Angela Stanford finalised her US Solheim Cup team, and there were no surprises with her captain’s picks.
Stanford chose Solheim Cup stalwarts Megan Khang and Rose Zhang and added first-timer Lindy Duncan to round out the team that will play at Bernardus Golf Club in the Netherlands. Alison Lee and Andrea Lee made it via their world ranking. Those five join Nelly Korda, Jennifer Kupcho, Angel Yin, Yealimi Noh, Auston Kim, Lauren Coughlin and Allisen Corpuz, who all made the team through the standings.
Stanford, who is captaining the US after playing in six Solheim Cups, feels strongly about her team as it will try to win in Europe for the first time since 2015.
“I genuinely love this team”, Stanford told Golf Digest. “I feel really fortunate that we got to this point. I love their grittiness. I love their heart. I love the way they are around each other. I just love their demeanour as a whole.
“They’re not too high, and they’re not too low. And that’s exactly what you have to be in Europe. I absolutely love this team.”
There are a couple of question marks. It will be interesting to see if Stanford needs to go to either of her two alternates, which have not been revealed. A lot will depend on the status of Yin, who hasn’t played since withdrawing from the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June for what was described as an illness. Yin is scheduled to play in this week’s FM Championship in Boston.
“We’ve been taking it day by day with Angel, and she made the team on her own. She deserves to be on this team. We all want Angel on the team,” Stanford said. “We’re giving her the opportunity to play and see where she, and we agreed, let’s play Boston, and then let’s reassess. Then she has a week off. With Angel, it’s just been day by day, because we do want her on the team.”
[Photo: David Cannon] Angel Yin plays her second shot on the second hole in her match against Celine Boutier during the final day singles matches in the 2023 Solheim Cup in Spain.
Zhang is dealing with a tweaked back that she played through at the Standard Portland Classic, and finished T-8. She has three top-10 finishes this year. She didn’t play in last week’s CPKC Women’s Open in Canada, but she’s scheduled to play in Boston. Zhang has played in two Solheim Cups and went 4-0-0 for the winning US team at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia in 2024.
“We talked actually the Saturday of Portland, and she kind told me then, ‘look, I, I would feel more comfortable if I didn’t play Canada, and I’d like to just go take care of this before we go any further.’ I said, ‘great, do it,’” Stanford said. “I knew by previous conversations with her that she was going to play a lot to try to make this team. I had that in the back of my mind. I was totally OK with her taking Canada off. She’s going to play Boston. I have no concerns with Rose.”
Khang will play in her fifth Solheim Cup and has an impressive record—she’s 7-3-3 in 13 Solheim Cup matches. She was 3-0-0 in Virginia and is 7-0-1 over her last eight Solheim Cup matches. That was obviously a big part of the reason she’s on the team, but she has missed seven of the last eight cuts on the LPGA.
“She’s trending, and I think we see some things coming,” Stanford said. “I think the next three weeks are going to be really good for her and she’s on the upward swing of this. Her [impact] on the team room is obvious. She’s kind of the battery that makes us run. There’s no way I can leave her at home. You’re not going to go to Europe without a Megan Khang. Her teammates respect her and love having her there. Her record is just phenomenal.”
Duncan, who won the Heather Farr Perseverance Award last year, is the most senior member of the team and at 35 and she’s the oldest member since Nancy Scranton played her first Solheim Cup at age 39 in 2000.
Stanford told Duncan in person in Canada that she made the team but like her other conversations, she acted like it wasn’t going to be a yes.
“Well, apparently, I’m not very nice, because I tried to scare them all,” Stanford said. “I tried to be real serious.”
That had to have been a tough moment for Duncan, because she had one top-10 finish this season and missed the cut in four of the five majors. She’s played better in the last four events, making the cut in all.
“Look, there were a lot of people we were thinking about, and with Lindy, my two big things going to Europe are putting and chemistry,” Stanford said. “Lindy has proven to be one of our best putters, if you line her up against the other 11. Putting was important. She edged out the other ones we were looking at. Then just her awareness. I think when it comes to chemistry, people can miss this about team rooms but you think that everybody’s is just going to be loud. You need those people that are aware enough to know their place in the room. Lindy is going to be really good at that. I think she’s going to be a nice addition in the team room.”
Alison Lee was vocal all season about how she wanted to qualify for the team on her own, and she was the last to do so through the world ranking. She has three top 10s and played well in four of the five majors. The 31-year-old is the only player on the 2026 team who was also on the winning Solheim Cup team in Germany in 2015.
[Photo: Scott Taetsch] Alison Lee reacts to winning her match on the 15th hole during the Saturday four-ball matches against Europe in the 2024 Solheim Cup.
Stanford has continually said Alison Lee’s play this season, following her maternity leave to have her son, Levi, has been a pleasant surprise.
“It’s been so much fun to watch, and I’m so happy for her,” Stanford said. “It’s one thing for a player to say, ‘I want to make it on my own. I want to be on the team’ and do it and play the way she’s played.”
And Andrea Lee, who has played in two Solheim Cups and is 3-2-2 in matches, has one top-10 this season. She had a final-round 65 in the Standard Portland Classic recently, then missed the cut at the CPKC Women’s Open.
“She’s another pillar of our team. She is the straightest driver of the golf ball on tour,” Stanford said. “She’s a tremendous putter. This course is going to be perfect for her. I’m just so glad she is on this team. There is a calmness about her. There is just an ease in how she relates with people on this team, and I’m happy she’s on this team.”