Americans add three captain’s picks to a Solheim Cup team with only five winners since last cup

U.S. captain Angela Stanford filled out her Solheim Cup team with three picks Monday, leaning on experience for two picks along with taking 35-year-old Lindy Duncan, who has never played in the matches or won on the LPGA Tour.

Stanford took Megan Khang, who will be making her fifth Solheim Cup appearance and is unbeaten in singles, and Rose Zhang, who played on two teams while finishing up at Stanford. Zhang won all four of her matches in 2024 in Virginia, none reaching the 17th hole.

Duncan was among whose who lost out in a playoff at the Chevron Championship in 2025. She fell from automatic qualifying this summer by finishing out of the top 30 in her last 12 tournaments and missing the cut in four of the five majors this year.

Duncan is the oldest American to make her Solheim Cup debut since Nancy Scranton was 39 for the 2000 matches at Loch Lomond.

Duncan joins Auston Kim, who made the U.S. team on points, as the only Solheim Cup rookies.

The matches are Sept. 11-13 in the Netherlands, and the Americans will be trying to beat Europe away from home for the first time since 2015.

The U.S. brings a team that has Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player in women’s golf with two majors among her three victories this year, but only four other players — Lauren Coughlin, Yealimi Noh, Angel Yin and Jennifer Kupcho — who have won on the LPGA since the last Solheim Cup.

Team Europe already has announced its 12-player team.

The other Americans on the team are Andrea Lee, Alison Lee and Allisen Corpuz.

Missing from the U.S. team for the first time since 2011 is Lexi Thompson, who said in 2024 she was stepping away from a full schedule. She is expecting her first child early next year. Stanford has said she didn’t see Thompson play enough this year to get a full assessment.

Thompson played six times this year and made only two cuts.

___

See AP’s full golf coverage here