Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang among US Solheim Cup qualifiers

NEW YORK: Rose Zhang, Megan Khang, Andrea Lee and Lauren Coughlin are among the players joining World No. 1 Nelly Korda on the US Solheim Cup team this year.

The team’s nine automatic qualifiers were solidified on Sunday following the AIG Women’s Open. That leaves three captain’s picks for Stacy Lewis to name on Tuesday. “I’m just excited to have the team finalized. Much of this crew is repeating from 2023, so a lot of them have experience,” Lewis said in a news release. “We had five that were qualified coming into the week, and I’m happy to have Megan and Andrea back again. They were big parts of last year’s success.”

The top seven players in the U.S. Solheim Cup team standings as of Sunday were Korda, Lilia Vu, Coughlin, Ally Ewing, Allisen Corpuz, Khang and Lee. Khang and Lee only locked in their spots following Sunday’s results, despite Khang missing the cut at the Women’s Open and Lee tying for 22nd.

Then, the US team took the two Americans ranked highest in the Rolex Rankings (world rankings) not already on the team. Those were Zhang, currently No. 9 in the world, and Alison Lee, ranked No. 25.

This will be the 21-year-old Zhang’s second Solheim Cup in two years as the biannual event shifts to even-numbered years. The rising star who won her first event as a professional on the LPGA Tour in June 2023 joined the Americans in Spain last fall, but Europe retained the Solheim Cup after the score ended in a 14-14 tie. Alison Lee will make her second Solheim Cup appearance after playing the event in 2015. The nine-year gap between appearances is the longest for a player in U.S. Team history.