The Solheim Cup Has a Way of Quieting the Noise

Despite being the grandest and loudest stage in women’s golf (I’m sure the for-hire DJ got a stern talking to), the Solheim Cup has a way of silencing the doubters.

Leading up to the week at Bernardus Golf, I came across quite a few instances of the burnerverse unleashing on players and their recent form. Posts calling out the media for not being honest enough about how players had been performing lately. Posts sharing thoughts on who should have been on the teams instead. And plenty of opinions about who was playing well, who wasn't, and who had no business being here in the first place.

But by midday Friday, all of those questions, comments, and concerns had become virtually obsolete, because the golf was good.

Exhibit A comes in the form of Leona Maguire.

Maguire had missed the cut in her last three starts coming into Bernardus. Not exactly the form line you'd draw up for one of Europe's most experienced Solheim Cup players. But like her captain hoped she would, she went out Friday morning and looked like herself again.

Paired with Esther Henseleit, Maguire helped Europe get the better of Americans Andrea Lee and Lindy Duncan, delivering a point in the morning foursomes.

Then there was Linn Grant and Maja Stark. The Swedes came into the week with their own questions to answer, but they wasted little time doing it. Grant and Stark took control against Rose Zhang and Jennifer Kupcho and never let the Americans back into the match, winning 3&2.

The opening sessions finished 2-2, marking the first time in Solheim Cup history that the morning matches were completely split.

Megan Khang was another example for the Americans. She improved her overall Solheim Cup record to 8-3-3 and has yet to drop a match since Saturday of the 2021 Cup in Toledo.

And then came the biggest exclamation point of the day—Carlota Ciganda. As dusk rolled in, the Spanish veteran stood on the 18th green after a wayward tee shot and second shot with a look at par to tie the match...and she drained it.

Ciganda roared as if she had just made an eagle, and in many ways, she had.

Alongside rookie and her fellow compatriot, Julia Lopez Ramirez, Ciganda had just stared down two of the United States' strongest players in Nelly Korda and Lauren Coughlin. They didn’t win the match, but they didn’t blink, either. They fought until the very last shot and walked away with half a point that felt a whole lot bigger.

Friday delivered plenty of key moments. From hole outs and clutch putts, to rookies rising to the occasion and veterans finding another gear—but the biggest takeaway is that one of the greatest competitions in this game has arrived, and when the pressure got big, the players got bigger.

All that noise about rankings and recent form? Consider it quieted.

Bring on Saturday.