GAINESVILLE, Virginia: Nelly Korda danced at the urging of teammate Megan Khang as they walked off the first tee together at the Solheim Cup after a pep talk from former President Barack Obama. Then she let Khang raise her arms to pump up the crowd as they walked to the 12th green following another sterling shot from the world’s top-ranked player.

Korda has never won a Solheim Cup in three tries, but she put the US in a strong position to end that drought by winning the leadoff match of each session Friday while helping the Americans to a 6-2 lead over Europe at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

A Solheim Cup that began with an unforced error by organizers, who didn’t have enough shuttle buses to transport fans to the course in the early morning hours, concluded its first day with the largest single-day lead by either team.

The US also led 6-2 in the inaugural event in 1990, when the first eight matches were played over two days.

“We played opponents that are playing fantastic golf, that’s No. 1. Sometimes we almost invite them to play even better,” European captain Suzann Pettersen said. “At the same time, we have to face reality, and we have a massive job to do.”

In her better-ball match with Khang, Korda played 14 holes in 8 under and made two eagles on the back nine, the first after her 5-iron approach on the 480-yard, par-5 12th settled 2 feet away. Europe’s Georgia Hall conceded that putt, and Korda holed a 10-footer for eagle on No. 14 to close out a 6-and-4 victory over Hall and Leona Maguire.

A six-time winner on the LPGA Tour this year, including her second major championship, Korda came into the Solheim Cup with a 7-4-1 record. But Europe captured the trophy each time, winning in 2019 in Scotland and 2021 in Ohio before retaining the Cup last year with a draw in Spain. Neither side has captured the Cup four times in a row.

Korda can’t win it on her own — the US needs 14 1/2 points over three days — but she’s certainly a key figure for captain Stacy Lewis on a PGA Tour-tested course that favors power and appears to suit her eye. Korda won 16 holes in her matches, the most by one Solheim Cup player in a single day since 2015.

She knew she could play aggressively with the accurate Khang as her partner.

“When you have a teammate who’s so pure off the tee, you never have to worry. You just kind of send it,” Korda said. “So that was kind of the motto, is I was going to go first and send it.”

Lewis also got strong contributions from her two rookies, sending Lauren Coughlin and Sarah Schmelzel out for both sessions and watching them win three points. Coughlin and Rose Zhang beat Celine Boutier and Albane Valenzuela 3 and 2 in alternate shot, while Schmelzel and Lilia Vu topped Linn Grant and Carlota Ciganda by the same score. The rookies paired up for better ball and beat Emily Pedersen and Maja Stark 3 and 2.

“I don’t think, at least to me, it was a surprise that we played really well, because we’ve been doing it all year,” said Coughlin, a two-time winner this summer.

Zhang, winless in her debut last year, went 2-0 on Friday. She teamed in the afternoon with Andrea Lee, whose approach on the 14th grazed the cup — just missing an albatross — to close a 5-and-4 win over Grant and Charley Hull.

“Things went according to plan today,” Lewis said.

Meanwhile, Pettersen got nothing from her best two players. Boutier, the top-ranked European at No. 10 in the world, was rested after her morning loss, and No. 12 Hull went 0-2.

The matches began quietly under overcast skies, with half-empty grandstands surrounding the first tee when Europe’s Esther Henseleit struck the opening tee shot at 7:05 a.m. Fans complained they were stuck for hours with no access to restrooms while waiting for bus rides to the sprawling property about 40 miles west of Washington, D.C., prompting an apology from the LPGA Tour.

Teamed with Allizen Corpuz in the opening alternate-shot match, Korda was steady on the back nine while German rookie and Olympic silver medalist Henseleit faltered. The Americans won the 14th and 15th holes with pars and then closed out Henseleit and Hull 3 and 2 when Korda hit her approach to 5 feet on the par-3 16th.

Korda and Corpuz became the first American duo to win three straight alternate-shot matches after they went 2-0 in the format last year.

The grandstands were full when the afternoon matches began, and the crowds tried in vain to urge on Lexi Thompson in what’s likely her final Solheim Cup as a player. Thompson and Alison Lee lost their better-ball match 6 and 5 to the Swedish duo of Anna Nordqvist and Madelene Sagstrom, who wore matching bucket hats and had Sagstrom’s new husband, Jack Clarke, carrying Nordqvist’s bag.

Nordqvist, an assistant captain for Europe who is playing in her ninth Solheim Cup, made six birdies through 13 holes as the pair never trailed.

“I feel like I’ve been the wedding crasher lately. I crashed her wedding last week, and this week I’m crashing her and my caddie Jack’s honeymoon,” Nordqvist said. “We just had a lot of fun out there together.”

GAINESVILLE, Virginia: Lexi Thompson worked her way down the rope line between the second and third holes at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club on Thursday, signing dozens of hats, flags and golf balls. The fans on the other side, worried they would miss their chance with the US Solheim Cup team’s most popular player, began chanting, “Lexi! Lexi!”

Thompson obliged, finally informing her still-waiting supporters, “Sorry, guys, I’ve got to go hit, OK?” There was a practice round to play, after all. But then she stopped again to sign the hats of two school-age girls and the vest of a service dog.

“We’re excited for you, and we’re excited for your retirement,” one fan told Thompson. “Enjoy life.”

The Solheim Cup begins Friday at this battle-tested venue about 40 miles west of Washington, D.C., that has hosted four Presidents Cups. And if it’s truly Thompson’s last as a player, she’s going out on top — at least in the eyes of American fans, teammates and captain Stacy Lewis.

There was never a doubt that Lewis would select Thompson to play in her seventh consecutive Solheim Cup. Although the 29-year-old hasn’t won on the LPGA Tour in five years, she brings power, proficiency in the tricky alternate-shot format and — rare on this US team — memories of hoisting the trophy in the biennial team competition against Europe.

Thompson and Alison Lee are the only players on the American squad who’ve won a Solheim Cup, which the US last captured in 2017 in Iowa. Europe won in 2019 in Scotland and 2021 in Ohio and retained the cup last year with a 14-14 draw in Spain. The event returns a year later — with Lewis and European captain Suzann Pettersen reprising their roles — to move back to even-numbered years and avoid the Ryder Cup.

The Solheim Cup dates to 1990, and no team has captured it four straight times. Also, neither side has won twice in a row on foreign soil.

The US is favored statistically, with the top two players in the world in Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu and an average world ranking of 26.75 to Europe’s 40.5. While Europe’s biggest margin of victory in the past three events was two points, it has gotten strong contributions from the likes of Carlota Ciganda (4-0 last year) and Leona Maguire (7-2-1 in the last two).

“The US team, they’ve been playing better than us on paper,” Ciganda said. “But I think this week is different.”

Lewis made “Unfinished Business” her team’s motto this year, and Pettersen, too, has tweaked her approach after neither side was fully satisfied with its performance in Spain. The US got off to a strong start in alternate shot, typically a strength for Europe, but was unable to maintain that advantage.

“We put a lot of emphasis last year on alternate shot, which you guys saw in the result,” Lewis said. “Looking back, was it maybe too much? Probably.”

Lewis shook things up with her foursomes pairings for Friday morning’s opening session. She announced Thursday she would send out rookies Lauren Coughlin (with Rose Zhang) and Sarah Schmelzel (with Vu) and bench Thompson, who is 9-7-7 overall in six Solheim Cups and 5-2-1 in alternate shot. Korda was tapped for the leadoff match alongside Allizen Corpuz, with Charley Hull and rookie Esther Henseleit as Europe’s opening team.

Four better-ball matches will be played Friday afternoon, with more alternate-shot and better-ball matches on Saturday and 12 singles matches on Sunday. Europe needs 14 points to retain the cup, while the US needs 14 1/2 to win it.

Lewis said finding alternate-shot duos who use the same or similar golf balls was important — even though the brand of ball doesn’t seam to matter to Thompson.

“She’s one of those you could literally pair with anybody, and she’s like, ‘I’ll figure it out,’” Lewis said. “She was testing a golf ball the other day that was going like 7 or 8 yards shorter with the wedge. She’s like, ‘It’s OK, I’m just going to get my numbers, it’s good.’ Where anybody else would just be freaking out.”

Thompson’s career could be remembered just as much for near-misses in major championships as for her 11 LPGA victories and one major. As generous as she can be with fans and sponsors, she is in some ways a reluctant star. Guarded with the media, she declined again this week to detail her plans for the semi-retirement she announced earlier this year.

“I’m just going to take it day by day, take some time for myself, and see how I feel after that,” Thompson said.

The team format, where success isn’t measured by individual strokes and she can contribute to others’ success, brings out the best in Thompson.

“I think it is her legacy, is her and the Solheim Cup. Just the way she is with the crowd and the fans, this event is Lexi to a T. ... She plays better golf here,” Lewis said. “She’s going to do whatever it takes to win, and I wish I had 12 of them.”