Who is playing for Team USA in the 2024 Solheim Cup?

Stacy Lewis captained Team USA at the 2024 Solheim Cup

Captain Stacy Lewis confirms her Team USA lineup of 12 players for the Solheim Cup in Virginia.

Team captains Suzann Pettersen and Stacy Lewis have confirmed their teams for the 2024 Solheim Cup, taking place 13-15 September at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia.

First to show their hand was Pettersen, naming 10 players from the team that retained the trophy with a 14-14 draw in 2023, with Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela and Germany’s Esther Henseleit set to make their debuts as Team Europe eye a second consecutive victory on American soil.

The Team USA Solheim Cup team was confirmed shortly after, with captain Stacy Lewis picking Jennifer Kupcho, Sarah Schmelzel, and Lexi Thompson to join her team alongside the nine automatic qualifiers as the Americans seek a first win since 2017.

2024 Solheim Cup: Team USA

Captain: Stacy Lewis

Age: 39
World ranking: 281
Solheim Cup appearances: 4
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 5-10-1
Major wins: 2
Worldwide wins: 14

Although the winner of the 2011 Chevron Championship and 2013 AIG Women’s Open, Lewis struggled to turn that quality into points during an underwhelming playing record in the Solheim Cup despite being on the winning team in the last two of her four appearances. But few doubted that she would make a fine captain because she possesses both the resilience of an athlete who had to overcome a spinal fusion in her early teenage years and also the flinty-eyed intelligence of a born leader.

She showed her colours early in the 2023 match, having no hesitation in giving Lexi Thompson the first blow at the drive-able par-4 first hole and it proved an early master stroke. Thompson is, in fact, almost like Team USA in microcosm: outrageously talented, garlanded in red, white and blue ribbons, yet also vulnerable to crippling doubts. On that morning she thrived on the responsibility and led the team to a 4-0 thrashing of the hosts in the morning foursomes.

Lewis knows she was but a shot here and a shot there from glory in Spain and she was that rare thing in a Solheim/Ryder Cup match: a captain whose reputation was enhanced even in defeat. That reputation, however, cannot afford a second loss and she knows it.

Vice-captain: Morgan Pressel

Age: 36
World ranking: n/a
Solheim Cup appearances: 6
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 11-8-3
Major wins: 1
Worldwide wins: 4

Now a highly respected television commentator, Pressel was a tough competitor, one who performed well above the team average even in defeat. She reminded us of her feistiness when accidentally swearing in excitement during the recent Olympic broadcast (although she did claim to have muddled her words).

Vice-captain: Angela Stanford

Age: 46
World ranking: 334
Solheim Cup appearances: 6
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 4-13-3
Major wins: 1
Worldwide wins: 11

The veteran said goodbye to major championship golf this summer at the 2024 Evian Championship, scene of her sole victory in the events that define a career. She owned a famously poor Cup record, especially in foursomes and fourballs, but is widely respected and vice-captaincy should suit her.

Vice-captain: Paula Creamer

Age: 38
World ranking: 1180
Solheim Cup appearances: 7
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 17-9-5
Major wins: 2
Worldwide wins: 12

The Pink Panther was a Stars and Stripes Solheim Cup legend through her first three and a half Cups. In fact, she her record read 11-2-5 until the Sunday of the 2011 match in Europe whereupon Catriona Matthew handed her a thumping. Since (and including) that day her record read 6-7-0.

Vice-captain: Brittany Lincicome

Age: 38
World ranking: 410
Solheim Cup appearances: 6
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 7-12-2
Major wins: 2
Worldwide wins: 8

It’s perhaps just as well that the two-time Chevron Championship winner, nicknamed Bam Bam, was a decent fourball operator (she won five of her 10 matches) because she won just one of five foursomes and was frankly disastrous in singles with one win and six defeats.

The key players for Team USA

Nelly Korda

Age: 26
World ranking: 1
Solheim Cup appearances: 3
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 7-4-1
Major wins: 2
Worldwide wins: 19

Whisper it, but Nelly Korda might be the difference between recent Solheim Cup matches being the sensationally edge-of-the-seat affairs they have been and the drab thrashings they might have become. Because consider this: Korda has Czech parents so she could easily have ended up representing Czechia and therefore being part of Team Europe. And in that alternate history it’s hard to see how Europe would not have trounced the USA in 2019, 2021 and 2023 because Europe would have been much stronger and USA significantly weaker.

Not that it would ever have happened. Korda is Florida born, Florida bred, she loves flying the Stars and Stripes and, because of that, she’ll be desperate to taste victory. She was excellent in defeat at Gleneagles on debut. Undefeated, in fact, winning two foursomes with her sister Jessica, halving a fourball with Brittany Altomare and defeating Caroline Hedwall in the singles. In the last two matches she has won two and lost two both times. Her 2024 form remains a bewildering curiosity. She won six times in seven starts early in the year, lost confidence, but was a contender in the AIG Women’s Open. An in-form Korda will be a huge threat for Europe.

Lexi Thompson

Age: 29
World ranking: 41
Solheim Cup appearances: 6
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 9-7-7
Major wins: 1
Worldwide wins: 15

At first glance it seemed extraordinary when, in May, 29-year-old Thompson announced her retirement from competitive golf at the end of 2024. She is, after all, a multiple winner around the world, a major champion and a star of Team USA in the this match. But she also played her first major championship as a 12-year-old and it was not a one-off. She’s played them annually ever since and, while she won the 2014 Chevron Championship, her major career has mostly been a long stretch of painful near-misses. Throw in two decades of physical wear and tear and it’s clear she is fatigued. “While it is never easy to say goodbye, it is indeed time,” she posted on Instagram. 

“Lexi was probably the easiest pick to make,” captain Lewis said. “I know what Lexi can do at a Solheim Cup.” Take note that Lewis trusted her to hit the opening tee shot at the 2023 event – and that Thompson nailed it. That blow set the tone for a morning sweep of the foursomes and Thompson went on to claim three wins from her four matches to end the week Team USA’s second-top-scorer.

Rose Zhang

Age: 21
World ranking: 9
Solheim Cup appearances: 1
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 0-2-1
Major wins: 0
Worldwide wins: 2

Heading into her Solheim Cup debut last year the now-21-year-old Rose Zhang didn’t really know anything other than victory in team golf. She’d played in the Junior Solheim Cup in 2017 and 2019, in the Junior Ryder Cup in 2018, in the 2021 and 2022 Curtis Cup – and she was on the winning team every time. She’d also won in her first start as a professional last May, at the Mizuho Americas Open, and swiftly followed it up with top 10 finishes in three majors: the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the US Women’s Open and Evian Championship. Little wonder much was expected of her in Spain.

And yet it didn’t quite happen. She was benched for both foursomes sessions and could manage only a half point from her two fourball outings before being handed a 4 and 3 thrashing by Leona Maguire in the second singles match out on Sunday morning. It was a chastening experience and her 2024 has involved fitness issues that have impacted on her consistency. Fun fact: her long-time caddie Olly Brett has split loyalties. He’s not only English, he’s also the long-time partner of Team Europe star Emily Pedersen.

The rest of Team USA

Allisen Corpuz

Age: 26
World ranking: 28
Solheim Cup appearances: 1
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 2-1-1
Major wins: 1
Worldwide wins: 1

The Hawaiian native with a Filipino-Korean heritage is softly spoken with a naturally undemonstrative body language, a combination that doesn’t shout Solheim Cup savvy and yet looks can be deceiving. On debut in Spain the 2023 US Women’s Open champion won both her foursomes with Korda, gained a half with Jennifer Kupcho in the fourballs and was narrowly defeated in the singles by Maja Stark. She also went 3-0 in the 2021 Curtis Cup where she teamed up with Zhang to claim two points in the fourballs. Lewis is unlikely to overlook that strong record with two of the team’s stars.

Lauren Coughlin

Age: 31
World ranking: 15
Solheim Cup appearances: Rookie
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): n/a
Major wins: 0
Worldwide wins: 3

At the start of this year Coughlin might have dreamt of playing a Solheim Cup in Virginia, where she went to university, but no-one else was likely to have predicted it because she’d recorded just three top 10s on the LPGA with not one top five. Whereupon, she’s recorded eight top 10s in 2024, two of them wins and she’s also led two majors and even looked likely to win one of them, the Evian Championship in July. Her captain didn’t hesitate to pick her saying: “She is probably playing the best golf of anybody on tour right now.”

Ally Ewing

Age: 31
World ranking: 18
Solheim Cup appearances: 3
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 3-8-1
Major wins: 0
Worldwide wins: 3

Is Ewing due a big week? One of her three wins on the LPGA was the 2021 Bank of Hope Match Play so she can play head-to-head golf. She’s also in superb form up against the world’s elite, ticking off four top 10 finishes in her last six major championship starts. She even finished second in this year’s Dow Championship, a pairs event in which she competed alongside Jennifer Kupcho. Maybe Lewis should take note of that latter combination and put them together again. It might help Ewing turnaround a Cup record that doesn’t come close to reflecting her promise.

Meghan Khang

Age: 26
World ranking: 21
Solheim Cup appearances: 3
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 4-3-3
Major wins: 0
Worldwide wins: 1

Quietly, Khang is one of the most experienced players on this team. Just 26, in fact, and yet she’s played every major in the last nine years and is a Solheim Cup veteran who has never been defeated in the singles (claiming two wins and a half). Her captain revealed how much she admires her qualities in 2023 by sending her out first with Thompson in the foursomes on the Friday morning and she also led the singles draft, too, downing Linn Grant. “I love it,” she said. “If my team needs me to be the cheerleader, I’m there.”

Jennifer Kupcho

Age: 27
World ranking: 49
Solheim Cup appearances: 2
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 2-3-2
Major wins: 1
Worldwide wins: 4

The 2022 Chevron Championship winner (by no less than six strokes) is probably more than a little disappointed that Lizette Salas is no longer on the team. On her debut in 2021, Kupcho won two and a half points from three foursomes and fourballs with Salas and a year later the two combined to win the LPGA’s annual pairs event. Perhaps the fact she was second in that tournament with Ewing this summer hints at a new power duo? When picking her Lewis said: “Jennifer more so than anyone is a great fit for this golf course.”

Alison Lee

Age: 29
World ranking: 27
Solheim Cup appearances: 1
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 1-3-0
Major wins: 0
Worldwide wins: 2

Yet to win on the LPGA, Lee gained automatic selection largely off the back of three straight runner-up finishes at the end of last season and it sets her up for what is likely to be a testy first return to Solheim Cup since she was the catalyst for the drama of the 2015 match. It ultimately worked out well for her, since her team rallied around the youngster and staged a sensational fight back, but the media will want to return to the tale and it will take courage to avoid her becoming rattled.

Andrea Lee

Age: 26
World ranking: 45
Solheim Cup appearances: 1
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 1-2-1
Major wins: 0
Worldwide wins: 2

A first-time winner on the LPGA in 2022, Lee has twice held a 54-hole lead this season without converting the win, most agonisingly in the US Women’s Open. She knew mostly team victory in continental matches as an amateur winning the Junior Ryder Cup, the Curtis Cup, the Arnold Palmer Cup and two Junior Solheim Cups. Her only taste of defeat came in the 2016 Curtis Cup. Her debut in this contest reflected the team’s performance: she won her Friday morning foursomes and then managed just half a point from her next three outings.

Sarah Schmelzel

Age: 30
World ranking: 59
Solheim Cup appearances: Rookie
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): n/a
Major wins: 0
Worldwide wins: 0

Much like Coughlin, although without the wins, Schemelzel is a late developer who is in the form of her life. She’d recorded eight top 10s on the LPGA head of this year and has added another seven already but the key difference is that she has started contending: she had an 18, 36 or 54 hole lead in four of those 2024 top 10s including the halfway lead in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. “Sarah’s just super solid and doesn’t beat herself up,” said Lewis. “She can play both pairs formats with a lot of different people.”

Lilia Vu

Age: 26
World ranking: 2
Solheim Cup appearances: 1
Solheim Cup record (W-L-H): 1-3-0
Major wins: 2
Worldwide wins: 8

A two-time winner of majors in 2023, Vu has re-iterated her quality by becoming a two-time runner-up in the majors in 2024 – and she missed the first two because of injury. She does need to be careful of her back so Lewis might need to manage her workload and may also have to find her a partner. She had three different ones in Spain last year (Kupcho, Thompson and Danielle Kang) and she lost with all three of them. The World No. 2 only rediscovered her mojo when thumping Madelene Sagstrom 4&3 in the singles.

About the author

Matt Cooper
Contributing Writer

Matt Cooper has been a golf journalist for 15 years. He’s worked for, among others, Golf365, SkySports, ESPN, NBC, Sporting Life, Open.com and the Guardian. He specializes in feature writing, reporting and tournament analysis.

He’s traveled widely in that time, covering golf from Kazakhstan to South Korea via Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

More straightforwardly, he’s also covered numerous Majors, Ryder Cups and Solheim Cups.

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