Europe rescue bleak position

 Solheim Cup:The argument that team play is the most gripping form of golf gained even more weight yesterday on a wet day in Sweden that confirmed the United States' status as favourites but offered home supporters a sliver of hope that fortunes could yet shift before the 10th edition of the Solheim Cup is decided.

Time and again during the opening day it seemed Betsy King's Americans were set to overwhelm Europe only for the home players, egged on by vast galleries whose enthusiasm was undiminished by the intermittently torrential rain, to steal encouragement from the precipice of despair.

They also nicked a couple of victories to keep the scoreline respectable, ending the day with 3½ points to the Americans' 4½.

"It could have been better," said Europe's captain Helen Alfredsson.

Maybe so, but it could have been a lot, lot worse if not for two afternoon fourball matches that seemed destined to end on the American side of the ledger but did not.

History, not to mention common sense, cautions against the notion that one shot can change the course of team events in golf, but if Europe do pull off an unlikely victory on Sunday, they will look back on the par-three 16th hole of yesterday afternoon's fourball match featuring Laura Davies and Trish Johnson, who were one down with three to play against the youthful American pairing of Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel.

All four players hit poor tee-shots short, but none were as bad as that of Davies, who left herself in the undergrowth to the right of the green. From there, she did well to slash her ball into the rough on the other side of the green. This was a fine recovery, but it was followed by a sensational chip-in for a three to win the hole and level the match.

"I would have said 500 to 1," Davies said when asked what odds she would have given herself on making a par from her tee-shot. "I made a fool of myself celebrating probably but I enjoyed it."

In the circumstances, the final two holes, both of them halved, were underwhelming, but no one was complaining, especially not Davies and Johnson after securing an unlikely half-point.

It will require a supreme effort on the part of Europe to overcome their one-point deficit over the next two days but no one was ruling out the possibility.