Solheim Cup 2026: Europe Beat the United States 15-13 at Bernardus
Europe won the 2026 Solheim Cup 15-13 at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, reclaiming the trophy with a dominant Sunday singles session. Lottie Woad took Europe to the winning mark by beating Auston Kim 2&1 and Carlota Ciganda sealed it against Jennifer Kupcho 4&2. The 2026 Solheim Cup is played September 11 to 13 at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, North Brabant, the first time the Netherlands hosts the event. Anna Nordqvist captains Europe, Angela Stanford captains the United States, who arrive as holders after winning in Virginia in 2024. Europe: Lottie Woad, Charley Hull, Maja Stark, Linn Grant, Céline Boutier, Carlota Ciganda, Nanna Koerstz Madsen, Esther Henseleit, plus picks Leona Maguire, Julia López Ramírez, Nastasia Nadaud and Mimi Rhodes. United States: Nelly Korda, Angel Yin, Jennifer Kupcho, Yealimi Noh, Auston Kim, Lauren Coughlin, Allisen Corpuz, Andrea Lee, Alison Lee, plus picks Lindy Duncan, Meghan Khang and Rose Zhang. Sources: Solheim Cup, LPGA, Sky Sports, CBS Sports, Golf Digest.
The context
Europe won the 2026 Solheim Cup 15-13, reclaiming the trophy at Bernardus Golf on Sunday, September 13. The week turned in the singles: Lottie Woad, a rookie, beat Auston Kim 2&1 to carry Europe past the 14.5 points they needed as challengers, and Carlota Ciganda closed it out 4&2 against Jennifer Kupcho. What follows is how the match was set up.
The Solheim Cup lands in the Netherlands for the first time on September 11, when Europe and the United States start three days of match play at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt. Anna Nordqvist captains Europe, Angela Stanford the Americans, and the visitors arrive as holders after winning the 2024 edition in Virginia. That detail shapes the whole week: a 14-14 tie keeps the cup in American hands, so Europe has to win outright, 14.5 points from the 28 on offer.
Nordqvist’s team is young. Lottie Woad and Charley Hull led the automatic qualifiers, joined by Maja Stark, Linn Grant, Céline Boutier, Carlota Ciganda, Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Esther Henseleit. Her four picks went to Leona Maguire, whose Solheim record made her a formality, and three rookies: Julia López Ramírez, Nastasia Nadaud and Mimi Rhodes. Hull, on her eighth straight appearance, and Ciganda, a serial European talisman in this event, carry most of the institutional memory in that room.
The American side is led by Nelly Korda, world number one after a season with four LPGA wins including two majors. Angel Yin, Jennifer Kupcho, Yealimi Noh, Auston Kim, Lauren Coughlin, Allisen Corpuz, Andrea Lee and Alison Lee qualified alongside her, and Stanford picked Lindy Duncan, Meghan Khang and Rose Zhang. Khang’s 7-3-3 record across four previous appearances is the sort of team-format number captains build pairings around. Duncan, at 35, is a first-time selection.
The format is the same as always and it is why the event travels well. Friday and Saturday are four foursomes and four fourballs each, sixteen points, and Sunday is twelve singles. Foursomes, alternate shot, is where partnerships either work or collapse in public, and it is traditionally where Europe has clawed back deficits. Bernardus Golf is a Kyle Phillips design that opened in 2018, a modern parkland course with plenty of water, and it has never staged anything on this scale.
For the Ladies European Tour, the week is a commercial event as much as a sporting one. The Solheim Cup is the tour’s biggest platform, the one week it reliably reaches audiences who do not follow week-to-week women’s golf, and taking it to a country with no Solheim history is a bet on growing the map rather than defending it. Whether the Dutch crowd behaves like Gleneagles or like Finca Cortesín is one of the more interesting unknowns of the week.
Day one at Bernardus starts at 07:40 CEST on Friday September 11, with four foursomes off at twelve-minute intervals. Nordqvist sends Charley Hull and Lottie Woad out first against Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz, which is the heavyweight pairing of the session on both sides. Behind them: Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Celine Boutier against Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin, Esther Henseleit and Leona Maguire against Andrea Lee and Lindy Duncan, and Maja Stark with Linn Grant against Rose Zhang and Jennifer Kupcho. Fourballs follow in the afternoon, the same again on Saturday, then twelve singles on Sunday.
The historical ledger says United States 11, Europe 7, one tie, from 19 editions. It flatters the Americans: Europe took five of the eight cups between 2011 and 2023, including the 14-14 draw at Finca Cortesin that let them keep it. The 15.5 to 12.5 loss in Virginia in 2024 ended that run and is the reason Europe now needs the extra half point this week.