2003 Solheim Cup Results

This was the eighth time the Solheim Cup was played. After the European victory, the overall standings in the event's history were five wins for the United States, three wins for Europe.

Final Score: Europe 17.5, USA 10.5

Dates Played: September 12-14, 2003

Location: Barseback Golf and Country Club in Loddekopinge, Skane, Sweden

Team Captains: Patty Sheehan for Team USA, Catrin Nilsmark for Team Europe

Team Rosters:

• United States — Juli Inkster, Rosie Jones, Beth Daniel, Michele Redman, Laura Diaz, Cristie Kerr, Meg Mallon, Angela Stanford, Kelly Robbins, Wendy Ward, Heather Bowie, Kelli Kuehne
• Europe — Annika Sorenstam, Laura Davies, Sophie Gustafson, Elisabeth Esterl, Iben Tinning, Ana-Belen Sanchez, Mhairi McKay, Carin Koch, Catriona Matthew, Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, Janice Moodie, Suzann Pettersen

What Happened in the 2003 Solheim Cup

Team Europe won the 2003 Solheim Cup by the largest margin-of-victory to this point in Solheim Cup history (tying the 7-point win for Team USA in the 1990 Solheim Cup). It was Europe's third win in the competition, all three of those wins coming in "home" matches (played in Europe).

Europe opened by winning 3.5 of a possible 4 points in the first session, the Day 1 foursomes. One of those foursomes teams was the pairing of Annika Sorenstam and Suzann Pettersen, each of whom went on to record 4-1-0 records in the event.

Europe took a 9.5 to 6.5 lead into the singles matches, and closed it out early. Janice Moodie, who posted a 3-0-1 tournament record, won the opening singles match, and Europe clinched the Cup by only the sixth match of the singles session.

This was the first Solheim Cup played in an odd-numbered year; the Solheim Cup, supposed to be played every other year, was, in fact, played just one year earlier in 2002. However, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks caused a one-year delay in playing the Ryder Cup, moving that Ryder Cup to 2002 and onto an even-numbered year schedule. The Solheim Cup then switched to odd-numbered years to avoid conflict.

2003 Solheim Cup Match Scores

Day One

Foursomes

• Beth Daniel/Kelly Robbins (USA) halved with Carin Koch/Laura Davies (EUR)
• Janice Moodie/Catriona Matthew (EUR) defeated Juli Inkster/Wendy Ward, 5&3
• Annika Sorenstam/Suzann Pettersen (EUR) defeated Laura Diaz/Heather Bowie, 4&3
• Sophie Gustafson/Elisabeth Esterl (EUR) defeated Meg Mallon/Rosie Jones, 3&2

Score after first session: Europe 3.5, USA 0.5

Four-Ball

• Kelli Kuehne/Cristie Kerr (USA) defeated Laura Davies/Catriona Matthew (EUR), 2&1
• Juli Inkster/Beth Daniel (USA) defeated Annika Sorenstam/Carin Koch (EUR), 1 up
• Suzann Pettersen/P. Meunier-Lebouc (EUR) defeated Angela Stanford/Meg Mallon (USA), 3&2
• Michele Redman/Rosie Jones (USA) defeated Iben Tinning/Sophie Gustafson (EUR), 2 up

Score of second session: USA 3, Europe 1
Overall score after Day 1: Europe 4.5, USA 3.5

Day Two

Foursomes

• Sophie Gustafson/Suzann Pettersen (EUR) defeated Kelli Kuehne/Cristie Kerr (USA), 3&1
• Angela Stanford/Michele Redman (USA) halved with Elisabeth Esterl/Iben Tinning (EUR)
• Annika Sorenstam/Carin Koch (EUR) defeated Wendy Ward/Heather Bowie (USA), 3&2
• Meg Mallon/Kelly Robbins (USA) halved with Janice Moodie/Catriona Matthew (EUR)

Score of first session: Europe 3, USA 1

Four-Ball

• Beth Daniel/Juli Inkster (USA) defeated Ana B. Sanchez/Mhairi McKay (EUR), 5&4
• Cristie Kerr/Kelli Kuehne (USA) defeated Sophie Gustafson/Laura Davies (EUR), 2&1
• Catriona Matthew/Janice Moodie (EUR) defeated Wendy Ward/Rosie Jones (USA), 4&3
• Annika Sorenstam/Suzann Pettersen (EUR) defeated Kelly Robbins/Laura Diaz (USA), 1 up

Score of second session: Europe 2, USA 2
Overall score after Day 2: Europe 9.5, USA 6.5

Day Three

Singles

• Janice Moodie (EUR) defeated Kelli Kuehne (USA), 3&2
• Juli Inkster (USA) defeated Carin Koch (EUR), 5&4
• Sophie Gustafson (EUR) defeated Heather Bowie (USA), 5&4
• Iben Tinning (EUR) defeated Wendy Ward (USA), 2&1
• Michele Redman (USA) defeated Ana B. Sanchez (EUR), 3&1
• Catriona Matthew (EUR) defeated Rosie Jones (USA), 3&1
• Annika Sorenstam (EUR) defeated Angela Stanford (USA), 3&2
• Cristie Kerr (USA) defeated Suzann Pettersen (EUR) when Pettersen conceded the match after 15 holes
• Laura Davies (EUR) defeated Meg Mallon (USA) when Mallon conceded the match after 14 holes
• Laura Diaz (USA) defeated Elisabeth Esterl (EUR), 5&4
• Mhairi McKay (EUR) defeated Beth Daniel (USA) when Daniel conceded the match after 14 holes
• Patricia Meunier-Lebouc (EUR) defeated Kelly Robbins (USA) when Robbins conceded the match after 11 holes

Score of singles session: Europe 8, USA 4
Overall and final score: Europe 17.5, USA 10.5

Player Records at the 2003 Solheim Cup

Players' records are listed as wins-losses-halves.

Team USA
Heather Bowie, 0-3-0
Beth Daniel, 2-1-1
Laura Diaz, 1-2-0
Juli Inkster, 3-1-0
Rosie Jones, 1-3-0
Cristie Kerr, 3-1-0
Kelli Kuehne, 2-2-0
Meg Mallon, 0-3-1
Michele Redman, 2-0-1
Kelly Robbins, 0-2-2
Angela Stanford, 0-2-1
Wendy Ward, 0-4-0

Team Europe
Laura Davies, 1-2-1
Elisabeth Esterl, 1-1-1
Sophie Gustafson, 3-2-0
Carin Koch, 1-2-1
Catriona Matthew, 3-1-1
Mhairi McKay, 1-1-0
Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, 2-0-0
Janice Moodie, 3-0-1
Suzann Pettersen, 4-1-0
Ana B. Sanchez, 0-2-0
Annika Sorenstam, 4-1-0
Iben Tinning, 1-1-1

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2002 Solheim Cup - 2005 Solheim Cup