Solheim Cup 2026 Preview & FAQ: Everything to Know Before Bernardus
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For the first time in its 36-year history, the Solheim Cup is heading to the Netherlands. From September 11–13, 2026, the 20th edition of women’s golf biggest team event unfolds at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, a heathland course tucked between Eindhoven and Hertogenbosch that has never before hosted a match of this magnitude. Team USA arrives as defending champion, looking to win on European soil for the first time since 2015, while Team Europe wants to reclaim home advantage after a narrow defeat two years ago in Virginia. Here is everything worth knowing before the first tee shot flies.
Why Bernardus Golf Is a Fitting Stage
Designed by American architect Kyle Phillips and opened in 2018, Bernardus Golf has already built a reputation among European golfers, having hosted three editions of the Dutch Open on the DP World Tour between 2021 and 2023. The layout is a compact, sandy heathland course threaded with tight doglegs and testing water hazards, a design that tends to reward precision over raw power. That matters for match play, where a single wayward tee shot can flip a hole in an instant. Choosing a course of this scale rather than a sprawling resort layout signals a deliberate push to bring the tournament closer to spectators, with grandstands expected to hug much of the front nine and the closing holes.
The Schedule and Format, Explained
The Solheim Cup runs across three competitive days, framed by a broader event week that begins September 7. Friday and Saturday each feature two sessions: four foursomes matches (alternate shot) in the morning and four fourball matches (best ball) in the afternoon, with eight players from each team in action per session. Sunday is reserved entirely for singles, when all 24 players tee off across 12 head-to-head matches. Every match is played to a maximum of 18 holes, and a match that finishes level awards half a point to each side.
With 28 points on offer in total, Team USA needs 14 points to retain the trophy it won in 2024, while Team Europe needs 14.5 to win it back outright. That extra half-point requirement for the visiting team is a quirk worth remembering: a tied match at 14-14, exactly what happened in Spain in 2023, allows the defending side to keep the Cup rather than forcing a decisive finish.
Meet Team USA: Korda Leads, Youth Fills the Ranks
Captain Angela Stanford built her roster around world number one Nelly Korda, who anchored a dominant 2026 season with four wins, including two majors, and three runner-up finishes. Nine players qualified automatically: Korda, Angel Yin, Jennifer Kupcho, Yealimi Noh, Auston Kim, Lauren Coughlin and Allisen Corpuz came through the U.S. Solheim points list, while Andrea Lee and Alison Lee claimed the two remaining spots via the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. Stanford then used her three captain’s picks to bring back Solheim veterans Rose Zhang and Megan Khang, who went a combined 7-0 in Virginia in 2024, and to hand a debut to 35-year-old Lindy Duncan.
It is a squad with real experience layered on top of emerging talent. Kim is the only rookie among the automatic qualifiers, meaning the pressure of a first Solheim Cup week falls mainly on Duncan among the newcomers, even as both Zhang and Khang arrive having struggled for consistent form for parts of this season. Stanford’s bet is that proven Solheim chemistry outweighs a shakier stretch of stroke play.
Meet Team Europe: A Blend of Debutants and Battle-Tested Veterans
Anna Nordqvist, playing in nine consecutive Solheim Cups before stepping into the captain’s role, finalised her European side about three weeks ahead of Stanford. Charley Hull and Esther Henseleit topped the Ladies European Tour’s Solheim Cup points list, with Henseleit forcing her way in via a dramatic runner-up finish and a 40-foot birdie putt on the final hole of the AIG Women’s Open. The next six spots came through the Rolex Rankings: Lottie Woad, Maja Stark, Linn Grant, Celine Boutier, Carlota Ciganda and Nanna Koerstz Madsen all qualified that way.
Nordqvist rounded out her 12 with four captain’s picks. Leona Maguire, who carries an outstanding 8-3-1 career Solheim record, was the closest thing to an automatic selection. She was joined by three players making their Solheim Cup debuts: Julia López Ramírez of Spain, Nastasia Nadaud of France and Mimi Rhodes of England. López Ramírez brings serious distance off the tee, ranking second on the LPGA Tour in driving average, while Nadaud earned her spot after making the cut in every major she played in 2026. Notably, Woad qualified as a rookie herself, arriving at Bernardus ranked inside the world’s top ten alongside Hull, giving Europe two players in the global top ten on home soil.
The History Behind the Rivalry
The Solheim Cup dates back to 1990, named for Karsten and Louise Solheim of Karsten Manufacturing, the family behind PING. The United States holds a slim all-time lead in the series, but the recent trend favours Europe, which won or retained the Cup in three of the four editions before 2026: a win at Gleneagles in 2019, a win at Inverness in 2021, and a tie in Spain in 2023 that let the reigning champions keep the trophy. Team USA snapped that run in 2024 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia, closing out a 15.5–12.5 victory after Lilia Vu’s clinching birdie on the 18th hole. That result also marked the Americans’ first Solheim win since 2017. The last time the U.S. team won on European soil, however, stretches back to 2015, which is precisely the drought Stanford’s team is trying to end at Bernardus.
Players and Storylines to Watch
Korda’s continued dominance is the obvious American headline, but the pairing decisions around her, particularly whether Stanford leans on rookies like Kim and Duncan in early sessions or shelters them until singles, will shape the tournament’s opening tempo. For Europe, the form of Woad, who turned professional only last year before climbing inside the world’s top six, is a genuine wildcard: rookies with her level of current play are rare in Solheim history. Keep an eye, too, on how Nordqvist pairs her three debutantes alongside proven partners like Hull and Ciganda in the foursomes sessions, where chemistry under alternate-shot pressure often decides momentum before singles day even begins.
Solheim Cup 2026 FAQ
When and where is the 2026 Solheim Cup played? The matches run September 11–13, 2026, at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, North Brabant, in the Netherlands, part of an event week that opens September 7.
Who are the team captains? Anna Nordqvist captains Team Europe, and Angela Stanford captains Team USA. Both are Solheim Cup veterans as players; Nordqvist made nine appearances before this captaincy, while Caroline Hedwall, Mel Reid and Anne van Dam serve as her vice-captains.
How does a team win the Cup? Twenty-eight points are available across foursomes, fourball and singles matches. Team USA, as the defending champion, needs 14 points to retain the trophy, while Team Europe needs 14.5 points to win it outright, since a tied overall score allows the reigning champion to keep the Cup.
How are players selected for each team? Selection paths differ slightly by side but share the same basic structure: several spots go to players leading a season-long Solheim points list, several more go to the highest-ranked remaining players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, and the captain fills the rest of the 12-player roster with picks. For 2026, Europe filled eight spots automatically and four by captain’s pick, while the U.S. filled nine automatically and three by pick.
Has the Solheim Cup been played in the Netherlands before? No. The 2026 edition is the tournament’s first visit to the Netherlands, and Bernardus Golf’s first time hosting an event of this scale after three previous Dutch Open appearances.
Who has won more Solheim Cups, the U.S. or Europe? The United States holds the all-time series lead, but Europe has been the stronger side across the tournament’s more recent history, winning or retaining the trophy in three of the four editions immediately before 2026.
What happens if a match finishes all square? Any match tied after 18 holes awards half a point to each team, which is exactly what happened between the two sides overall in 2023, when a 14-14 finish let Europe retain the Cup as reigning champion.
Whichever way the matches swing at Bernardus, the 2026 Solheim Cup marks a genuine milestone: a first Dutch staging, a captain making her debut on the sideline for Europe, and a U.S. side chasing a piece of history it has not touched in over a decade. For golf travellers thinking ahead, Bernardus and the surrounding North Brabant region offer an intriguing new corner of Europe to explore around a marquee team event.
