Is Angel Yin Ready for the Solheim Cup?

So, where has Angel Yin been? The last time we saw the two-time winner, she probably wasn't expecting to disappear from the Tour for nearly two months.

At the KPMG Women's PGA Championship in June, Yin withdrew after two rounds at Hazeltine because of what she described as a severe stomach ache. At the time, it didn't sound like something that would keep her away from the game for long. In fact, when I spoke with her Thursday after her round, she told me that she might have simply eaten some bad chicken salad. It turned out to be much more serious.

First reported by Golfweek, Yin eventually incurred two emergency room visits and was ultimately admitted to a Minneapolis hospital, where she spent six days before leaving Minnesota.

The 27-year-old would go on to miss the next five LPGA events on the schedule, including the final two major championships of the season, the Amundi Evian Championship and AIG Women's Open, as well as three other tournaments.

For a player who had been building toward another Solheim Cup appearance, that's a lot of competitive golf to suddenly lose. But now, she's back. Yin returned this week at the FM Championship in Boston, and the timing of her comeback is about as significant as the comeback itself. This is her first competitive start since June—and her final opportunity to see where her body and her golf game stand before Team USA heads to the Netherlands for the Solheim Cup.

Yin isn't playing this week to earn her spot on the team, as that part is already taken care of. She officially qualified for the U.S. team alongside Nelly Korda and Jennifer Kupcho, securing one of the automatic spots that will send her to Amsterdam for her fourth Solheim Cup appearance.

The bigger question now is whether she'll be healthy enough to actually play it. That's a particularly important question for Team USA because of what Yin brings to the Solheim Cup. This isn't her first rodeo, she's been part of three previous U.S. teams and has already experienced the uniquely chaotic, emotional and pressure-packed nature of match play. She also happens to be on of the best putters on the squad, and if she's unable to go, the Americans wouldn't simply be losing another name from the roster—they'd be losing one of their most experienced Solheim Cup players.

Which is why this week feels particularly heavy. The FM Championship was never going to be a normal tournament for any of those selected to either team. But for Yin, after spending weeks away from competition, this is less about where she finishes and more about what she can learn from four days of actually playing tournament golf again.

Can her body handle it? Can she get through 18 holes without feeling fatigued? And perhaps most importantly, how quickly can her golf game come back after spending so much time away?And unfortunately, Thursday's opening round offered a pretty rough first answer.

Yin opened with an 81, putting herself near the bottom of the leaderboard and immediately adding another layer of intrigue to the biggest question surrounding her comeback. But an 81 doesn't necessarily tell us that Yin isn't healthy enough to play in the Solheim Cup.

After nearly two months away, rust is going to be real, she said to Beth Ann Nichols earlier in the week that she couldn't believe that she was even in Boston this week and that she feels like "a gym bro trying to lose weight", now that her diet consists of water, rice, boiled chicken, fruits and veggies, and she's down nearly 40 pounds.

Seeing how her body responds this week is the top priority for her and captain Angela Stanford. "If I feel I’m not fit for the team, I’m going to let her know," she said. "The last thing I want to do is drag the team down."

If Yin can get through the weekend feeling healthy, handle the physical demands of four rounds and begin to rediscover her rhythm, there will still be reason for Team USA to feel optimistic heading into Amsterdam. If she continues to struggle—or if her body simply isn't cooperating—then Stanford and the U.S. team will have a much bigger question to answer.

There are still three rounds left in Boston, but there isn't another tournament after this one before the Solheim Cup. This is the test run, this is the dress rehearsal. And after everything Yin has been through we're finally going to get an idea of whether she's ready.