With the Solheim Cup looming, Europe’s captain makes a personal career decision

In 2019, after claiming the winning point for Europe in a stirring Solheim Cup victory over the United States at Gleneagles, Suzanne Pettersen added even more drama to the celebration by announcing that she was retiring from competitive golf after the event. It was one of the ultimate “mic drop” moments in golf.

Perhaps Anna Nordqvist could have done something similar next month at the conclusion of the Solheim Cup in the Netherlands, where she will lead the European team as captain. Instead, the talented but unassuming 39-year-old Swede has decided to take care of her personal news before the competition. The 17-year LPGA Tour veteran revealed this week in a heartfelt Instagram post that she’s retiring from the tour after the conclusion of the FM Championship in Boston.

"Twenty years ago, I came to the U.S. with two suitcases, a golf bag and a dream of one day competing with the best golfers in the world," Nordqvist said, reading an open letter to the game of golf she had written. "I don't know how to say goodbye to something that means so much to me, but this is going to be the last week walking inside the ropes, competing on tour. I'm not sure what the future has in store for me, but it's with a grateful heart I have decided to retire from playing professional golf to focus on my health and my family."

Nordqvist excelled at every level of the game, winning the 2005 British Girls title and the 2008 British Amateur. She was a two-time first-team All American during her two years at Arizona State, before turning pro in 2008. A year later she won the first of her three majors, the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, in just her fifth start on the LPGA Tour. A few months after that, she qualified for the first of her nine starts in the Solheim Cup, where she put together a 17-15-3 record.

Playing on both the Ladies European Tour and LPGA Tour, she won 12 combined titles. Her nine LPGA wins helped her earn more than $14 million. She had 19 top-10 finishes in majors during her career, including a playoff loss to Brittany Lang in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open that also involved a controversial rules issue.

Chances are that had Nordqvist not agreed to be the captain of the 2026 European Solheim Cup team, she’d be playing again. Just last July, she finished T-7 at the Amundi Evian Championship, becoming the first player to claim a top-10 in a major the same year they were serving as Solheim Cup captain.

That her game was still so strong is a testament to her personal fortitude. In recent years, she struggled with injury—she had a benign cyst removed from her stomach in 2024. That same year, she announced on social media that she and her husband Kevin McAlpine were divorcing, only for McAlpine to die at age 39 soon after.

Having endured many tests in life, she says she’s in a better place now and looking forward to the next few weeks to see if the work she has put in as Solheim Cup captain will pay off.