Despite the fact that the American 2021 Solheim Cup squad went down to a narrow defeat at Inverness Golf Club over the Labor Day weekend, two NorCal players who were making their first Solheim Cup appearances put up performances to be proud of.
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Yealimi Noh of Team USA plays her shot from the fifth tee during her Monday Singles match against Mel Reid of England. (photo credit: 2021 Getty Images) |
Mina Harigae of Monterey, and Yealimi Noh of Concord—the first a relative veteran and the other early in her career as a professional golfer—acquitted themselves well against a European squad that came to the event in fine form. Harigae is a four-time California Women’s Amateur champion (2001–2004), and Noh won the 2018 USGA Girls’ Junior Championship at Poppy Hills Golf Club, the home of the Northern California Golf Association.
Harigae, who turned pro in 2009, racked up a 1-2-0 record in her first Solheim Cup appearance. She and partner Lexi Thompson dropped their Saturday Fourball match to a dominating performance by Anna Nordqvist and Matilda Castern, and Harigae fell to experienced Solheim Cup hand Céline Boutier (4-0-0 in 2019) in the Monday singles, 4 and 3.
Noh, who is in her second year as a professional, having turned down a golf scholarship to UCLA to go pro at 18, finished the weekend 2-1-0. She was blanked in the Saturday Fourballs when she and playing partner Brittany Altomare lost a close match to Britain’s Georgia Hall and Leona Maguire of Ireland. Maguire dominated the event and set a Solheim Cup record by putting 4-1/2 points on the board for the European team in five matches.
The Monday singles saw Noh pitted against veteran UK player Mel Reid, a pro since 2007 who has played on three Solheim Cup teams: 2011, 2015, and 2017, coming into this year’s event with a 4-6-2 record. The 20-year-old from Alameda ran up an early lead, winning the first four holes against Reid, and fought off a late rally by the 33-year-old from Derby, England, winning the match on the 18th hole.
Harigae and Noh, paired together for a Sunday Fourball match, scored a win against Sophia Popov of Germany and Céline Boutier. The rookie duo established an early lead over their opponents, and were three up at the turn. Boutier and Popov, the 2020 AIG Women’s Open (Women’s British Open) winner, battled back to square the match at the 13th hole, but eventually fell to a renewed onslaught by the NorCal duo, who put up birdies on three of the last four holes against the Euro pair’s run of pars.
The Solheim Cup will return in 2023 at the Finca Cortesín Golf Club in Casares, near Málaga, Spain before switching back to an even-years rotation in 2024 to avoid conflicts with the Ryder Cup. Venues beyond 2023 have not yet been set.
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