Europe lose opening foursomes 3-1 at Solheim Cup in Virginia

Europe’s bid to retain the Solheim Cup got off to a poor start as they lost the opening foursomes 3-1 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia.

Emily Pedersen and Maja Stark were Europe’s only winners as they beat Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho, although the American pair fought back from four down after five holes to take the match all the way to the 18th.

World number one Nelly Korda, who has yet to taste victory in the biennial contest, had led from the front as she partnered Allisen Corpuz to a 3&2 victory over England’s Charley Hull and German rookie Esther Henseleit.

Korda and Corpuz also won both of their foursomes matches in Spain last year and became the first American pair to win three in a row in the alternate shot format by winning the 14th, 15th and 16th.

Rose Zhang and Lauren Coughlin then completed a 3&2 win over Swiss rookie Albane Valenzuela and France’s Celine Boutier, before world number two Lilia Vu and rookie Sarah Schmelzel defeated Linn Grant and Carlota Ciganda by the same margin to make it 3-0 to the home side.

A second successive 4-0 whitewash in the opening session always looked unlikely as Pedersen and Stark took command of match three in the early stages, but Europe captain Suzann Pettersen will have breathed a massive sigh of relief to see the Scandinavian pair get over the line.

“We were playing great and we felt like we were playing the better golf out there,” Pedersen said. “We made a few mistakes. I hit a bad chip on 15, I made a mistake on 16.

“Generally we were playing pretty good. We said to each other, if we keep playing the way we’ve been playing, we are going to win this match.”

“They will be reminding themselves they were 4-0 down in Spain last year, but away from home that is a little bit harder,” two-time winning captain Catriona Matthew said in commentary for Sky Sports.

“They are just going to go out in the afternoon and try and win the session. It’s only the first session, we’ve only played for four points so it’s not real panic mode yet.”

Tournament organisers had earlier been forced to apologise for major issues getting spectators into the golf course which meant the first tee grandstands were nowhere near full as play got under way.

Fans posted footage of long lines waiting for shuttle buses on social media, with some reports of people simply giving up and going home.

“We recognise and deeply apologise to all fans affected by the challenges with shuttling from parking to the golf course,” the LPGA said in a statement.

“We’ve made significant changes to our transportation system to mitigate these issues moving forward, and we’re working on ways to express our regret to those impacted.”