Europe and US tied after 'amazing' first day in Solheim Cup

Both sessions were shared 2-2, with Europe, bidding to reclaim the trophy after a first defeat in four encounters two years ago, having to settle for a share of the spoils in the afternoon fourballs after being 3-1 ahead at one point.

In the end, Spaniard Carlota Ciganda holed a 20-foot par putt on the 18th green in the anchor match to stop Anna Nordvist’s side from trailing heading into day two.

“An amazing day - incredible golf from both the US and Europe,” said Nordqvist. “What a way to finish with Carlota making that putt on 18 and now going with a lot of momentum into tomorrow. “

US captain Angela Stanford was content with the day’s outcome. “I expected them to throw the kitchen sink at us right off the bat and they did,” she said. “And I thought we held up pretty well.

“Playing on the road, fans were loud, all the different elements. So I'm really proud of where we are and how we fought and how we handled those last two matches.”

In the morning foursomes, world No 1 Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz secured a place in the record books after beating Charley Hull and Lottie Woad in the top match.

It was the US duo’s fifth match win together, becoming the first pairing in the event to achieve the feat on the bounce while they also matched the record set by European duo Laura Davies and Alison Nicholas for the most wins as a pairing.

“She's just so solid,” said Korda of her partner. “It's really good to rely on her and it's also fun. Honestly, I enjoy playing with her so much.”

It was the third time in the event’s history that the first session had been shared, having also been the score after the first four games in 2011 and 2015.

Eyebrows were raised when Nordqvist didn’t send out any of the four players involved in Europe’s two winning morning pairings - Esther Hesenleit/Leona Maguire and Linn Grant/Maja Stark - in the afternoon.

Instead, she stuck with English pair Hull and Woad in the first match and, though looking as though they were set to reward the Swede with a win after being three up early on, Yealimi Noh and Angel Yin fought back to secure a half point.

“Yeah, it was a very good match,” said Woad. “We had the lead for most of it, but they kept on fighting back.” As for Hull, she admitted: “I feel tired and I can't wait to get to bed. But, apart from that, I feel good.”

That outcome might have felt a touch sore for Europe but, thanks to a win from rookies Mimi Rhodes and Nastasia Nadaud and a fightback half for Spanish duo Ciganda and Julia Lopez Ramirez, the day ended how it had started with the two sides being on level terms.

“I love this week,” admitted Ciganda of her part in the scores being tied. “I just love playing for the team, for my team-mates. We had a tough match against Nelly and Lauren [Coughlin], but we fought hard and at least we got half a point, which I think is really important.”