Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they delve into the hottest topics in sports, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss Europe’s Solheim Cup win and the future of LIV Golf in light of the league’s bankruptcy filing.
Europe beat the United States to win the Solheim Cup on Sunday in the Netherlands, winning seven of 12 singles matches to break an 8-8 tie after team play and win (or retain) the Cup for the fourth time in the last five editions. What is your diagnosis of the loss of Americans?
Alan Bastable, Executive Editor (alan_bastable): It was, among other things, a reminder that the Solheim Cuppers of the United States have not played well in recent years, with only two players having won LPGA this season. Those two players – a world No. 1 Nelly Korda and a No. 17 Lauren Coughlin – are also the only Americans in the top 20 in the world. Rose Zhang needed a captain choice to make the team; Andrea Lee came into the week off a couple of missed cuts; and Lindy Duncan, another pick of American captain Angela Stanford, hasn’t had a top-20 finish since March. The Solheim Cup is not an event where you can afford to come looking for your game, and the Americans hit too many loose shots. In fairness, the Europeans weren’t really in shape going into the event, but, as often happens, they led the home team’s ambitions and blew the putts they needed to punch. The initial blue wave in singles was also a statement. Europe seemed more determined.
Senior Writer Josh Sens (@joshsens): It is a timely diagnosis. It wouldn’t be a Solheim Cup without a second hypothesis, which we’ll get into below. Meanwhile, however, another constant in these team events is momentum, and the Europeans were impressive at riding that ebb and flow. Afterwards Jennifer Kupcho’s heroics late SaturdayThe United States appeared to be the first to ride a wave on Sunday. But the wave came first from Europe instead.
Jessica Marksbury, Senior Editor, (@jess_marksbury): It’s a bit of a cliché at this point, and something we seem to repeat in many international matches for men and women, but Europe played better on Sunday. On paper, the United States should have prevailed in singles. But golf is fickle, and match play even more so. It just didn’t go our way.
Who was your MVP for each part?
Bastable: For Europe, it is difficult to separate the excellent play of Linn Grant and Maja Stark, considering that they won three games together, including the opening two games in the session on Saturday. But I have to give the nod to Grant who was a perfect 4-0, made more impressive when compared to his 0-4 clunker in the last Cup. Talk about a comeback. For the US, easy: Alison Lee. Unreal week. After taking 2025 for maternity leave, she returned in 2026 and not only earned her way into the team, but proved to be the team’s best player. Four matches, four wins, including a comeback in singles for the age on Sunday; Lee went down from 4 to 11 to Esther Hensleit and came back to win 1 up, with little Levi on the grounds, rooted on the mother. Fabulous stuff.
Sens: Dance don’t lie, as the children say. I can’t stick with any of these choices.
Marksbury: Without a doubt, it’s the women’s 4-0: Alison Lee for the United States (What a performance!) and Linn Grant for the Euros.
Getty Images
It’s time to catch up. Which decision(s) by American captain Angela Stanford did you guess?
Bastable: The biggest question of the week was still whether Angel Yin, who had been ill for most of the season and has played just two competitive rounds (81-76 at the FM Championship) since June, he’ll be ready for the pressure cooker that is the Solheim. Stanford could have traded Yin for US alternate Lilia Vu, but chose to ride with Yin instead. Yin said she was ready, but she didn’t see it, going 0-1-1 with at least a few sloppy shots showing her rust. Call me old-fashioned, but I also didn’t love the sight of Team USA cracking beers and celebrating on the bus Saturday night. I can’t help thinking that it didn’t serve as fuel for the euro.
Marksbury: The only thing I can think of is pure hindsight: I would have liked to see the American singles a little more in front. I understand that you need some reserves in case it is close to the end, but I would have put a still recovering Yin a little more in the lineup, not the third match out. Those first games are important in terms of momentum, and the United States has not been able to capitalize.
Senses: Yin was the big question mark coming in, and she remains the big question mark afterwards. Yes, he had earned the spot, and was eager to play, but little suggested that his game was ready for the Solheim Cup. In retrospect, you can’t help but think that Lilia Vu would have made more sense. I’m still with Jessica, though. In the middle of what if… what if Stanford had gone first with the players who were in the best shape.
Bastable: Regarding the Yin situation, it should be noted that Vu was a curious alternative choice. Sure, he’s a former world No. 1, but he’s been woefully out of form, having missed the cut in each of his last 8 starts. You have to wonder if he wasn’t still weighing on Stanford’s decision.
Sixteen of the top 20 female players in the world are neither from the United States nor from Europe. To better demonstrate the full power of the women’s game, is it time to create a team event with a team from the rest of the world?
Bastable: It looks like it is! The world ranking numbers in the week spoke volumes. US team average: 39; Europe: 54. Which tells you that the best LPGA players come from other parts of the world. Also look at the majors: 11 of the last 15 have been won by players from the rest of the world. Those pros deserve a team event stage.
Marksbury: Team game play is a lot of fun to watch, and when patriotism is also at play, it’s even better. The LPGA International Crown gives us a fun taste, with teams of four women from around the world, but expanding the size of the team or going to the full format of the United States versus the rest of the world would be great theater.
Senses: For sure. Bring him. The question is, how do you form a team that would be competitive? Will American centrism allow a combo team of the United States and Europe to take the rest?
LIV Golf this week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, an archive that sets in motion a restructuring process as the league prepares to enter the next phase of its existence, LIV 2.0. The archive uncovered several documents not previously known to the public. Which of them was of most interest to you?
Bastable: Me, there was so much to catch up on (thankfully, our colleague, Sean Zak, did a lot of the weight). I was fascinated by all the cash still due to stars LIV: $7.5 million to Jon Rahm; $5.8 million to Bryson DeChambeau; $5.5 million to Dustin Johnson; and forward. Those figures are a pittance compared to what these guys have done over the course of their LIV careers, but still impressive when you consider where this league was a year or two ago: with seemingly bottomless reserves. LIV’s TV revenue (or lack of it) was also a shocker: about $10 million, or only 5% of its overall revenue. We knew the league was struggling in that department, but we didn’t know to what degree.
Marksbury: Being reminded of Cameron Young’s imminent departure to LIV was disappointing. At this point, it seems amazing to think how much of an existential threat LIV has posed to the PGA in recent years. How things have changed!
Senses: These are juicy details. But there are also total losses: $5 billion. It’s a staggering sum, but little more than pocket change to the Saudi fund that launched the circuit. It is yet another reminder of the surreal and distorted sums LIV injected into professional golf, and the wild irrational (and frankly, nauseating) market it created.
Although this schedule was somewhat expected, after this most recent round of LIV news, are you now more or less bullish on the future of the league?
Bastable: Bryson DeChambeau, the biggest star of the league and among his most ardent supporters, the lawyer (which is another thing we learned last week) does not feel a positive development. But who’s to say, maybe enough players buy into the equity model and the league lives on as some sort of souped-up development league.
Marksbury: None of this inspires much confidence. But I have to think that keeping the star power in the form of Bryson and Jon Rahm is of the utmost importance at this point. Without that kind of top-tier credibility going forward, it’s hard to see any kind of future in which the league would be on par with the PGA Tour, or even its developmental circuits.
Senses: He might stumble around in zombie form for a while. But beyond that, I don’t see myself going back to any kind of authentic life.
