prammanasudh

America's women golfers retained the Solheim Cup with a storming singles display at Halmstad in Sweden today.

Leading by a point after the morning completion of fourballs and then by two when Scot Catriona Matthew beat Laura Diaz in the top game Europe were simply swept aside.

Juli Inkster, Pat Hurst, Angela Stanford and Stacy Prammanasudh scored wins over Iben Tinning, Sophie Gustafson, Trish Johnson and Sophie Gustafson respectively to take the United States in sight of victory.

Nineteen-year-old Morgan Pressel then claimed the notable scalp of Annika Sorenstam and after Sherri Steinhauer had won the last to claim a half with Becky Brewerton it was left to Nicole Castrale and Paula Creamer to take the United States over the winning line.

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Their tail was going well too and it looked like being a comfortable victory in the end.

Results Sunday from the Solheim Cup, played on the 6,067 meter (6,635-yard), par 72 Halmstad Golf Club's North Course:

Europe 8 1/2, United States 7 1/2

Best Ball (Completion of matches suspended Saturday)

Europe 3, United States 1

Paula Creamer and Brittany Lincicome, United States, halved with Linda Wessberg and Maria Hjorth, Europe.

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Juli Inkster and Stacy Prammanasudh, United States, halved with Trish Johnson and Iben Tinning, Europe.

Becky Brewerton and Laura Davies, Europe, def. Natalie Gulbis and Nicole Castrale, United States, 2-up.

Annika Sorenstam and Suzann Pettersen, Europe, def. Cristie Kerr and Morgan Pressel, United States, 3 and 2.

A cup of distinction in addition to the inaugural FedEx will be awarded Sunday. The Solheim Cup is the biennial competition between women from the United States and Europe.

Most of the attention will be on the final event of the FedEx Cup series, but national pride is on the line at Halmstad Golf Club in Sweden. The U.S. has won six of the nine Solheim Cups, but is only 1-3 in the match-play competitions in Europe.

The Europeans have a big home-course advantage in Sweden. Four players, led by Annika Sorenstam, are natives of Sweden. And captain Helen Alfredsson is Swedish, too.

"You just don't have the crowd on your side, and that's the difficult part," American Sherri Steinhauer told reporters Tuesday. "The goal is to quiet the European fans."

The Americans look to do that when the competition starts Friday with such players as Juli Inkster, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Pat Hurst, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome, Stacy Prammanasudh and Morgan Pressel.

The U.S. has four of the top 10 players in the Rolex World golf rankings in No. 4 Kerr, No. 7 Creamer, No. 8 Pressel and No. 10 Inkster. Sorenstam is No. 3 in the world rankings and is 20-12 in Solheim Cup matches. Teammate Suzann Pettersen is No. 5 in the world.

European Laura Davies, who has competed in every Solheim Cup, says Gulbis and other young Americans should beware.

"They have not just got four rookies [Nicole Castrale, Lincicome, Prammanasudh and Pressel], they have got other players who have never played away from home," Davies said. "Some have only played in the Solheim Cups in America where everyone is cheering for them, and there are chants of 'USA' all the time. I think even the likes of Natalie Gulbis will find it more intimidating than they had imagined."

Two years ago at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind., U.S. captain Nancy Lopez led her team to a 151/2-121/2 victory. Red, white and blue dominated the landscape, and "U-S-A" cheers reverberated.

"The veterans that have played Solheims over here before have kind of warned us," Prammanasudh said. "It's a different atmosphere."