USA defeat Europe to retain Solheim Cup

The United States retained the Solheim Cup on Sunday with a 16.5-11.5 victory over Europe in Iowa.

The hosts went into Sunday's singles matches with a virtually unassailable 10.5-5.5 lead and held off an attempted fightback by Europe to claim a comfortable victory.

The US have now won five of the last seven editions and 10 of 15 since the Solheim Cup started in 1990.

Europe did their level best to pull things round early on but the tone was set in the first match as Lexi Thompson recovered from 4 down against Anna Nordqvist to earn a half in an incredible contest.

The American eagled both the 11th and 15th and then birdied the 16th to go one up, only for the Swede to hit back on the final hole to halve the match.

Cristie Kerr and Paula Creamer then won their matches before Angel Yin put Juli Inkster's team on the brink of victory with a half against Karine Icher.

Carlota Ciganda of Spain defeated Brittany Lincicome 4&3 before Lizette Salas clinched the win with a one up win over England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff.

Inkster paid tribute to Europe after the win: "The Europeans fought hard today and made it really close.”

"I really haven't been nervous all week but today I was a little bit. It's an honour to captain this team and I'm really proud of the girls."

European captain Annika Sorenstam, who later confirmed she would not return as captain in 2019, said: "We just got outplayed, there's no doubt about it."

LPGA Solheim Cup

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