Susanne Petersen praises ‘legends’ after Europe retains Solheim Cup against USA | Solheim Cup

Susanne Petersen has paid tribute to the “legends” of her European Solheim Cup team after retaining the trophy on a very dramatic day in Andalusia. Spaniard Carlota Ciganda struck the strike that secured a 14-14 draw with the United States and lifted the trophy at the hands of Europe for a record third time in a row.

“It gets better than this? This is a dream come true,” Petersen said. “We had a tremendous challenge ahead of us. We made history again in the Solheim Cup. These girls are legends.”

Petersen’s team rallied from a 4-0 defeat in Friday’s opening session to sit at 8-8 heading into singles. “I wonder if that was a nice wake-up call for all of us,” Petersen said. “We were all at our highest levels a few years ago and that was probably good. I believe in fate, so maybe it was meant to happen.

I just said: If you fall down, get back up. Life can be hard but it’s the way you stand that shows your character. “I think it really shows the character of this team.”

Stacy Lewis, captain of the US national team, said that she and PGA Commissioner Molly Semaan discussed during the closing ceremony whether retaining the trophy in the event of a tie was a fair result. The same is true in Ryder Cups.

“We were talking about when is it a tie, should it be a playoff, should it be keeping the Cup,” Lewis said. “I don’t know. Obviously it would be better television. It would be a better experience for the fans, whether it’s a team playoff game or something like that. I think that would be pretty cool.”

“But if you want to stick with the history of the event and the history of what the guys do as well, you should probably stick with keeping the trophy. I don’t know how I feel about it either way, to be honest.”

Lewis insisted she was proud of her team. “These girls played their hearts out today. Things could have been a little different with a shot or two here and there.”