Team Europe is locked in for the 2026 Solheim Cup led by Anna Nordqvist. Here are the players we are most confident in, and those who we have some worries about:
Full Confidence:
Charley Hull – The only thing approaching a concern for Hull, is if she is ready to really take up a leadership mantle for this European team. This will be Hull’s eighth time teeing it up for Europe, and for the first time, she is the player with the most experience. Even if Hull doesn’t step seamlessly into that spot, she is a pretty safe bet to be the leading point scorer for Europe with a career record of 15-9-3, and was one of the few players to perform well for Europe in 2024. No worries at all for Hull.
Lottie Woad – Woad is the best European player in the world right now, and I don’t think anyone would argue against that point too firmly. She’s been impressive enough in her second season on Tour that I’m not particularly concerned about this being her first appearance in the event. She’s known she will be on this team from essentially the moment she turned pro, and so has had plenty of time to prepare. It is encouraging to hear about herself and Hull potentially being paired together as well, which would be a tough duo to get points on.
Small Concerns:
Leona Maguire – The only concern with Maguire is the baffling usage of her in 2024. Not much is really known publicly about that situation, where she only played two out of five sessions, but with new leadership on the team, I don’t anticipate that being an issue again. While Maguire’s form isn’t in a strong place, she still seven points won between the 2021 and 2023 playings. This is the type of player that makes the difference between the European teams that on paper are usually weaker than the Americans, but still compete and win this event.
Carlota Ciganda – Probably nobody on either side cares more about the Solheim Cup than Ciganda, which is valuable whether she performs well or not. While she is mostly remembered for her heroics in 2023, where she went 4-0-0 and hit the clinching putt in her home country, her resumé is a bit more inconsistent than her reputation. Across her seven Solheim Cups, Ciganda has had a losing record in five of them. With Nordqvist not on the team, she will be beside Charley Hull as the most experienced players on a team that has some new blood.
Celine Boutier – Boutier has done just about everything in the Solheim Cup. In her four appearances, she has put up the records: 4-0-0, 1-1-1, 0-3-0, 2-2-0. That is some crazy variance. She was one of the better performers though in 2022 and it was a nice bounce back from the prior year where she was the worst player on the team and had headlines made about her off the course. The biggest boost for Boutier here? On a week-to-week basis on Tour, she is probably the third best player on the team.
Maja Stark – Despite a 1-2-1 record in 2024, Maja Stark performed pretty well, especially in her Sunday match, where she was the only player to get even a half point on Lauren Coughlin. Stark is a reliable depth piece with a 3-3-2 record across her two Solheim Cup appearances. She is inconsistent on the LPGA Tour, but has enough flashes to give belief that any given week she can play like one of the best players in the world. She isn’t on this tier because I have concerns or a lot of confidence, I just see her performing in a solid manner once again.
Could Go Either Way:
Esther Henseleit – Henseleit was bordering on the tier above mostly for her heroics late at the AIG Women’s Open, which was a great performance. She played well in Scotland as well and has had some real highlight reel moments over the last month or so. The biggest question mark is, she really didn’t give us anything to go by from her 2024 performance. Henseleit went 1-1-1 and pretty clearly had some nerves in her Solheim Cup debut. If those nerves are settled this time around, this is a player who could swing the entire Solheim Cup.
Julia López Ramírez – Outside of Woad, López Ramírez is the rookie I have the most confidence in going into this competition. She should pair nicely with Carlota Ciganda and has so much raw talent that is starting to be refined judging by her more consistent results in 2026. This is a player who I think could have a real breakout week and secure her spot on this roster for years. That being said, it is still her debut and the pressure will be high for the young player.
Nanna Koerstz Madsen – Koerstz Madsen reminds me a lot of Madelene Sagström, where you never really know what you are going to get. She’s probably the most high variance player on this team outside of maybe Boutier or Linn Grant. If Koerstz Madsen provided 0 points, I would be just as unsurprised as if she provided 3.5 points. She went 1-1-1 in her first Solheim Cup in 2021, and I don’t really expect that type of showing again. I think she will be boom or bust.
Concerned:
Linn Grant – Linn Grant has so much talent, which is why the 2024 Solheim Cup was so frustrating to watch. After a solid 3-2 performance her first time out, where she paired nicely with Carlota Ciganda in fourball, she went 0-4-0 in 2024 and never looked good. Even on Sunday, where she got a favorable late matchup against Jennifer Kupcho, who was the worst player for the United States, she folded. Grant cannot give another similar performance if Europe wants to take the Cup back.
Mimi Rhodes – Mimi Rhodes is not in good form as of late, with just one top-50 finish on the LPGA Tour since March. The good news? That finish was last week at the AIG Women’s Open, probably securing her place on this team. There’s a lot to like with Rhodes, she was a college star, won three times in 2025 on the LET, is a proven player in this format from her time in the Curtis Cup and showed some flashes early this year on the LPGA Tour. The concern comes from being a rookie with a lot of bad recent results.
Nastasia Nadaud – Probably the best case scenario for Nadaud, the youngest player on the European Team, is that she shows a lot of potential for the future. That is what makes her somewhat intriguing is that she seems to be all upside. If she gets 1.5 points for the week, that will go a long way to Europe securing the Cup again. Her record is just so much lower than anyone else on the team, with just one LET win and no top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour. This felt like a big-time build for the future pick by Nordqvist.
About the Author
