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DEN BOSCH, Netherlands (AP) — Angel Yin believes she’s ready to play the Solheim Cup.
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Just as importantly, so does her captain.
Yin has been a big question mark for the Americans heading into this week’s matches against Team Europe in the Netherlands after missing two months with severe stomach issues and only returning for the final event before the Solheim Cup — where she shot 81-76 to miss the cut.
The 27-year-old Californian qualified automatically on the points list at No. 2 behind Nelly Korda for the Americans and, if in prime form, would be a go-to player for captain Angela Stanford as the U.S. team attempts to keep hold of the cup.
Yin thinks she can still be, despite her less-than-ideal preparation that has seen her lose 35 pounds and arrive at Bernardus Golf outside Den Bosch playing catch-up with her teammates and rivals.
“I wanted to be honest because I would never jeopardize America,” Yin said Wednesday. “So I had honest talks with myself in the mirror and with my team, and obviously with Angela because she’s the only other person, other than my family, that I’ve updated throughout all of this.
“And she wanted me here,” Yin added. “Because we asked her … well I didn’t ask her, I had my caddie ask her, ‘Do you want me here?’ And if she said no, I wouldn’t be here. But she said yes. So I think with belief like that and confidence from her to back me, why wouldn’t I show up?”
Yin, who has dropped to No. 25 in the world, was out earlier than the rest of the U.S. team on Wednesday — when there was a mixture of rain, sunshine and clouds — in her quest for “more practice repetition.”
She missed the year’s last two majors after pulling out of the Women’s PGA in the last week of June, and acknowledged her performance at the FM Championship in Boston two weeks ago — she was last in the field — was concerning.
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“It’s not a score you really bring out and you go, ’Wow, that’s the person that’s going to be helping America bring home the cup,’” she said.
Just don’t expect Yin to be rolled out by Stanford for all five matches this week.
“I just need to wait for her call,” she said, “and whatever she does and whatever she says will, in my opinion, be the best decision because we trust her, and she’s been leading us great.”
Zhang hits the heights
Trending in a different direction is U.S. teammate Rose Zhang, the one-time wonderkid who has found life on the professional tour tough after becoming, in June 2023, the first woman to win her pro debut since 1951.
Top-10 finishes in her last two starts hinted at a return to the kind of form that took her to a 4-0-0 record at the last Solheim Cup, won by the Americans in Virginia in 2024, and she has come to Europe on a high after going sky-diving last week.
Because what better way to prepare for the biggest event in women’s golf?
“I didn’t tell Angela this until after I jumped,” Zhang said. “I should have just texted in the group chat, ‘I landed.’ But we were also joking about it the previous week in Boston that if one of the Europeans came and drove the plane, it would not be good,” she added, laughing.
“It was extremely fun. I personally am a bit of an adrenaline junkie, and so I enjoy roller coasters, I’m not scared of heights. It just felt fitting to do it right before a Solheim.”
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