After a qualifying period lasting almost two years, nine of the 12 players for Stacy Lewis’ Solheim Cup team were confirmed after the CPKC Women’s Open, with the three wildcards named the next day.
Some of the biggest names in the world have made the team, with the likes of Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson and Danielle Kang providing invaluable experience, and players including Lilia Vu, Rose Zhang and Allisen Corpuz hoping to bring some outstanding form into their maiden appearances.
For others, though, a place on the 2023 team was a bridge too far. Here are some of the biggest names who missed out on a place in the team.
Alison Lee
Lee fell three places short of an automatic qualifying position via the Solheim Cup points list, while, at 43rd, she stood 12 places behind Rose Zhang in the final qualification place in the world rankings. That meant she was relying on a wildcard to make her second Solheim Cup appearance.
Two of Lewis’s captain’s picks – Angel Yin and Cheyenne Knight – finished beneath Lee in the points list, but she didn’t quite do enough to get the nod, despite finishes of T9 in her last two starts, the Freed Group Women’s Scottish Open and AIG Women’s Open.
Lee made her Solheim Cup debut in 2015, finishing with a disappointing 1-3-0 record as Team USA defeated the Europeans in Germany, but she’ll need to wait at least another year to get a chance to improve it.
Ryann O'Toole
In 2011, O’Toole impressed at the Solheim Cup despite Team USA’s loss, with an undefeated record of 2-0-2. The chance to build on that has proved elusive ever since, though, and the 36-year-old will once again miss out in 2023.
There were several high points for O’Toole over the qualifying period, including four top-10 finishes, but overall her form has been inconsistent. As a result, it wasn’t enough to propel her into the top seven of the points list needed to qualify automatically.
With O’Toole standing too far down the world rankings to qualify via that route, a captain’s pick was her last hope. It failed to come, meaning if she make’s next year’s team, it will have been 13 years between appearances.
Jessica Korda
Ever since Korda announced in May that she would be out indefinitely with a back injury, her chances of making the team for Finca Cortesin appeared slim, and so it has proved.
Despite her struggles with the injury over the previous year, Korda had been in contention to qualify automatically thanks to some excellent performances, including a T10 in the 2022 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
After she withdrew from the 2023 Cognizant Founders Cup during the second round, though, her prospects looked bleak, and her chances were ultimately dashed.
The six-time LPGA Tour winner will be a big loss for Team USA, having made three Solheim Cup appearances with an overall record of 5-4-2. Even if her back injury heals before the 2024 edition, she may not be available for the match at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club either – that’s because she has recently announced she is pregnant with her first child, which is due in February.
Marina Alex
Alex misses out on her second Solheim Cup appearance, finishing 15th in the points list and well down the pecking order in the world rankings.
Any lingering hopes she had of receiving one of Lewis’s wildcards would have been all but scuppered after a run of four missed cuts in her last five starts, and so it has proved.
After Alex won the 2022 Palos Verdes Championship, she must have fancied her chances of making the team she represented in its 2019 defeat in Scotland. However, any hope she has of building on the 1-1-2 record achieved on that occasion will need to wait at least another year when the match returns to the US.
Lizette Salas
Salas’ run of five successive Solheim Cup appearances has ended after she failed to make the 2023 team. That’s despite an excellent run between September and November 2022 in the qualifying period that included three top-10 finishes in four outings.
However, 2023 has been more of a slog for the 34-year-old, with a T13 at the DIO Implant LA Open Salas’ best finish so far.
That means she missed out on automatic qualification, and with no captain’s pick coming her way, the Solheim Cup will take place without her for the first time since 2011.
