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The Solheim Cup in the Netherlands is eight weeks away, and captain Angela Stanford’s U.S. team will become official in just 35 days. With two big events on the horizon in which the points list could be shaken up—the Women’s Scottish Open this week and AIG Women’s Open next week—it’s shaping up to be a familiar-looking American roster from two years ago that beat Europe by three points in Virginia.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda, the only U.S. player to have locked up her place in the points standings, leads a group of eight returners who are likely to make the team of 12 when the roster is officially announced on Aug. 24 after the CPKC Women’s Open in Canada.
Nine players took part last week in a practice session at the host site, Bernardus Golf Club in Cromvoirt, and among them were five returners who would make the team today on points or world ranking—Allisen Corpuz, Jennifer Kupcho, Auston Kim, Lindy Duncan and Lauren Coughlin.
Megan Khang, Rose Zhang and Lilia Vu, who were on the winning 2024 team, practised in the Netherlands to make their cases for the three captain’s picks, as was Lucy Li, who would be a Solheim rookie.
The top seven players in the points after the CPKC automatically make the team, and among those not at the practice were Korda, No. 2 Angel Yin, No. 6 Yealimi Noh, and No. 8 Andrea Lee, who is all but certain to make the team in either points or as the best-ranked of two Americans in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking. Lee stands in the top U.S. spot at No. 34, and Duncan is in the second position at No. 56.
The drama always comes with the three captain’s picks, and Stanford would seem to have a strong pool of players from which to choose. Zhang, who is 15th in points, and Khang (11th) would seem to be frontrunners, both being extremely popular teammates with experience in the past two Solheim Cups. Neither is in great current form, however, with Zhang notching two top-10s in 11 starts and Zhang zero in 14 appearances.
Another player who figures to be a must-consider is Alison Lee, who played in the last Solheim while feeling very ill while pregnant and is in strong form. She has three top-10s, including a T-5 in the Women’s PGA, and contended deep into the U.S. Women’s Open in June. At No. 61 in the world, Lee could also earn her way onto the team with a strong few weeks and pass Duncan, who then would go into the captain’s pick lottery.
One other player to keep an eye on is Jenny Bae, who is 12th in the U.S. standings and 58th in the world. Bae, 24, would be a Solheim rookie, but the second-year pro has two top-10s this season, has made 10 of 15 cuts and was T-3 in the difficult conditions of the Mizuho America’s Open.
We will know much sooner about the makeup of Europe’s Solheim team, with captain Anna Nordqvist’s squad being finalised after next week’s Women’s British Open. The top two spots will be taken by players leading the LET points system, followed by the top six players, not otherwise qualifying, from the World Rankings. The final four positions will be captain’s picks.
World No. 7 Charley Hull of England and Swiss Chiara Tamburlini currently have the top two LET spots, though Germany’s Helen Briem trails Tamburlini by a single point. They are followed by World Ranking players—No. 5 Lottie Woad of England, No. 24 Maja Stark of Sweden, No. 31 Celine Boutier of France, No. 43 Carlota Ciganda of Spain, No. 45 Linn Grant of Sweden and No. 51 Esther Henseleit of Germany.
The next two players in the rankings—Nanna Koerstz Madsen (No. 61) and Leona Maguire (No. 82)—figure to be considered for captain’s picks.
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Main Image: Andrew Redington
