On a leaderboard peppered with famous names, there are two American players that United States Solheim Cup Captain Juli Inkster will be watching particularly closely in the final round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open today.
Mo Martin and Angel Yin can both play their way onto the United States team with strong finishes.
Martin, the 2014 champion at Royal Birkdale, can knock out Brittany Lincicome with a seventh-place finish or better, while Yin can overtake Salas by finishing seventh if Salas finishes in 13th or worse. With an eighth-place finish, Yin can overtake Salas if she finishes 18th or lower.
Yin, 18, of Arcadia, California, was runner-up at the 2015 U.S. Girls’ Junior and turned professional at age 17. She finished 11th on the 2016 Ladies European Tour’s Order of Merit as a rookie, and tied for third at that year’s LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to earn LPGA status for 2017.
Yin was tied for seventh going into Sunday’s final round, while Martin was tied for 22nd.
“I just know that I’m close (to the Solheim Cup Team). I’m up there,” said Yin, who played on the Junior Solheim Cup Team in 2015. “So I just need to play well this week.”
Yin tees off at 2:10 p.m. with European Solheim Cup potential Jodi Ewart Shadoff, while Martin started her final round at 12:35pm with Shanshan Feng.
USA SOLHEIM CUP TEAM UPDATE
This week’s Ricoh Women’s British Open marks the final week for players from both the European and United States teams to secure Solheim Cup points. USA players in the top 20 will receive double points, with the winner receiving 120 points.
The top six players in the USA standings are locked in – No. 1 Lexi Thompson, No. 2 Stacy Lewis, No. 3 Gerina Piller, No. 4 Cristie Kerr, No. 5 Jessica Korda and No. 6 Danielle Kang. But behind that lead group, several players are fighting for the final two automatic qualifying spots, two Rolex Rankings qualifiers and two at-large picks for Captain Juli Inkster.
| POSITION | PLAYER (ROLEX RANKING) | POINTS | FIRST ROUND | SECOND ROUND | THIRD ROUND |
| 7 | Michelle Wie (No. 35) | 251.5 | 1 (64) | T21 (140) | T13 (209) |
| 8 | Brittany Lang (No. 37) | 247 | T94 (73) | MC (146) | — |
| 9 | Brittany Lincicome** (No. 42) | 237 | T50 (71) | T48 (142) | T48 (213) |
| 10 | Angela Stanford (No. 48) | 232 | T94 (73) | MC (146) | — |
| 11 | Austin Ernst (No. 53) | 227 | T94 (73) | MC (144) | — |
| 12 | Lizette Salas** (No. 45) | 216.5 | T17 (69) | T14 (139) | T40 (212) |
| 13 | Marina Alex (No. 60) | 182.5 | T109 (74) | T48 (142) | T59 (215) |
| 14 | Mo Martin (No. 54) | 178 | T33 (70) | T5 (137) | T22 (210) |
| Positions and rankings as of July 31, 2017; ** denotes current Rolex Rankings qualifier | |||||
Other players making a case for a captain’s pick include Ally McDonald (T4) and Angel Yin (T7), as well as six-time USA Team member Paula Creamer (T31).
