Following European Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen finalising her lineup for the 2024 edition at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia, U.S. captain Stacy Lewis has followed suit and the 24 players are set.
And like Pettersen, Lewis has opted for a mix of experience and inexperience, with Jennifer Kupcho, Lexi Thompson and Sarah Schmelzel all given the vote of confidence and are added to the team of Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu, Lauren Coughlin, Ally Ewing, Allisen Corpuz, Megan Khang, Andrea Lee, Rose Zhang and Alison Lee, all of whom qualified automatically.
Thompson, who announced her intent to retire from full-time LPGA golf at the end of the season, will be making her seventh appearance in the Stars and Stripes, and former Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion and major winner Kupcho will be back for her third attempt.
That leaves Schemelzel, who is the most surprising of the seven picks nominated from either side. Ranked 61 in the world, Schmelzel has yet to record a victory on the LPGA Tour, and her T9 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2024 is her only top 10 in 25 appearances.
She was ranked 11th in the qualification standings, however, ahead of both Kupcho and Thompson who were ranked 12th and 14th respectively. With the top seven players qualifying automatically, plus the two highest ranked players in the Rolex World Rankings who were not already qualified, that leaves Angel Yin – ranked eighth in the Solheim Cup list – as the player who can fell most aggrieved at missing out.
Kupcho has yet to taste victory in the Solheim Cup after defeat at Inverness in Ohio on her debut in 2021, and then being part of the side that tied with Europe at Finca Cortesin last year.
Thompson was part of the United States teams that won back-to-back Solheim Cups in 2015 and 2017, and this will be her seventh straight appearance with three defeats and a tie.
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