Back-to-back weeks see the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup take place, but who has qualified for the sport’s biggest team events?
There is less than a month to go until the Solheim Cup but who has qualified to play for Team Europe and Team USA?
The qualification period is over in Europe and captain Suzann Pettersen has made her picks for the biennial event, which takes place in Spain from September 22 to 24.
We take a look at her team, and also cast an eye over who has qualified for Team USA – with captain Stacy Lewis yet to complete her squad.
Team Europe
Celine Boutier
Carlota Ciganda
Linn Grant
Georgia Hall
Charley Hull
Leona Maguire
Anna Nordqvist
Maja Stark
Gemma Dryburgh*
Caroline Hedwall*
Emily Kristine Pedersen*
Madelene Sagstrom*
(* indicates Captain’s Picks)
Following the ISPS Handa World Invitational, the Qualifying Period for the European Solheim Cup team ended. Eight women were assured of a ticket to Andalucia.
Celine Boutier and Maja Stark qualified as the two women with the most points in the standings.
France’s Boutier won back-to-back events in the summer, including her first major title, as she claimed the Evian Championship on home soil, before backing it up with a victory at the Scottish Women’s Open.
Celine Boutier qualified as the leading European, topping the Solheim Cup points standings with 264.57 points. This will be her third appearance, having been part of winning European teams in both 2019 and 2021. The Frenchwoman has 5.5 points from her seven matches.
Maja Stark is one of five Swedes in the team and is making her Solheim Cup debut. She has won six times on the Ladies European Tour in the last two years and had a career-best major finish of T9 at the US Women’s Open in 2023.
Charley Hull, Leona Maguire, Georgia Hall, Linn Grant, Carlota Ciganda and Anna Nordqvist then qualified as the highest ranked on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
Linn Grant became the first woman to win on the DP World Tour last year with her incredible victory at the Scandinavian Mixed. Like Stark, she represented Team Europe at the Junior Solheim Cup in 2017, and will be making her bow in the Solheim Cup.
Anna Nordqvist had already been announced as a vice-captain by Suzann Pettersen and this will be her eighth consecutive appearance for Team Europe. The Swede has 15.5 points from her previous seven outings.
England’s Charley Hull was the youngest ever Solheim Cup player, having featured for Team Europe at the age of 17 in 2013. She has been a consistent team member since – scoring 12.5 points from 19 matches, and returns for her sixth consecutive appearance.
Georgia Hall makes her fourth appearance for Team Europe, having won 7.5 points in her previous three outings. Her partnership with Boutier in 2019 was devastating, with the pair winning all three times they played together.
Leona Maguire will be looking to repeat her historic debut appearance, having taken 4.5 points as a rookie in 2021.
Like Hull, Spain’s Carlota Ciganda returns for a sixth consecutive outing. She has nine points in her Solheim career, including having won three of her five singles matches.
On August 22, Team Europe Captain Suzann Pettersen selected her four Captain’s Picks…
Madelene Sagstrom makes her third appearance at the Solheim Cup. She played in both 2017 and 2021 in the United States, but this is her first on home soil. The Swede has won both of her singles matches so far.
Caroline Hedwall made her Solheim Cup debut back in 2011, and this will be her fifth appearance. She has 8.5 points from her 15 matches, including a perfect 5-0-0 record at the Colorado Golf Club in 2013. She became the first and only player to ever win five matches in a single Solheim Cup competition.
Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh secured her biggest professional victory at the back end of 2022. She will be making her first appearance in the Solheim Cup, and will become the first Scot to play in the competition since Catriona Matthew six years ago.
Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen rounds out Team Europe’s team. Pedersen has previous on Spanish soil, winning the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open De España back in 2020. She took three points from four matches in the Solheim Cup two years ago.
Team USA
Allisen Corpuz
Danielle Kang
Megan Khang
Nelly Korda
Jennifer Kupcho
Andrea Lee
Lexi Thompson
Lilia Vu
Rose Zhang
Ally Ewing*
Cheyenne Knight*
Angel Yin*
(* indicates Captain’s Picks)
The winners of three of this year’s majors are among those to have qualified to play for Team USA. Team USA will feature five Solheim Cup debutants this year, but two of those are major champions.
World No.1 Lilia Vu became the first American woman since 2000 to win two majors in a calendar year. Her victories at the Chevron Championship and AIG Women’s Open, her first two career majors, see her sitting in first place in the LPGA Solheim Cup Points list. This will Vu’s maiden Solheim Cup appearance, as one of five debutants in the team.
Allisen Corpuz will also be making her debut for Team USA. She claimed her maiden major title at the US Women’s Open earlier this year and will be looking to carry that form into her first professional outing in her national colours.
Megan Khang finished in the top ten in three of the five majors in 2023. A T3 finish at the Women’s PGA Championship was solidified by T9 results at the Chevron Championship and the Amundi Evian Championship. She then claimed her maiden LPGA Tour title with a win at the CPKC Women’s Open at the end of August, as she peaks at the right time for the Solheim. She will be making her third consecutive Solheim Cup appearance, having won two points from a possible six so far.
Nelly Korda also finished T9 at the Amundi Evian Championship, with a solo third at the Chevron Championship. She has spent several weeks as the World No.1 in 2023 and will also be making her third consecutive appearance in the Solheim Cup. Korda has six points from a possible eight in her previous two outings.
Jennifer Kupcho will make her second Solheim Cup appearance, and her first on European soil after being a part of Team USA in 2021. The 2022 Chevron Championship winner has had a slight drop in form this year, missing the cut at four of the five majors. She does have four top-20 finishes in her last eight events, though, including a runner-up finish at the Mizuho Americas Open.
Danielle Kang returns for her fourth Solheim Cup appearance, having been a part of the 2017, 2019 and 2021 US teams. She has accumulated 5 points from her three outings. Kang has three top-ten finishes on the LPGA Tour this year, but has not been in the best of form coming into the team competition.
The most experienced member of this year’s American Solheim Cup team will be Lexi Thompson. She will be back for her sixth Solheim Cup, having won 9.5 points from a possible 19 across her previous five appearances. However, she has had the worst year of her career to date. 2023 was the first year since 2012 that Thompson did not finish in the top 10 in any of the year’s major tournaments, and she missed the cut in seven of her nine LPGA Tour events this year.
Andrea Lee is one of the debutants in the team. Lee finished in the top ten at the AIG Women’s Open, along with a T20 at the US Women’s Open, having claimed her maiden LPGA Tour title at the Portland Classic last September.
The other debutant to make the team automatically, and arguably the best female prospect in years, is Rose Zhang. In her first appearance on the LPGA Tour, Zhang won the Mizuho Americas Open, and went on to finish inside the top 10 at the Women’s PGA Championship, US Women’s Open and Amundi Evian Championship.
On August 28, Team USA Captain Stacy Lewis selected her three Captain’s Picks to complete her 12-strong squad…
Ally Ewing has come into form for Team USA at exactly the right time, finishing in a tie for 6th at the AIG Women’s Open, the final major championship of the season. She also recorded an 11th place result at the US Women’s Open. Ewing has three other top-10 finishes in 2023 including at the Freed Group Women’s Scottish Open. She returns for a third Solheim Cup appearance, having been on the losing side in each of the last two editions.
Also returning for a third Team USA appearance in the Solheim Cup is Angel Yin. She played in both 2017 and 2019, so has been on both the winning and losing sides of the draw. Yin has 3.5 points from her two previous appearances. This year, she finished runner-up at the Chevron Championship after losing out in a play-off to teammate Lilia Vu. She then finished the major season with a T6 result at the AIG Women’s Open.
The fifth and final debutant in this year’s US Team is Cheyenne Knight. The 26-year-old has four top-10s on the LPGA Tour this season, including her second victory. That came at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational alongside Elizabeth Szokol. She also finished inside the top 20 at the season’s first major, the Chevron Championship.
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