Nordqvist Brings Passion to Captaincy

Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist has been appointed as the new European Captain for the 2026 Solheim Cup, taking place at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands, September 7-13, 2026.

Still active on the Tour, 37-year-old Nordqvist plans to keep playing well beyond the 2026 Solheim Cup, ensuring that she can keep a close eye on both her potential team members as well as their opposition.

However, she doesn’t intend to be a playing captain. “My intentions are to just be a captain this time. It would take a lot of persuading from the rest of the team to make me consider playing, if I were to automatically qualify. I’m honoured to lead the European team on home soil, so that’s where my focus is, to do the best job I can do,” she said. 

Since making her Cup debut in 2009, in Chicago, Nordqvist has made nine appearances in the competition as a player, winning 17 of her 35 Solheim Cup matches and halving three. She was also a playing vice-captain under Suzann Pettersen in 2023 and 2024.

She continued: “The Solheim Cup means the world to me and my family because over the years it’s been the one tournament I got to share with them, and I know how much fun they have outside the ropes and seeing them go all in to be there to support me has meant a lot!

“They have been to almost every single one except for the Covid year in the US. They love it! They started dressing up in Des Moines in 2017 and have had a lot of cool blue and yellow outfits over the years since. Anything from yellow hats and rain jackets with my name on it at Gleneagles to glittery hats, skin-tight morph suites and blue and yellow wigs. In 2023, my whole family showed up as bananas. There were 25 of them and that was the first time my nieces and nephews were old enough to kind of be part of it and they loved it. 

“My first memory of the event is from my parents taking me and my brothers down to Barsebäck in 2003 to watch the Solheim Cup in person. It was such a cool atmosphere! My favourite memories from playing are making a hole in one in 2013 [she and Caroline Hedwall were 1 up standing on the tee of the short 17^th and she holed out with a 7-iron from 187-yards to polish off the match against Morgan Pressel and Jessica Korda]; standing on the 18th green in Colorado with Beany [Catriona Matthew], her husband Graeme and Suzann in 2013 and running up the fairway on 18 at Gleneagles to join the winning celebration on the 18th green! Having the support from my family and proudly walking down the fairway hearing their cheers for me and team Europe is always a highlight.”

The Swede has been on five winning sides and is one of Europe’s most successful and dependable players. A three-time major winner, she has amassed a further six LPGA titles and four LET titles, including the 2022 Dutch Ladies Open.

She has learned from playing under several captains, including Alison Nicholas, Liselotte Neumann, Carin Koch, Annika Sorenstam, Catriona Matthew and Suzann Pettersen.

“I’ve had the honour to play for many great captains and I admired and learned a little bit from everyone over the years. I think Beany has been my favourite – she is just very chilled and easy and I thought she managed things very well. Lotta Neumann was so cool and collected when we won on US soil in 2013 and I loved being vice-captain under Suzann in the last two Solheim Cups and seeing her spirit and competitiveness shine again up close.”

Nordqvist’s own approach will include impeccable preparation – and several notebooks. She continued: “I’m just at the beginning of this journey and starting with a lot of calls and meetings. I’ve sent out emails asking the girls from the last Solheim Cup for feedback on their experience, what was good and what we can do better, so I will start putting together a plan how to do things for the next one. It’s fun because I get to put together the team of vice captains and helpers and everyone around, so that’s where I am right now. I hope me being out on tour playing will make me approachable to the players and caddies so it will probably be a little work along the way and I have a notebook where I will start gather all my notes.

“I know I’ve always been well prepared and focused on preparation and the things that I can control, so I hope to be able to put a good team together to make things smooth for the team and players coming Solheim Cup week. I’m a very loyal person and I’m very down to earth, so I hope the players will feel they can trust me and know they can always talk to me. I’ve always tried to be a good team mate so even if I’m the captain we are in this together and I hope to be able to put together a unified team.

“I’m just going to try to be myself. I will always do my best and I know I won’t be able to please everyone with selections and with pairings, but I will do my best and I hope to be able to be a good communicator and that is something I’m going to work hard on the next year and a half leading up to the event.”

“There is a long time left before the qualifying ends so a lot can happen. Usually closer to next summer I will have a better idea how the team will shape up and who is close to making the team. I think we might have a few new faces on the team next year which is exciting – a lot young and upcoming talent.”

Looking ahead to the 20^th matches next year, she hopes that all European fans will make it to Bernardus and bring their singing voices.

“I love the spectators singing on the grandstands and we have some very passionate European fans, but they have been overpowered by some loud speakers and DJs on the first tee in recent years. I hope to be able to give some space for the songs – I love them and I think it sets a tone for the atmosphere in general on that first tee box.”

Speaking from experience after her visit to Bernardus Golf in September 2023, she shared: “I feel especially fortunate to be the Captain at Bernardus Golf. I am very impressed. Most courses in the Netherlands are kind of inland links, I would describe it as. Bernardus was just completed in 2018 so the amenities and facilities are quite spectacular and the course has a lot of character with water and bunkers and some run outs. I think it will be great for match play! 

“It’s also super close to Amsterdam so I think the fans are going to have an amazing experience enjoying its rich culture and the famous warm Dutch hospitality.”