Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 24, 1994 TAG: 9410280007
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
They didn't just get it back. There was no sliding by with the narrowest margin of victory.
The U.S. prevailed in eight of 10 individual golf matches Sunday at The Greenbrier and turned a 5-5 tie after two rounds into a dominating 13-7 victory in the Solheim Cup.
The U.S. team regained the Cup from the Europeans, who stunned the favored U.S. in 1992 in Scotland. The U.S. has now won two of the three installments of the biennial event.
Each match in the three-day competition was worth one point with halved matches counting 1/2-point. Both teams entered Sunday's round looking for the Cup-clinched number of 101/2 points.
Three matches ended virtually simultaneously Sunday to clinch the U.S. victory. Meg Mallon, who was officially credited with earning the winning point, defeated Pam Wright 1-up. Tammy Green beat Annika Sorenstam 3 and 2, while Brandie Burton took a 2-up victory over Laura Davies.
Burton, playing in the seventh match, continued what she called her best golf of the year, recording three birdies on the back side to Davies' one.
Burton birdied the par-4 15th hole to pull even. She went 1-up with a par on No.16 after Davies' second shot landed in the water to the right of the green.
Both players parred the 160-yard, par-3 17th hole, leaving Davies with just an opportunity to halve the match on No.18, a 554-yard par-5.
Davies, who averages an LPGA-best 253 yards per drive, hit driver-driver and landed just short of the green. Her chip shot was 15 yards short and she three-putted from there to give Burton the hole and the match with a par.
``Walking down 18 was great, knowing [Green] had just won her match,'' Burton said. ``It was the best feeling in the world because we were at 51/2 [points for the day and 101/2 total) and had just won the Cup.''
Mallon got off to a quick start over Sorenstam, making birdies on Nos.2, 3 and 4 and taking a 2-up lead. Mallon made three more birdies on the back side, but Wright kept pace and forced the match to the 18th hole.
Mallon led 1-up going into 18 and both players birdied to give Mallon the point. She said she hadn't watched the scoreboard all day - as captain JoAnne Carner had instructed.
``I turned around and the players said we had clinched it. They said Brandie's got at least a half. It was an unbelievable feeling,'' said Mallon, who lost the deciding match in the 1992 Solheim Cup to Catrin Nilsmark.
``I tried not to think about that,'' she said. ``I knew I had to concentrate on my match today.''
Green, a Marshall University graduate who draw large galleries all weekend, dispatched Sorenstam with a birdie on the 16th hole.
Green was 1-down through four holes but pulled even when she parred and Sorenstam made a bogey-6 on the fifth hole. Green went 1-up on No.8 with another par and never trailed again.
Also winning for the U.S. Sunday was Dottie Mochrie, who drummed Nilsmark 6 and 5 in the day's second match. Beth Daniel also beat Trish Johnson and Sherri Steinhauer defeated Dale Reid, both 2-up.
Lynchburg's Donna Andrews, playing in the last match of the day, downed Liselotte Neumann 3 and 2.
Andrews got off to a rough start. She hit a double chip on the first hole and ended up conceding the hole to Neumann. The twosome made the turn even and Andrews birdied Nos.10, 11 and 13 to go 2-up. She went 3-up with a par on No.15 and closed Neumann out with a par on No.16.
Andrews said she had been watching the scoreboard all day and knew by the 15th hole that the U.S. team had already clinched victory.
``I was still playing for pride,'' Andrews said. ``The captain told us we weren't allowed to watch the scoreboard, but I did. I've always been a scoreboard-watcher and have thrived on pressure.''
The Europeans' two victories came in the first and sixth matches.
Sweden's Helen Alfredsson beat Betsy King 2 and 1 despite making only one birdie. Alison Nicholas of Britain continued her consistent play with a 3-and-2 victory over Patty Sheehan.
by CNB