This top U.S. player's absence remains big question mark for Solheim

Angel Yin mathematically clinched a spot on the U.S. Solheim Cup team several weeks ago but hasn’t played in an LPGA event in nearly two months.  

Yin withdrew from the third round of the KPMG Women’s PGA at Hazeltine National with an illness and hasn’t been seen on tour since, missing the last two major championships of the season. 

U.S. captain Angela Stanford, when reached by Golfweek, wouldn’t reveal the health concerns Yin faces but said it’s not an injury. 

“Angel and I have been texting. She’s still evaluating her situation, and I am very confident in giving Angel all the runway that she needs,” said Stanford.  “We want Angel on the team; we want her to be there; but we have to prepare in a way that maybe she won’t be there.”

Yin, who is No. 2 on the U.S. points list, could not be reached by Golfweek. 

A captain’s pick in 2017 and 2023, Yin would make her fourth appearance at the biennial event next month in The Netherlands. She made the 2019 team based on Rolex Rankings points. 

A two-time winner on the LPGA and one of the best putters on Team USA, the 27-year-old Californian has a 5-3-1 overall record.

Stanford’s team will be finalized following this week’s CPKC Women’s Open. Right now, Yin plans to compete the following week at the FM Championship in Boston. If Yin should decide before the team is announced that she can’t play, then the next person on the points list would qualify for the team.

But if Yin tees it up in Boston and decides that she can’t go or comes to the same conclusion in a few weeks at Bernardus, then the first alternate would step up.

Solheim Cup rules stipulate that Stanford must put two alternate names in the envelope.

“I fully expect Angel to play Boston,” said Stanford, “and at that point we will reassess.”

A total of five players have mathematically clinched their spots for Team USA:

• Nelly Korda
• Angel Yin
• Jennifer Kupcho
• Auston Kim
• Yealimi Noh

The 12-player team consists of the top seven players off the points list, the two highest-ranked players off the Rolex Rankings not otherwise qualified and three captain’s picks.

Stanford noted that assistant captain Paula Creamer’s input has been particularly valuable given that she has been both a captain’s pick and an alternate. 

“Paula has been really good about helping me think through this in my mind, and now what I believe is that the alternate is a complete wild card,” said Stanford, adding that, “If we’re going to be missing our second-best player – if you go off points – if Angel, can’t play … I have to be creative in finding ways to boost this team. You can’t fill that with one person. You have to kind of fill that with a combination and equation of other things.”

Beth Ann Nichols is a Golfweek senior writer who covers the LPGA and women’s golf.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: This top U.S. player’s absence remains big question mark for Solheim