The USA arrive at Bernardus with the trophy, plenty of Solheim Cup experience and just two rookies. We take a closer look at the 12 players Angela Stanford will rely on as the Americans attempt to win in Europe for the first time since 2015.
Team USA will arrive at Bernardus in a very different position to Europe.
They have the trophy. They have only two Solheim Cup rookies. And throughout Angela Stanford’s team are players who played significant roles in the American victory in Virginia two years ago.
Nelly Korda, Angel Yin, Jennifer Kupcho, Yealimi Noh, Auston Kim, Lauren Coughlin and Allisen Corpuz qualified through the US Solheim Cup points standings, while Andrea Lee and Alison Lee secured the two available places through the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
Stanford then selected Lindy Duncan, Megan Khang and Rose Zhang as her three captain’s picks.
There are intriguing stories throughout the side.
Zhang produced a perfect 4-0-0 performance in 2024. Khang is unbeaten in her last eight Solheim Cup matches. Duncan, meanwhile, will make her debut at 35.
And then there is the challenge facing all 12 of them.
The USA may be defending champions, but they haven’t won the Solheim Cup on European soil since 2015.
So who are the women attempting to change that at Bernardus?
Nelly Korda – Florida
Solheim Cup appearances: 4 | 2026: 5th appearance
Korda is once again the headline name in the American team.
The former world number one has been part of every US Solheim Cup side since making her debut in 2019 and brings an impressive match-play record to the Netherlands.
She was particularly influential in the opening two days of the American victory in 2024, winning three matches before running into an inspired Charley Hull in the Sunday singles.
Her partnership with Allisen Corpuz has become particularly significant. The pair have won all four Solheim Cup foursomes matches they have played together across the last two contests.
Whether Stanford immediately reunites them at Bernardus will be one of the first big selection questions of the week.
What she brings: Star quality, experience and a proven foursomes partnership. Europe will expect Korda to be at the heart of Stanford’s plans.
Angel Yin – California
Solheim Cup appearances: 3 | 2026: 4th appearance
Yin has developed into an established member of the American side since making her debut in 2017.
She qualified through the US points standings for the first time, having previously reached the team through a combination of captain’s picks and the world rankings.
Her Solheim Cup record is strong: five wins, three defeats and one half from nine matches.
Yin also brings the kind of power and personality that can become particularly effective in fourball golf.
What she brings: Power, competitive intensity and an increasingly impressive Solheim Cup record.
Jennifer Kupcho – Colorado
Solheim Cup appearances: 3 | 2026: 4th appearance
Kupcho has now made every American Solheim Cup team since her debut in 2021.
That first appearance remains particularly significant: as a rookie, she led the US team with 2½ points.
She has since experienced the 14-14 tie in Spain and the American victory in Virginia, giving her a useful mixture of home and away Solheim Cup experience.
Kupcho qualified automatically through the US points standings.
What she brings: Experience across all three match formats and a proven ability to contribute points in the team environment.
Yealimi Noh – California
Solheim Cup appearances: 1 | 2026: 2nd appearance
Noh returns to the Solheim Cup five years after making her debut in the American defeat at Inverness in 2021.
She was only 20 then and one of the youngest players in US Solheim Cup history.
Bernardus will therefore feel rather different. Noh returns as a more established LPGA Tour player and earned her place automatically through the points standings.
She may have only one previous Solheim Cup appearance, but she won’t be approaching the week as a newcomer to either team golf or the pressure surrounding the event.
What she brings: A second chance at Solheim Cup golf after developing considerably as a player since her 2021 debut.
Auston Kim – Florida
Solheim Cup appearances: Rookie
Kim is one of only two players in Stanford’s team who will experience the Solheim Cup for the first time.
Crucially, she didn’t need a captain’s pick to get there.
Kim earned her place through the US Solheim Cup points standings, an achievement that underlines the quality of the golf she has produced during the qualifying period.
Now comes an entirely different challenge: her first Solheim Cup will also be an away match in front of a European crowd.
What she brings: New energy and the confidence of having played her way automatically onto a strong American team.
Lauren Coughlin – Virginia
Solheim Cup appearances: 1 | 2026: 2nd appearance
Coughlin could hardly have asked for a better introduction to Solheim Cup golf.
Making her debut in her home state of Virginia in 2024, she went unbeaten across the week and became an important part of the American victory.
One of her successes came alongside Rose Zhang in the Friday foursomes, providing Stanford with another established partnership to consider.
Two years later, Coughlin returns having qualified automatically.
The surroundings will be very different this time. Instead of a partisan Virginia crowd behind her, she will experience her first away Solheim Cup.
What she brings: Excellent memories of 2024 and evidence that her game and temperament are particularly well suited to match play.
Allisen Corpuz – Hawaii
Solheim Cup appearances: 2 | 2026: 3rd appearance
Corpuz may not always command the attention that surrounds some of her American teammates, but her Solheim Cup record demands respect.
She has developed a particularly formidable foursomes partnership with Korda, with the pair unbeaten together across four matches in 2023 and 2024.
Corpuz also delivered in the singles in Virginia, beating Anna Nordqvist 4&3 as the USA closed out its victory.
She qualified automatically through the US points standings.
What she brings: A proven ability to perform in foursomes and a partnership with Korda that Europe already knows plenty about.
Andrea Lee – California
Solheim Cup appearances: 2 | 2026: 3rd appearance
Lee secured her place through the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and returns for a third consecutive Solheim Cup.
Her 2024 partnership with Rose Zhang is particularly difficult to ignore.
The pair played together twice in fourballs in Virginia and won both matches emphatically, 5&4 and 6&4.
That gives Stanford another ready-made combination should she choose to return to partnerships that worked so effectively under Stacy Lewis.
What she brings: Experience, consistency and a potentially important existing partnership with Zhang.
Alison Lee – California
Solheim Cup appearances: 2 | 2026: 3rd appearance
Alison Lee brings one of the most interesting stories in the American team.
She returns to the Solheim Cup after becoming a mother and will make her third appearance, having previously represented the USA in 2015 and 2024.
That first appearance has particular relevance this week.
Lee is the only player in Stanford’s 2026 team who was also part of the last American side to win a Solheim Cup in Europe, at St Leon-Rot in Germany 11 years ago.
She qualified for Bernardus through the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
What she brings: A very different perspective on Solheim Cup golf – and a direct connection to the USA’s last victory on European soil.
Lindy Duncan – Florida
Solheim Cup appearances: Rookie
At 35, Duncan is proof that there is no single route to becoming a Solheim Cup player.
She is the oldest member of Stanford’s team and will become the oldest American to make her Solheim Cup debut since Nancy Scranton was 39 in 2000.
Duncan came agonisingly close to qualifying automatically through the world rankings before eventually being selected by Stanford.
Her recent consistency helped make the case: over the last two LPGA Tour seasons she has accumulated 14 top-25 finishes.
Now, after a long professional career, comes her first opportunity to represent the USA in the Solheim Cup.
What she brings: Experience without Solheim Cup baggage. Duncan may be a rookie in name, but certainly not in professional golf.
Megan Khang – Massachusetts
Solheim Cup appearances: 4 | 2026: 5th appearance
Few statistics in either team are as eye-catching as Khang’s recent Solheim Cup record.
She is unbeaten in her last eight matches, stretching back to the Sunday singles at Inverness in 2021.
Her overall record stands at seven wins, three defeats and three halves from 13 matches, and she was one of the unbeaten Americans in Virginia in 2024.
That experience persuaded Stanford to use one of her three captain’s picks on the 28-year-old.
Khang also brings something less measurable: she is an expressive, energetic competitor who appears completely at home in the atmosphere of team golf.
What she brings: One of the strongest current Solheim Cup records in the American side and a personality made for match play.
Rose Zhang – California
Solheim Cup appearances: 2 | 2026: 3rd appearance
Zhang’s 2024 Solheim Cup performance was extraordinary.
Four matches. Four victories.
She won in foursomes alongside Coughlin, twice dominated fourballs with Andrea Lee and then defeated Carlota Ciganda 6&4 in the Sunday singles.
Not one of those four matches reached the 17th hole.
Two years later, Zhang required a captain’s pick to make the team, but her previous Solheim Cup performance makes it easy to understand why Stanford wanted her at Bernardus.
She has also shown encouraging form recently, including a top-10 finish at The Standard Portland Classic during the closing stages of the selection period.
What she brings: A remarkable recent Solheim Cup record and established partnerships with both Coughlin and Andrea Lee.
The holders – but this time on European soil
On paper, Stanford has plenty to work with.
Only Kim and Duncan are rookies. Korda and Corpuz offer her a proven foursomes combination. Zhang and Andrea Lee have already demonstrated what they can do together in fourballs. And Khang arrives unbeaten in eight consecutive Solheim Cup matches.
The USA also know what winning feels like.
Nine members of this team were part of the side that reclaimed the trophy in Virginia in 2024.
But Bernardus presents a different test.
The Americans have not won a Solheim Cup in Europe since 2015, when a remarkable final-day comeback in Germany produced a 14½-13½ victory.
There is a neat connection between that afternoon and the team heading to the Netherlands.
Alison Lee played in that 2015 side.
And the woman now captaining the USA, Angela Stanford, secured the winning point.
Eleven years later, Stanford returns to Europe with the trophy already in American hands and the opportunity to achieve something the USA hasn’t managed since. Win away.
Team USA: Nelly Korda, Angel Yin, Jennifer Kupcho, Yealimi Noh, Auston Kim, Lauren Coughlin, Allisen Corpuz, Andrea Lee, Alison Lee, Lindy Duncan, Megan Khang and Rose Zhang.
Europe want the trophy back – These are the 12 women standing in their way.
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