Who qualifies for the Solheim Cup? Here’s how the teams are made

After a long summer of traditional, 72-hole tournaments, it’s time to descend upon a fall filled with match play — a fall that begins this weekend at the Solheim Cup.

The tournament, contested biannually between the United States and Europe, is one of the great venues for the game of women’s golf. After a two-year hiatus, the wait is finally over, and both teams are returning to Inverness Club in Toledo to battle from Saturday, September 3 through to Monday, September 5.

In the last battle (in August 2019), the Europeans nabbed a surprise win at Gleneagles, shocking the U.S. side in walkoff fashion, their first win since 2013. In 2021, European team captain Catriona Matthew returns to defend the title for the E.U., hoping to utilize a weaker pool of talent (by Rolex Ranking) to her advantage by plugging and playing based on matchups and strategy.

On the U.S. side, Pat Hurst slides into Juli Inkster’s captaincy role, and she brings with her a loaded cast of characters to the roster. Six of the 12 players on the American roster rank in the top 25 of players in the world, including current World No. 1 (and gold medal holder) Nelly Korda (and her sister Jessica, for good measure). The Korda sisters will join up with Danielle Kang, Lexi Thompson and Lizette Salas, among others, against a European side headlined by Anna Nordqvist and Sophia Popov, the surprise winner of the 2020 Women’s Open.

So, how are the rosters decided, and what goes into the decision-making?

How does each team pick players for the Solheim Cup?

Fans of Ryder Cup will notice more than a handful of similarities between the roster selection process because the two processes are modeled after one another. On the U.S. side, nine players automatically qualified for the roster — the top-7 via the Ryder Cup points system, and remaining two by Rolex Rankings. Those nine players were Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, Danielle Kang, Lexi Thompson, Ally Ewing, Austin Ernst, Megan Khang, Lizette Salas and Jennifer Kupcho. The remaining three players on the roster were “captain’s picks” — wild-card selections as chosen by Hurst. Those three were Brittany Altomare, Mina Harigae and Yealimi Noh.

For the Europeans, the selection process looked a little different. Six automatic selections qualified via the Ryder Cup points system — Anna Nordqvist, Georgia Hall Sophia Popov, Charley Hull, Carlota Ciganda, and Leona Maguire. Then, six additional players were chosen as captain’s selections — Madelene Sagstrom, Matilda Castren, Nanna Koertstz Madsen, Mel Reid, Celine Boutier and Emily Kristine Pedersen.

Be sure to tune in for all the action from Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio when the Solheim Cup begins on Saturday, September 3rd on NBC and Golf Channel.