Six rookies, 17-year-old Charley Hull among them, helped the Europeans achieve a thrilling 18-10 win at the Colorado club
There may have been a few tired faces in the European team on Monday morning when the Solheim Cup winners rose at 8.30am to catch a flight to Canada. But that short-term fatigue will have quickly been replaced by memories of the previous day's exploits when Europe triumphed for the first time on United States soil in a historic 18-10 victory to retain the trophy.
Colorado state law ensured that the party could not go on past 1am but after three days of drama and toil on the course the players were certainly entitled to afew hours' rest before flying north for another competitive week at the Canadian Open.
Among the party were England's Charley Hull and Jodi Ewart Shadoff, the pair who performed so wonderfully and earned a crucial point in the fourballs on Saturday afternoon against Paula Creamer and Lexi Thompson.
Hull, the 17-year-old sensation from Kettering, then went on to record a famous victory over Creamer on Sunday, dismantling her opponent 5&4 to win Europe's first point of the day and take them a step closer to defending the trophy.
Europe's captain, Liselotte Neumann, selected Hull and Ewart Shadoff as her captain's pick before the tournament and admitted that the whole team "love Charley".
"She was on my junior team two years ago and she's just a special girl," said Neumann. "She has a special game, she brings a lot of energy to our team and she's just a terrific player. She plays fearlessly and it was just awesome to have her on our team. I think we all love Charley."
Neumann added: "When I was over in England doing my captain's picks, I was really looking at, if I picked this player, who would I pair her with. I was pretty much set on Caroline Hedwall and Jodi. When I picked Jodi it sort of made it automatic to pick Charley.
"So I already then had a few of the pairings sort of in my mind. It was just amazing. Both those girls are playing so well. They made me proud. All of them, it was just a total team effort. Everybody's been playing well, everybody's been really helpful."
Hull, who first picked up a golf club at the age of two and who left school at 13 to receive home tuition, sought advice from Ian Poulter before the Solheim Cup and demonstrated remarkable poise throughout the three-day event near Denver, despite being the youngest player to have competed in the event.
She saved her finest performance for the last day, comprehensively beating the experienced Creamer before asking the American to sign her ball after the match. Hull insisted it was for a "friend at home" and described winning the tournament as "wicked", denying that she felt any tension throughout.
"I didn't really feel that nervous, to be honest," said Hull. "This is how I always look at golf, I'm not going to die if I miss it. Just hit it and find it and hit it again."
On securing Creamer's autograph, she added: "Honestly, it was for my friend. He deserves it. He's like, 'Can you please get Paula Creamer's autograph?' and I said, 'OK.' So I got it."
Europe's decision to select six rookies for the tournament was regarded as a gamble but, having not won on US soil since the inception of the Solheim Cup in 1990, the debutantes, who included Carlota Ciganda, Caroline Masson, Beatriz Recari and Giulia Sergas as well as the English pair, played without any previous cup failures hanging over their heads.
Germany will play host to the tournament in 2015 and having won successive titles for the first time, Laura Davies believes the emerging youngsters mean Europe's future is promising.
"We've got lots of youngsters coming through," Davies told Sky Sports. "We've got Charley Hull, Georgia Hall is coming through the amateur ranks and she'll be on one of the next two or three Solheim Cup teams.
"The youngsters are coming through and they are enjoying playing golf and enjoying the big stage. You have to do it that first time and these girls are the pioneers now.
"They have done it and all those that follow don't have the 'we've never won it in America' feeling saddled on their shoulders." Reported by guardian.co.uk 17 hours ago.
There may have been a few tired faces in the European team on Monday morning when the Solheim Cup winners rose at 8.30am to catch a flight to Canada. But that short-term fatigue will have quickly been replaced by memories of the previous day's exploits when Europe triumphed for the first time on United States soil in a historic 18-10 victory to retain the trophy.
Colorado state law ensured that the party could not go on past 1am but after three days of drama and toil on the course the players were certainly entitled to afew hours' rest before flying north for another competitive week at the Canadian Open.
Among the party were England's Charley Hull and Jodi Ewart Shadoff, the pair who performed so wonderfully and earned a crucial point in the fourballs on Saturday afternoon against Paula Creamer and Lexi Thompson.
Hull, the 17-year-old sensation from Kettering, then went on to record a famous victory over Creamer on Sunday, dismantling her opponent 5&4 to win Europe's first point of the day and take them a step closer to defending the trophy.
Europe's captain, Liselotte Neumann, selected Hull and Ewart Shadoff as her captain's pick before the tournament and admitted that the whole team "love Charley".
"She was on my junior team two years ago and she's just a special girl," said Neumann. "She has a special game, she brings a lot of energy to our team and she's just a terrific player. She plays fearlessly and it was just awesome to have her on our team. I think we all love Charley."
Neumann added: "When I was over in England doing my captain's picks, I was really looking at, if I picked this player, who would I pair her with. I was pretty much set on Caroline Hedwall and Jodi. When I picked Jodi it sort of made it automatic to pick Charley.
"So I already then had a few of the pairings sort of in my mind. It was just amazing. Both those girls are playing so well. They made me proud. All of them, it was just a total team effort. Everybody's been playing well, everybody's been really helpful."
Hull, who first picked up a golf club at the age of two and who left school at 13 to receive home tuition, sought advice from Ian Poulter before the Solheim Cup and demonstrated remarkable poise throughout the three-day event near Denver, despite being the youngest player to have competed in the event.
She saved her finest performance for the last day, comprehensively beating the experienced Creamer before asking the American to sign her ball after the match. Hull insisted it was for a "friend at home" and described winning the tournament as "wicked", denying that she felt any tension throughout.
"I didn't really feel that nervous, to be honest," said Hull. "This is how I always look at golf, I'm not going to die if I miss it. Just hit it and find it and hit it again."
On securing Creamer's autograph, she added: "Honestly, it was for my friend. He deserves it. He's like, 'Can you please get Paula Creamer's autograph?' and I said, 'OK.' So I got it."
Europe's decision to select six rookies for the tournament was regarded as a gamble but, having not won on US soil since the inception of the Solheim Cup in 1990, the debutantes, who included Carlota Ciganda, Caroline Masson, Beatriz Recari and Giulia Sergas as well as the English pair, played without any previous cup failures hanging over their heads.
Germany will play host to the tournament in 2015 and having won successive titles for the first time, Laura Davies believes the emerging youngsters mean Europe's future is promising.
"We've got lots of youngsters coming through," Davies told Sky Sports. "We've got Charley Hull, Georgia Hall is coming through the amateur ranks and she'll be on one of the next two or three Solheim Cup teams.
"The youngsters are coming through and they are enjoying playing golf and enjoying the big stage. You have to do it that first time and these girls are the pioneers now.
"They have done it and all those that follow don't have the 'we've never won it in America' feeling saddled on their shoulders." Reported by guardian.co.uk 17 hours ago.