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Michelle Wie wasn’t the only Hawaii golfer winning a Solheim Cup in Germany last week.
Punahou senior Mariel Galdiano, who will try to become the first to win four state high school golf championships in the spring, helped the U.S. capture the Ping Jr. Solheim Cup.
Galdiano went unbeaten in her three matches to help the U.S. juniors keep the Cup a fourth consecutive time. The score was 13-11 over Europe.
She started with a 3-and-2 Fourball victory with Megan Khang on Sept. 14. Galdiano followed up with a Wie-like 6-and-5 win in Foursomes with Haley Moore, then earned a half-point with a tie in singles.
Wie, a Punahou graduate, ran away with her singles match in the Americans’ historic rally Sunday. Playing in her fourth straight Solheim, the world’s 20th-ranked golfer got her only point with a 6-and-4 win over Caroline Hedwall. Wie birdied five of the first six holes on the way to the fourth-largest margin of victory in Cup history.
Team USA came from 4 down to beat Europe 14.5-13.5. It was the smallest margin of victory ever, and one of the most memorable.
"Us, as a group, I think because we had lost the last two Cups, we went through so much together," said Wie, who called herself pain-free for the first time this year. "Winning is easy. Winning is always easy. I think losing is when you learn the most about each other, learn the most about yourself. And I think that’s an opportunity you can remember on and improve on. And this moral battle that we’ve been through for the last two Cups, we’ve been through a lot together."