What Stacy Lewis was spotted doing for Lexi Thompson’s putt on 18 at the Solheim Cup

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There was a moment while Lexi Thompson was walking down the 18th fairway towards her tee shot when there seemed to be a genuine chance that she could be presented with the chance to hole the putt which would win USA the Solheim Cup.

Of course, Stacy Lewis would have been well aware of the damage complacency could do to her team despite their commanding 10-6 lead heading into the singles at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia. Nevertheless, even Lewis would have been fairly confident about her side’s chances of blowing Europe away on Sunday with the likes of Nelly Korda and Lauren Coughlin proving to be nearly flawless over the first two days.

The Americans reached 13.5 points fairly quickly, with Megan Khang, Allisen Corpuz and Rose Zhang securing emphatic victories. But Europe managed to fight their way back into the day.

Charley Hull and Georgia Hall won early points, beating Korda and Alison Lee respectively. As it happened therefore, it seemed that Lexi Thompson may get the opportunity to end what could be her final Solheim Cup appearance in style, as her match with Celine Boutier went down the last tied.

What Stacy Lewis did as Lexi Thompson putted on 18 on Sunday at the Solheim Cup

Thompson was three up early on in the back nine, but Boutier fought back and seemed to be in the ascendancy as she found the fairway on 18. Thompson meanwhile, found the right rough.

There was still a chance that Thompson would emulate Suzann Pettersen by holing the winning putt possibly on her way out of the Solheim Cup – with Thompson set to retire from full-time golf at the end of the year. However, Boutier hit a wonderful approach to put herself on pole position.

Thompson looked to have 15 to 20 feet for her birdie which would have taken USA to the brink of victory. Unfortunately for the 29-year-old, she could not trouble the hole. And it turned out that her captain could not even watch the putt, with replays showing that – an understandably nervous – Stacy Lewis could only crouch down and look down at the ground until the noise from the crowds told her what had happened.

Not quite the fairytale ending for Thompson

Thompson was clearly emotional as Boutier then holed her putt to win the match and keep Europe’s slim hopes alive.

Thompson has had a mixed career in the Solheim Cup, particularly in the singles. She has won two and now lost two of her seven singles matches, and perhaps that will prove to be her final match in the Solheim Cup.

Thankfully for Thompson, the winning moment would not be too far away, with Coughlin earning a half against Maja Stark before Lilia Vu produced an amazing fightback to secure the half point which took the US to 14.5.

With that, Stacy Lewis does indeed have that Solheim Cup triumph that agonisingly evaded her in Spain last year.