Angela Stanford was introduced Thursday as the next U.S. captain of the Solheim Cup, leading a young core of Americans who are coming off a victory and will try to win the cup overseas for the first time in more than a decade.

Stanford was on the last American team that won away from home, in 2015 in Germany when Juli Inkster was at the helm. She was an assistant on the last three teams, including what she calls a “massive” victory in Virginia last September.

The U.S. team was so young that 10 of the 12 players had never experienced what it was like to win the Solheim Cup.

“They needed that feeling,” Stanford said. “Virginia was big for a lot of these players, and I hope getting a taste of that win and getting a taste of what it meant … you can’t feel something you’ve never felt before. That was kind of cool. Hopefully, they’ll want to accept the next challenge, which is winning one overseas.”

The 2026 matches will be held at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands. Anna Nordqvist of Sweden had been selected captain for Europe.

Stanford, 47, has seven LPGA Tour victories, including her lone major in the 2018 Evian Championship when she was 40. She also played in 98 consecutive majors, the longest streak in LPGA history.

She played six times in the Solheim Cup, with three wins and three losses, and was at the last three as an assistant to Pat Hurst (2021) and Stacy Lewis (2023 and 2024).

Lewis was captain for consecutive years because the Ryder Cup went back to odd-numbered years after the COVID-19 pandemic and the Solheim Cup went back to even-numbered years. Lewis effectively signed up for two years, and delivered a big win in Virginia.

It was Stanford’s second stint as an assistant — the tie in Spain, with Europe retaining the cup as defending champion — that she first thought how much she would like to be captain.

“I’ve always wanted to be a captain overseas,” Stanford said. “I won my Curtis Cup overseas. I got to play on two of the teams that have won the Solheim Cup overseas. Growing up, I played a lot of different team sports and I loved going to other people’s gyms, going to their fields.

“It doesn’t bother me to go into a hostile environment and try to play and try to perform.”

The core of the American team is Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu, with multiple major championships between them.

Five-way tie in PGA

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Keith Mitchell was having a great day in tough conditions. He finished with two straight bogeys and had to settle for a 67.

That puts him in a five-way share of the lead in the Valspar Championship on a tough day of strong wind and some rain.

The Copperhead course at Innisbrook is reputed to be a tough test. Mitchell says a pair of bogeys sprinkled across his scorecard would have been easier to take than dropping two shots at the end. Xander Schauffele took a step forward from his return from a rib injury. He shot a 70.