The Solheim gets under way without any Spanish players and with Lottie Woad in a leading role

Anna Nordqvist leaves the two Spanish players out of the opening session. There were no surprises. Charley Hull and Lottie Woad will open the competition against Allisen Corpuz and Nelly Korda, while Linn Grant and Maja Stark will close the set against Rose Zhang and Jennifer Kupcho. Carlota Ciganda and Julia López will play the fourballs.

The Solheim Cup 2026 will start without any Spanish players on the course. The opening ceremony held this Thursday at Bernardus Golf revealed the pairings for the first foursomes session and neither Carlota Ciganda nor Julia López Ramírez are among the eight players picked by Anna Nordqvist to contest the first four points. Both will have to wait to take action. That was expected and that’s how we reported it at Ten Golf.

The European captain will also not field Mimi Rhodes and Nastasia Nadaud in this first batch. Lottie Woad will be the only one of the four European debutants to take part in the opener. And she will do so with all the attention on her match: alongside Charley Hull, against Allisen Corpuz and Nelly Korda. A grand debut for Woad.

The competition will start this Friday, 11 September, at 7.40, peninsular Spain time. Matches will tee off at twelve-minute intervals, finishing the session at 8.16.

Carlota and Julia will have to wait

The decision leaves the two Spanish representatives out of the start, who face this week with very different experiences. Carlota is playing her eighth Solheim Cup, while Julia is taking part for the first time. The Navarrese brings the knowledge of a competition in which she has had some of her best moments; the player from Málaga arrives keen to experience it from the inside.

In any case, starting rested does not determine the role a player may end up having over the weekend. Carlota herself has an unbeatable precedent: at Finca Cortesín, in 2023, she also did not play the Friday morning foursomes and went on to win her four matches, including the singles against Korda that allowed Europe to retain the trophy.

Nordqvist’s first line-up reveals another detail: Leona Maguire is the only one of her four personal picks to go out on the course in this session. The other three invitees —Julia, Mimi and Nastasia— will wait for their opportunity. The captain has thus selected seven of the eight automatically qualified players, with Ciganda the only absence from that group.

Hull and Woad to face Korda and Corpuz to start

The first match has undeniable appeal. Charley Hull and Lottie Woad will assume the responsibility of opening the European path against Allisen Corpuz and Nelly Korda. Nordqvist pairs the English debutant with one of the references of her team, while Angela Stanford begins with a partnership that already won the opening match of the 2024 edition.

The second match, at 7.52, will see Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Céline Boutier face Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin. The Danish and the French player will form the second European pairing. They make their debut as a pairing.

At 8.04 it will be the turn of Leona Maguire and Esther Henseleit, who will take on Andrea Lee and Lindy Duncan. Finally, at 8.16, Linn Grant and Maja Stark will close the European line-up against Rose Zhang and Jennifer Kupcho. The Swedish pairing will have the responsibility of contesting the last of the four points in this first session.

On the United States side, Angel Yin, Yealimi Noh, Auston Kim and Megan Khang will be the four players who do not take part in the opening foursomes.

The next opportunity for the Spanish players will come in the afternoon

Friday’s schedule includes a second session of fourballs, with tee times from 13.05. That’s where the two Spanish players will make their debut. Europe begins the hunt for the trophy that the United States regained in 2024, when they won by 15.5-12.5 in Virginia.

Pairings for the Friday foursomes

Times in peninsular Spain and the Netherlands.