As Angela Stanford is poring over analytics and conversations among other research in her work as the U.S. Solheim Cup captain, she\u2019s also listening, asking questions and keeping an open mind.<\/p>\n
MORE: Potential Solheim Cup players make their final push this month<\/p>\n
She\u2019s made one big decision already that wasn\u2019t on her radar when she was announced as captain last March. Stanford might very well select a rookie or two with her three captain\u2019s picks to compete Sept. 11-13 at Bernardus Golf Club in Cromvoirt, Netherlands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve actually had some conversations with past captains about this because, honestly, I didn\u2019t want to take a rookie overseas,\u201d Stanford said in an interview with Golf Digest earlier this week. \u201cI did not think that an overseas Solheim Cup would be good for a rookie their first time out because it\u2019s a different environment. But now talking to a couple of past captains, and I see where they\u2019re coming from, these players play all over the world at a younger age, and they\u2019re on bigger stages. It seems like the game has changed a little bit in the sense where players aren\u2019t overwhelmed by situations anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stanford has extensive Solheim Cup experience as a six-time player from 2003 to \u201915 and was an assistant captain for the last three matches with Europe, working under Pat Hurst and Stacy Lewis.<\/p>\n
The 48-year-old Stanford will name her three picks in one month, on Aug. 24, after the conclusion of the CPKC Women\u2019s Open in Canada. That means players on the bubble have four tournaments to impress her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I talk about rookies, I\u2019m obviously looking at Lindy [Duncan] and Jenny [Bae] and Lucy Li,\u201d Stanford said. \u201cThose are the three that I really need them to kind of do something in these last four tournaments to just solidify that.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of today, with the LPGA playing this week in the Women\u2019s Scottish Open before next week\u2019s Women\u2019s British Open, beyond the seven players who would make the team on points, the two Rolex Women\u2019s World Golf Rankings qualifiers for the squad are Andrea Lee (No. 32) and Duncan (No. 46). The next two who are closest are Megan Khang (No. 52), who has played in the last two Solheim Cups, and Bae (No. 63).<\/p>\n
Nine players took part in a recent practice session with Stanford at Bernardus. Allisen Corpuz, Jennifer Kupcho, Auston Kim, Lauren Coughlin and Duncan, who would all make the team today on points or ranking, were there. Khang, Rose Zhang and Lilia Vu\u2014who all played on the winning U.S. team in 2024\u2014were there, as was Li.<\/p>\n
Among the three rookies Stanford talked about, Duncan sits highest in the team standings at No. 9. But the 34-year-old missed two straight cuts, both at majors, going into this week. Li, 23, is No. 10 in the standings, but she has struggled of late, missing three consecutive cuts, including two majors, and shot 81 in the opening round of the Scottish Open.<\/p>\n
Stanford is giving Bae strong consideration. The 24-year-old is 12th in the U.S. standings and 58th in the world. She\u2019s never won a tournament, but has two top-10s this year, including a T-3 at the Mizuho America\u2019s Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just really enjoyed watching Jenny from a distance,\u201d Stanford said. \u201cShe\u2019s still young, but I think she\u2019s one that if we could get her in that environment, in that setting, I think she would be OK, if we just make sure we get her with the right people.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe just has that fighter mentality. She\u2019s never going to quit, and you\u2019ve got to have that when you go to Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
A player not at the recent practice session but one who figures to make a bid for a spot in this final stretch is Alison Lee, who played her first Solheim as a rookie in 2015, followed by an appearance two years ago while she was pregnant.<\/p>\n
Lee has three top-10s this season, contended strongly in two majors and is No. 61 in the world. She could earn her way onto the team with a strong few weeks and pass Duncan, who then would go into the captain\u2019s pick pool. (This week did not go well, however, with Lee missing the cut in Scotland.) <\/p>\n
The 31-year-old Lee has been a pleasant surprise. She was still on maternity leave when 2026 began after having her son Levi. She\u2019s made it very clear she wants to play her way onto this team and not put Stanford in a position where she\u2019d need to use a captain\u2019s pick on her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe found me at [The Meijer LPGA Classic] and asked \u2018why are the points broken down like this?\u2019 She was just kind of drilling me on these points, and I\u2019m like, \u2018this is awesome.\u2019 She genuinely wants to make this team, and for a player to talk about it in the media and talk about it to the captain, she\u2019s not scared to go out there and back it up and play and perform,\u201d Stanford said. \u201cShe has this moxie about her and it would be nice to have that in the team room. I hope she makes it on her own because that\u2019s what she wants to do. She\u2019s been a very pleasant surprise this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the tour is done in Europe, players return to play in The Standard Portland Classic, then go to Canada for their final event before the team is announced. How they\u2019re playing this next month means a lot to Stanford.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody wants somebody that\u2019s trending and playing well. We do want that,\u201d Stanford said. \u201cAt the same time, my two things that I\u2019ve always said are: how players fit in the team room, and how many people can we pair them with? I\u2019ve been in situations on Solheim Cup teams where you kind of get stuck if you can only pair somebody with one other person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team chemistry seems good to Stanford, especially on the recent trip to Bernardus, where they played for two days and dined together. Players walked with pushcarts last month because Stanford said she didn\u2019t realize there was only about six carts on the property and it wasn\u2019t an issue when she was there before. She took the blame for not having enough carts, but she was heartened to see it wasn\u2019t a problem when she found the group sitting at the eighth hole with their pushcarts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were all sitting there on the ground with their pushcarts, and I wish I would have taken that picture,\u201d Stanford said. \u201cBecause when I walked up, they were, like, \u2018We were just talking about how this is kind of like junior golf again.\u2019 It just felt like they really do enjoy what they doing. They really do love it and have a true passion for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Angela Stanford is poring over analytics and conversations among other research in her work as the U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[4225,64,63,755,138747,85],"class_list":["post-821547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-golf-digest","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}