Both the United States and Europe have named their captains for the 2026 Solheim Cup to be played on European soil in The Netherlands. The United States will be defending its title, the first that many on the team have one. Who will be representing the red, white and blue for Angela Stanford and the blue and yellow for Anna Nordqvist? We will be taking an early look at it throughout the next few days continuing with the absolute locks from Team Europe.
CHARLEY HULL
Charley Hull of course has a locked in spot on this team probably until retirement, in which she will be the first call to captain the team. Not only is Hull probably the best European player in the world, she is also one of its best in this event. Hull has played in seven Solheim Cups and finished with a losing record only once. She was by far Europe’s strongest player in 2024 going 3-2 and finishing with the exclamation point of beating Nelly Korda 6&4.
CELINE BOUTIER
Boutier’s Solheim Cup career has been a rollercoaster. She was dominant in 2019, going 4-0-0. Since then she has gone 3-6-1 including an 0-3-0 performance in 2023. Boutier bounced back nicely in 2024, going 2-2-0, including a win in singles against Lexi Thompson and in foursomes with Nordqvist. She does generally come to play in singles, with a 3-1 record.
LEONA MAGUIRE
What happened with Leona Maguire in 2024 is still a bit of a mystery, but I don’t really think it will impact her ability to make this team in a significant way. Nordqvist does not strike me as a captain that will hold one bad performance against her. Maguire came into 2024 as arguably Europe’s strongest player with a 7-2-1 record across two playings. For whatever reason, she only played twice in the last Solheim Cup, and got a win on the board for Europe with a victory over Ally Ewing in singles.
MAJA STARK
This is a borderline one to have on the locks spot, especially since I could see a lot of turnover for a European roster that felt a bit stale in 2024. That being said, it is really hard to imagine Stark not being on the team next time out. Stark is 3-3-2 in her Solheim Cup career, but is 1-0-1 in singles play, with that tie coming against the red-hot Lauren Coughlin in 2024. Stark has struggled in fourballs alongside Emily Pedersen, bringing her record down in a bit of a misleading way. Like Corpuz on the United States side, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Stark sit out fourball and put some points on the board in the other two formats.
