Anna Nordqvist finished the job on Monday, naming the four captain’s picks that complete Team Europe’s twelve-player squad for the 2026 Solheim Cup. Leona Maguire, the most experienced name on the list, is joined by three rookies: Spain’s Julia López Ramirez, France’s Nastasia Nadaud and England’s Mimi Rhodes. It gives Nordqvist, in her first year as captain, a team built on a foundation of proven matchplay pedigree with just enough new blood to keep it interesting.
The eight automatic qualifiers were already locked in: Charley Hull, Esther Henseleit, Lottie Woad, Maja Stark, Céline Boutier, Carlota Ciganda, Linn Grant and Nanna Koerstz Madsen. It is a list that reads like the LPGA and Ladies European Tour leaderboards of the last two seasons condensed into twelve names, with Woad’s rapid rise as a rookie standing out among the automatic qualifiers as much as Maguire’s return does among the picks.
Why Maguire was never really in doubt
Picking Maguire was, in the words of more than one report out this week, close to a formality. She has played in three Solheim Cups already, has a Solheim record that any captain would want in the team room, and by her own account the event simply suits her game. “I love the Solheim Cup, it brings the best out of my game and I love being part of the team,” she said after the announcement, adding that she loves matchplay and team golf precisely because, unlike a normal week on tour, “it’s not about money, it’s just for pride.”
Nordqvist’s explanation for the pick was almost as simple. “Leona has proved herself at the Solheim Cup, she has a huge passion for the European team and her record speaks for itself,” the captain said. “She is a player you want on your team especially in matchplay.” It is the kind of selection that requires very little justification, the sort every Ryder or Solheim captain wishes more of their picks could be.
The rookies carrying the risk
The more interesting decisions were the other three. López Ramirez, Nadaud and Rhodes have never played a Solheim Cup, and handing three of four wildcards to players without that experience is a bolder call than it might first appear, particularly with a European side already carrying a rookie in Woad among the automatic qualifiers. Matchplay in front of a raucous home crowd, foursomes with an unfamiliar partner, the strange compressed pressure of a Sunday singles match that means more than most of these players’ entire seasons combined, none of it translates cleanly from strokeplay form. Nordqvist is betting that current form and temperament outweigh the value of Solheim experience itself, and by September we will know whether that bet paid off.
A rematch Europe wants badly
The context that gives this squad extra weight is what happened last time out. Europe lost the Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, and this September’s edition at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, in the Netherlands, is Europe’s chance to win the trophy back on its own soil. Nordqvist has been an ever-present on European teams for the better part of two decades as a player before stepping into the captaincy, and there is little doubt she understands exactly what a home crowd at a course like Bernardus can do for twelve players who need it.
Team USA, for its part, will be led by Angela Stanford, making her Solheim captaincy debut after serving as an assistant three times, with Kristy McPherson and Paula Creamer alongside her. It sets up a contrast worth watching in itself: an American side led into its first Cup under a new captain against a European team led by someone who has lived almost every angle of this event as a player.
What comes next
The Solheim Cup runs from 7 to 13 September, and between now and then Europe’s twelve will play out the rest of their individual schedules with one eye already on the team room. For Maguire, it is a fourth appearance and the chance to add to a Solheim record most of the automatic qualifiers would envy. For López Ramirez, Nadaud and Rhodes, it is the biggest week of their careers arriving before most golf fans outside their home countries know their names. Whichever way the bet on rookies goes, Nordqvist now has the team she wanted, and the only thing left to do is wait for the Netherlands in September.
Sources: Sky Sports: Leona Maguire handed Team Europe captain’s pick as Anna Nordqvist adds three rookies, Golf Channel: Meet the 2026 European Solheim Cup team, including four captain’s picks, Irish Times: Leona Maguire selected as wildcard pick for Solheim Cup