Alison Lee Is the Lone Mother on the 2026 Solheim Cup Team

Alison Lee has qualified for the 2026 US Solheim Cup team as the only mother in the 24-player field, becoming the first American to automatically qualify for a Solheim Cup roster after giving birth since Juli Inkster in 2011. The matches run September 11-13 at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands.

How did Alison Lee qualify for the Solheim Cup?

Lee, 31, clinched the final automatic points-list spot last month with a pair of top-15 finishes and is currently No. 57 in the Rolex Rankings. Her season included a share of third at the Mizuho Americas Open on Mother's Day, a share of the lead at the US Women's Open at Riviera, and a share of fifth at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Hazeltine.

Lee returned to the LPGA in mid-April, about a month earlier than she had originally planned, to improve her qualifying chances. She also switched to a longer, anchored-style putter this season, a change that has steadied her stroke. Lee said making the team on her own, without a captain's pick, lifted a burden. "I feel like I have a big weight lifted off my shoulders," she said.

"I feel like I have a big weight lifted off my shoulders."

Who else has played the Solheim Cup as a mother?

A mother has not played the Solheim Cup, for either side, since 2019, when Suzann Pettersen holed the winning putt for Europe as a captain's pick and retired immediately afterward. Karine Icher qualified on points in 2017 after having a daughter in 2011, while Catriona Matthew and Maria Hjorth both gave birth in 2009 and qualified for the team that same year.

Two-time US captain Stacy Lewis, the last LPGA player to win a tour event as a mother, at the 2020 Scottish Open, was picked for the 2019 team but withdrew before the competition began because of injury.

What happened when Lee played her first Solheim Cup?

Lee's Solheim Cup debut came in 2015 in Germany, where a rules dispute on the 17th green cost her and partner Brittany Lincicome a hole after Europe's side said a short putt had not been conceded. The US rallied from the incident to complete the largest comeback in the event's history that afternoon.