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sports Dialuna 6 September 2021

U.S. trims deficit at Solheim Cup even as Korda struggles

(AP) — The United States Maybe, but Korda hardly
rallied at the Solheim looked like herself Sunday
Cup on Sunday morning, morning and will sit out a
winning three of the four session for the first time in
alternate-shot matches to her brief Solheim Cup career
cut into the sizable lead in the afternoon.
defending champion Eu-
rope built on Day One. With Korda struggling, her
teammates picked up the
Lexi Thompson’s curling 30- slack. Ernst and Kang turned
foot birdie putt on the par-4 a one-hole deficit into a one-
17th closed out a 2-and-1 hole lead after wins on the
victory for herself and team- 13th and 14th and held on
mate Brittany Altomare. It the rest of the way. It was the
also highlighted a stirring only match of the morning
rally for the Americans as the that reached the 18th green
U.S. pulled with 6 1/2-5 1/2 a day after seven of the eight
heading into the afternoon matches made it to the final
four-ball session. hole.

Austin Ernst and Danielle It looked like the 18th would
Kang edged Georgia Hall and be required for Altomare and
Madelene Sagstrom 1 up, and Thompson before Thomp-
Jennifer Kupcho and Lizette son — who had struggled
Salas surged past Matilda to make anything of signifi-
Castren and Anna Nordqvist together once more in the the par-4 ninth only make players wait at least 10 sec- cance on the slick Inverness
on the back nine for a 3-and- afternoon four-ball matches. it halfway to the hole before onds before marking or grab- greens — dropped in her
1 win. Korda, meanwhile, will be hitting reverse. bing a ball that appears on the birdie putt to seal the match
given a much-needed break. verge of going in. against Charley Hull and
At one point, the Europeans The lone bright spot for Kor- Emily Pedersen.
led in all four matches. Only The 23-year-old, who won da came on an eagle putt on The violation meant Korda
the team of Leona Maguire gold at the Tokyo Olympics the par-5 13th from basically and Ewing won the hole and Salas and Kupcho were 2
and Mel Reid hung on. The last month, made a series of the same spot that led to a bit turned out to be the margin down after seven holes but
two drilled world No. 1 Nel- uncharacteristic mistakes. of controversy on Day One. in what became a 1-up vic- captured four straight wins
ly Korda and Ally Ewing 5 She bladed a pitch from a Korda’s putt from the back tory. Korda called the situ- on Nos. 14-17, the last com-
and 4 as Maguire, a Solheim fairway bunker on the par-4 right of the green during ation “awkward,” but U.S. ing on a birdie putt by Salas
Cup rookie, improved to 3-0 fourth out of bounds, chun- Saturday’s four-ball session captain Pat Hurst stressed it that revived the U.S.’s hopes
on the weekend. ked an approach shot on the hung on the lip. Sagstrom wouldn’t be an issue going of reclaiming the Cup they
par-4 seventh and had an up- walked over and picked it up, forward. lost at Gleneagles two years
Maguire and Reid will play hill chip from the fringe on a violation of a rule that lets ago.

Saka feels the England love with scoring return to Wembley

(AP) — The cheers of the sages of support at the train- and it made me really want to first half against the foot- tional goal from a penalty
Wembley crowd made ing ground. give my all.” balling minnows from the after Mason Mount was bun-
clear the affection for Bu- Pyrenees. dled over.
kayo Saka the moment the It was returning to Wemb- That was clear to England
England lineup was an- ley that allowed Saka to see manager Gareth Southgate. Lingard doubled his tally for After Lingard scored his sec-
nounced. the warmth from true Eng- the evening by scoring the ond, it was Saka who had the
land fans after that abhorrent “I hope closure, if it was third for the hosts, finish- final say. He left Southgate
There were even louder roars abuse that social media com- needed,” he said. “You can ing from the edge of the box beaming as he nodded in
to come when the birthday panies were slow to remove. see how popular he is with with Andorra goalkeeper Jo- from Trent Alexander-Ar-
boy headed in the final goal the rest of the team.” sep Gomes only able to get a nold’s cross in the 85th min-
in a 4-0 World Cup quali- “I’m really happy with the hand to his low shot. ute.
fying win over Andorra on reception everyone gave me,” Saka’s impact was apparent
Sunday. Saka said. “It really showed early on with a cross setting England’s second in the 72nd It set off the most thunder-
how proud they are of me. I up Jesse Lingard to score minute saw captain Harry ous celebrations of the eve-
“It really made a difference think that meant a lot for me England’s only goal of the Kane net his 40th interna- ning from fans.
for me,” the 20-year-old Saka
said. “I could hear so many “It makes me believe they
fans cheering my name.” support me through thick
and thin,” Saka said.
How different from 56 days
earlier when England last England has a six-point lead
played at Wembley. When in Group I over Albania,
Saka missed England’s last which beat Hungary 1-0 on
penalty in the European Sunday. Third-placed Po-
Championship final shoot- land was to play later Sunday
out loss to Italy. When the against San Marino, which is
youngster was targeted with a last with zero points, before
torrent of racist abuse on so- hosting England on Wednes-
cial media, leading to police day. Only the top team au-
investigations and arrests. tomatically qualifies for the
Saka was showered with love tournament in Qatar in No-
when he arrived back from vember 2022 with the group
his summer break to Arsenal runners-up having to go
to find a wall covered in mes- through playoffs.