Rose Zhang, Megan Khang, Andrea Lee and Lauren Coughlin are among the players joining world No. 1 Nelly Korda on the US Solheim Cup team this year.
The club’s nine qualifying matches were confirmed on Sunday following the AIG Women’s Open. That leaves three options for captain Stacy Lewis to name on Tuesday.
“I’m happy that the team is being completed,” said Lewis from the news. “Most of these crews are returning from 2023, so a lot of them have experience. We have five qualifiers for the week, and I’m glad Megan and Andrea are back again. They were a big part of last year’s success. .”
The top seven players on the US Solheim Cup team list as of Sunday were Korda, Lilia Vu, Coughlin, Ally Ewing, Allsen Corpuz, Khang and Lee. Khang and Lee are locked in their spots after only Sunday’s results, despite Khang missing the Women’s Open and Lee finishing 22nd.
Then, the American team took two Americans ranked high in the Rolex Rankings (world ranking) who were not already on the team. Those were Zhang, currently world No. 9, and Alison Lee, No. 25.
This will be 21-year-old Zhang’s second Solheim Cup appearance in two years as the biannual event changes to even-numbered years. The rising star who won his first event as a professional on the LPGA Tour in June 2023 joined the Americans in Spain last fall, but Europe retained the Solheim Cup after the score ended in a 14-14 tie.
Alison Lee will make her second Solheim Cup appearance after playing in the event in 2015. The nine-year gap between appearances is the longest for a player in US team history.
The only Solheim Cup rookie among the nine qualifiers is Coughlin, the definition of a late bloomer. The 31-year-old has played on the LPGA Tour since 2018, but in July she picked up her first win in Canada at the CPKC Women’s Open. It took just three more weeks for her to claim her second title, having won last week’s ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open.
American players Lewis may consider a captain’s choice including Angel Yin, Cheyenne Knight, Jennifer Kupcho and Lexi Thompson, who has retired from golf at the end of the season. Lewis said in July that Thompson is “right where he needs to be” in terms of making the team.
The Solheim Cup will be played September 13-15 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia.
Source link
