Anna Nordqvist Won't Play in the Solheim Cup But Her Golf Still Matters

Anna Nordqvist has nothing left to prove to the Solheim Cup, well, at least as a player she doesn't.

With nine appearances for Team Europe under her belt, and a 10th on the way, this time as a captain, she's been an integral part to the blue and yellow for the last 17 years. And yet, she's left no room for speculation to whether or not she'll pick herself for Europe's 12-player roster.

The answer is a firm and definitive no, which she made abundantly clear at the Amundi Evian Championship just weeks ago, where she became the first current captain to record a top-10 finish in a major during a Solheim Cup year.

The three-time major winner left France feeling more like herself, and understandably so. A top-10 in a major would boost anyone's confidence let alone a former champion of the event, who has described her last couple of years as "hell".

Over the past two or so years, Nordqvist has navigated grief after the loss of her ex husband and personal health issues all while trying to keep her form. That all came to a head at Evian, where four consecutive rounds in the 60s, highlighted by a final round 66 showed us exactly how strong the Swede is.

"I'm really proud of myself for never giving up, for fighting those days when it seems really dark," she said after her final round. "But, yeah, just been really nice to start feeling like myself a little bit this week, or this year in general."

Sometimes it feels like were almost conditioned to think that captaincy is the final chapter of a player's career, that they only become captain once their competitive days are behind them. But Nordqvist flips that narrative on its head.

A year ago, the same kind of debate was swirling around Keegan Bradley and his team at Bethpage Black. Many thought that Bradley, who, at the time, was ranked 11th in world, would select himself as one of his captain's picks, becoming the first man since Arnold Palmer in 1963 to do so. But ultimately he decided that his focus would be on managing the team.

And yes, hindsight is often 20/20, but he made the right call. Captains have for too much responsibility during the week to be proficient at both, completing and leading, but there's value in having someone at the helm that is still competing, making cuts, and above all else, contending.

The insight that Nordqvist is getting by still being in the mix of the day-to-day gives her opportunities to see these players and their games in an intimate way. As a competitive captain, she's still living the same life as her players and the opposing American squad that will led by Angela Stanford.

"When I took on the captaincy role, like I was very content with and very proud to have done nine, so doing a tenth one didn't feel like it was going to change my life because my life perspective changed quite a bit the last couple years," Nordqvist explained after being asked about her decision to play or not.

"[A] couple of the girls have told me lately that I should consider it. Just hasn't really crossed my mind. I think it's hard to do both. But it's nice to see that I can show some good form."

She's seemingly brought the good vibes from Evian across the Channel to Scotland, where Nordqvist finds herself in the mix once more after a solid first round performance, a 2-under 70. She carded four birdies, and two bogeys to sit four shots back of leaders Jenny Shin and Lauren Coughlin.