Captain Angela Stanford said it was too early to say whether she would have done anything differently in the wake of the United States’ 15-13 loss to Team Europe in the 2026 Solheim Cup.
The teams entered Sunday tied 8-8 after the first two days of competition. The Europeans raced out to an early lead in the Sunday singles matches and went on to win seven of the 12 to secure the Cup. The U.S. has not won the event on foreign soil since 2015 in Germany.
Stanford was asked whether she would have approached Sunday any differently in hindsight.
“I haven’t really processed everything so far. But right now I mean, no, that’s not who I am,” Stanford said. “I try not to have regrets. I believed in all 12, so, you know, I probably need to think about that some more.”
Among the question marks entering the event was the status of Angel Yin, who lost 35 pounds this summer while battling a stomach illness. She returned to the LPGA Tour for the FM Championship late last month but missed the cut.
Yin insisted she was fit enough to compete, but finished the Solheim Cup at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands with an 0-1-1 record. That included a 4&3 loss on Sunday against Sweden’s Linn Grant, when they were the third singles match out on the course.
The U.S. brought Lilia Vu to the Netherlands as an alternate, but the former world No. 1 had missed eight consecutive cuts.
“I think we did the best we could,” Stanford said. “We were prepared if Angel couldn’t play. We wanted to see what we had with Angel, and she went out and got a half a point with Yealimi (Noh). Yealimi was a stud this week. And I needed to get Andrea (Lee) with Yealimi. So I wouldn’t have done anything different there.”
By the time Rose Zhang defeated France’s Celine Boutier in the final match Sunday, the Americans’ fate had already been sealed with England’s Lottie Woad and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda winning their matches.
“You hear people say over and over and over how difficult it is, and it really is,” Stanford said while Zhang’s match was still going. “I think that we did a lot of things right leading up to it, and I know we did.
“They fought hard, and we seemed to always be on the same page. Look, the Europeans played great today, and that’s the way it goes. So their backs were against the wall, they had nothing to lose, and that’s exactly what they did. They came out and played well, so good for them.”
In addition to world No. 1 Nelly Korda, the only other player on Stanford’s team ranked in the top 20 entering the Solheim Cup was No. 17 Lauren Coughlin. Still, the Americans had the edge on paper with an average world ranking of 39 compared to Europe’s 54.
Stanford, 48, said she took the captain’s role in part to help women’s golf grow “just a little bit more.” While she enjoyed the experience, the seven-time LPGA Tour winner didn’t sound as though she’s ready to sign up for a repeat tour of Solheim Cup captain’s duty.
“We have a pretty good pipeline,” Stanford said. “There are a lot of captains in line on the American side, a lot of good ones coming.
“So, yeah, I think we have a lot lined up ready to go.”
–Field Level Media
