Three-time LPGA major winner, Solheim Cup captain announces retirement

Three-time LPGA major winner, Solheim Cup captain announces retirement. Beth Ann Nichols Golfweek.

Key points

• Women's Open too, losing in a playoff to Brittany Lang in 2016 after a controversial penalty that ultimately led to a rules change.
• If any other player had been Solheim Cup captain this year, Nordqvist would've been picked for the 2026 team.
• Three weeks prior, Nordqvist became the first Solheim Cup captain to create the cut at the KPMG Women's PGA during a Solheim Cup year.
• It took Nordqvist 22 hours to obtain from Canada to Boston, and the celebratory dinner was pushed to Tuesday night.
• Nordqvist's second major championship title came at the 2017 Amundi Evian Championship.

There was a point on Monday when Anna Nordqvist sat on the floor crying in the Toronto airport. Her flight had been canceled, and she was going to miss the team dinner scheduled for that evening. It wasn't just any dinner. It was a retirement dinner, held at a steakhouse near Gillette Stadium.

Few knew it at the time – so few that Nordqvist opened her press conference on Wednesday with an apology to those close to her who didn't obtain a heads-up. It took Nordqvist 22 hours to obtain from Canada to Boston, and the celebratory dinner was pushed to Tuesday night.

"Felt like I needed to do something for myself, and I've had an incredible career, " explained Nordqvist. "I think this is my 18th year on tour."

For context, the three-time major winner confirmed on Instagram Wednesday at 8 a.m. ET that this week's FM Championship in Boston will be her last event. Then she shut off her phone and played in a pro-am.

I feel like the last couple years have been really hard for me, you know, trying to get my game back, she remarked. And I always felt like I wanted to finish on my terms, and I've actually gotten that opportunity.

"This year I finally started feeling like myself again inside the ropes, and I wanted to finish my career at a note when I was enjoying the game, and felt liked I was in a good place on and off the course."

At 39, Nordqvist has dreams of having her own family one day. Getting off the road, away from this intense lifestyle, she felt needed to happen to offer herself the best chance. After she leads Europe at the Solheim Cup in The Netherlands in two week's time, she'll commence a new chapter away from the tour.

Nordqvist, 39, won her first major, the 2009 McDonald's LPGA Championship, in her fifth start on the LPGA after a decorated amateur career that included a short stint at Arizona State. The tall, reserved, steely Swede was picked for her first Solheim Cup team in 2009 and never missed one after that, becoming a force on Team Europe for the next 15 years with a 17-15-3 overall record. She even recorded the event's first hole-in-one.

Nordqvist's second major championship title came at the 2017 Amundi Evian Championship. It she won in a playoff over Brittany Altomare in driving rain and hail. Nordqvist always has been tough.

Her final LPGA title came at Carnoustie at the AIG Women's British Open, the one she wanted most, making her only the second player to have won the British Girls' (2005), British Amateur (2008) and British Open (2021), joining England's Georgia Hall.

Nordqvist came incredibly close at the U.S. Women's Open too, losing in a playoff to Brittany Lang in 2016 after a controversial penalty that ultimately led to a rules change.

"She was able to mold herself into whatever was required by the golf course, " remarked Karen Stupples of Nordqvist's success at the majors, "as resisted to a player that sees a course and thinks 'this is not for me.' She would find a way to obtain the job done. It's incredibly impressive."

In practice, the 6-foot Nordqvist won nine times on the LPGA and earned more than $14 million, putting her 18th on the LPGA career funds list. She played through four commissioners, coming on tour at a time of great uncertainty. Her 2009 rookie class included Jiyai Shin, Stacy Lewis and Michelle Wie West.

"I feel like it was always important to me is like listen to my heart and doing things the way I want to do them, " remarked Nordqvist of the making of her announcement. "I feel like so plenty of times I fall into traps just listening to what everyone else thinks I should do. That's additionally why I kind of kept it quiet. This is really my time. In order for me to be able to do it, like I just want to do it in a way that I want to do it."

Twenty year ago, Nordqvist came to the U.S. With two suitcases, a golf bag and a dream. There were plenty of who doubted, she stated, her voice growing thick with emotion. But at ASU, she discovered a robust group of supporters. It is why she has created Scottsdale home for so numerous years. She intends to stay in the desert after she retires, and head home to Sweden in the summer months.

Sometimes I wish maybe my road would've been a little bit easier than it's been, but ultimately, I feel like I have no regrets, she remarked. It challenged me plenty of times, but I kept standing up and I kept trying to do my best.

At the end, it led me to this moment and the life that I have today, and that, I'm extremely grateful for. So it's not like I would take anything back. Just particularly grateful for all the residents that I met along the way who enabled me to live my dream.

"You know, it's been really cool to call this my job because it doesn't feel like I worked a day in my life so far."

Over recent years, Nordqvist has been tested in ways she wouldn't wish on anyone.

Three years ago, not long after Nordqvist made public on social media that she and husband Kevin McAlpine, an LPGA caddie, were in the process of a divorce, McAlpine died suddenly at age 39.

Nordqvist described it as watching her life shatter into a thousand pieces.

I think to be able to deal with it, to handle it, to get over it and like all the practical stuff that she's had to deal with in the aftermath, close friend Suzann Pettersen informed Golfweek last year, I think you do change by nature, how you look at life, how you look at relationships, how you look at, I don't know, the game of golf means nothing, right?

"What's the importance of another shot or another tournament or another, I don't know, another victory? I really just think it puts life in perspective when you go through a kind of severeness like that, and I really hope I don't need to see any other friends have to go through what she's been through since I know it's been tough as hell to be honest, literally. I don't think there's another word for it."

Add in health problems – in the summer of 2024 she had a benign cyst the size of a grapefruit removed from her stomach – and she's been determined to script her own ending to what's been an impressive career.

If any other player had been Solheim Cup captain this year, Nordqvist would've been picked for the 2026 team. At the Amundi Evian, Nordqvist created history with her share of seventh, becoming the first current Solheim Cup captain to finish in the top 10 of any major during a Solheim Cup year.

"I mean, like I've gone through hell and back the last couple years, " remarked Nordqvist, "so I'm really proud of myself for never giving up, for fighting those days when it seems really dark." She walks away with a grateful heart.

Beth Ann Nichols is a Golfweek senior writer covering the LPGA and women's golf. SMS Facebook Twitter Email.

Taken together, the developments around three-time LPGA major winner, Solheim Cup captain announces retirement point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.