The Solheim Cup is fast approaching, with only a few more months for the best players in the United States and Europe to qualify for one of the biggest events in women’s golf.
Here are the players WGDNews is projecting to make the United States team in 2026:
No. 1 Nelly Korda – Korda is an absolute lock of course and likely owns a spot on this team for the near future regardless of what kind of form she is in. Arguably in the early stages of 2026, Korda is playing the best golf of her career, with three top-two finishes in three starts.
No. 2 Megan Khang – There’s a pretty good chance Khang will rely on a captain’s pick in 2026, but she shouldn’t have much of a problem securing one. Khang would probably be the first call if she didn’t qualify on her own thanks to her leadership and strong play in the past in this competition. Khang is 6-0-1 over the last two Solheim Cups.
No. 3 Allisen Corpuz – Like Khang, Corpuz feels like she might need a captain’s selection, but it would be a massive mistake to not use one on the 28-year-old from Hawaii. Corpuz is 5-2-1 in her Solheim Cup career and is a fantastic pair with Korda, who she has gone 4-0-0 with.
No. 4 Angel Yin – Yin is off to an okay start in 2026, with a great performance in Singapore surrounded by a group of just okay ones. Yin is still the second highest ranked American player in the world, and it is probably impossible for her to fall deep enough to not qualify automatically. Yin is also a good team golf player, with solid records both at the Solheim Cup and International Crown.
No. 5 Rose Zhang – Zhang is back in good form quietly in 2026, which is a very big deal for an American team without many highly ranked players. Rose has two top-10 finishes in three starts and isn’t even putting well yet. If the flat stick starts to show up, she could move rapidly up the world rankings from her current spot at No. 66. Zhang was incredible in 2024 at the Solheim Cup, going 4-0-0, which certainly will give her the benefit of the doubt regardless of what her form looks like.
No. 6 Lauren Coughlin – Lauren Coughlin feels like a player who is just safely on this team. Her form hasn’t been particularly strong early in the year, but that isn’t a particular concern from me right now. That is only helped by her performance in 2024, going 3-0-1. She’s earned at least another year of being on this team.
No. 7 Auston Kim – Thanks to the great start to 2026 that Auston Kim has had, she currently ranks No. 3 in the Solheim Cup rankings and is the third highest ranked American in the Rolex Rankings. It is natural to believe that Kim may slow down, it is hard to keep up the pace of four top-20 finishes in five events, but the third-year player seems likely to make her Solheim Cup debut in 2026.
No. 8 Andrea Lee – Andrea Lee is such an underrated player both overall on the LPGA Tour, but also in the Solheim Cup. Lee is 3-2-2 and feels unlikely to ever give a flat out bad performance in this event. This is the solid, easy to pair player that the United States needs on this team.
No. 9 Lindy Duncan – Duncan went from a fun story, bubble type player to very likely having a spot on this team through her continued strong play. She is playing with a real consistency this year that is building on her 2025 campaign, the best season of her career. In five starts, Duncan has three top-15 finishes this year with a top 10 in Singapore. She is also ranked in the top 40 in the Rolex Rankings and seems likely to secure a spot without needing a captain’s selection.
No. 10 Jennifer Kupcho – Despite being on the last three Solheim Cup teams, Kupcho really feels, more than anyone on this list, like she needs to qualify for the team and not leave it in Angela Stanford’s hands. The good news is that Kupcho had the second best year of her career in 2025. The bad news is that the level of play hasn’t really kept up in 2026. Kupcho is 3-5-2 in her Solheim Cup career and has been arguably the weakest player on each of the last two United States teams.
No. 11 Yealimi Noh – Noh is going to have to start playing better golf soon if she wants a chance to make this team, but for right now, it still feels like there’s a good chance she is on the team. Her solid world ranking gives her a good head start thanks to the best year of her career in 2025, but Noh only has one top-20 finish in five starts this year, and that was in the small Tournament of Champions field.
No. 12 Jenny Bae – There are a lot of young players who should be in play for the final spot on this team, including Melanie Green, Gina Kim and Yana Wilson, but I went with Jenny Bae, who is really rounding into form. Despite a bad weekend in Phoenix, Bae still notched her third top-25 finish of the season. Bae quietly played well in 2025 also, particularly down the stretch.
About the Author
