to-left break for eagle on the par-5 15th, the crowed erupted when her ball trickled into the hole once again.
"It had to be the weirdest round of golf I've ever played," Thompson said. "The back nine, I just played lights-out."
Yet another birdie on the 16th gave Thompson her first lead of the match. Standing on the 17th tee, Nordqvist looked stone-faced as she glared toward the green. Team Captain Annika Sorenstam placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, but Nordqvist didn't notice.
She still had work to do.
Matching pars on the 17th meant Nordqvist needed to win the final hole to salvage a half-point from a match where victory once looked assured. With just 154 yards remaining after hammering a drive down the fairway, she pulled an 8-iron and took dead-aim at the pin.
Nordqvist knew she liked it from the second the ball left the clubface, and watched as it ended just a few inches short of the hole. It was a birdie that Lexi couldn't follow. With the match officially split, the two women embraced in a long hug.
"Hitting that shot when you know you need to, it's so gutsy," U.S. captain Juli Inkster said. "It's fitting the match ended in a halve."
Nordqvist was the bright spot during a difficult week for the Europeans. The 30-year-old Swede battled mononucleosis in the lead-up to the event, and the lingering effects forced her to skip Friday Fourballs.
Nevertheless, her halve against Thompson was the only match she didn't win, going 3-0 in her other matches.
"We played our hearts out," she said. "I'm pretty exhausted right now, not going to lie. Tired and speechless."
Follow Luke Kerr-Dineed on Twitter @LukeKerrDineen.
