Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville will host the 2028 Solheim Cup, bringing the LPGA Tour back to Kentucky for the first time in more than 50 years. The September 8-10, 2028 event will feature 24 of the world's top women golfers, with Team USA looking to defend its edge over Team Europe.
The announcement, reported by WDRB, comes as 2026 U.S. captain Angela Stanford visited Valhalla on Monday ahead of this year's competition. Stanford, who has played in the Solheim Cup six times and served as an assistant captain three more, told WDRB that representing her country is the greatest event there is. She'll lead Team USA against Anna Nordqvist's European squad at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, Netherlands, September 11-13, according to Golf Channel.
A Half-Century Wait Ends
Kentucky's LPGA drought stretches back to the Bluegrass Invitational, an annual stop held at Hunting Creek Country Club in Prospect from 1965 to 1974 that drew Hall of Famers like Mickey Wright, Donna Caponi, and JoAnne Carner and was last played in 1974, according to Golf Compendium. The 2028 Solheim Cup will also be the first major women's championship ever held at Valhalla, a course that opened in 1986 under Jack Nicklaus's design and has otherwise built its reputation almost entirely on men's golf.
That resume includes four PGA Championships, the 2008 Ryder Cup, and two Senior PGA Championships in 2004 and 2011, per the Associated Press. With the Solheim Cup added to that list, Valhalla becomes only the fourth venue in golf history to host both a Ryder Cup and a Solheim Cup, joining The Greenbrier, Muirfield Village, and Gleneagles, according to the LPGA.
Local Owners Bet Big on Major Events
Valhalla's path to this milestone traces back to June 2022, when a local investor group led by ISCO Industries CEO Jimmy Kirchdorfer, along with David Novak, Junior Bridgeman, and Chester Musselman, bought the club from the PGA of America to keep it under Louisville ownership, as detailed by Sports Illustrated. The PGA of America had held full interest in the course since 2000. Since then, the ownership group has aggressively pursued high-profile tournaments to secure the venue's standing.
State lawmakers have backed that push. The Kentucky General Assembly passed House Bill 757 in April, creating a state sales tax exemption for on-site purchases during major golf events at Valhalla, a move reported by WHAS11.
What the Cup Could Mean for Louisville
The 2021 event was held in Toledo, Ohio. Tickets for the 2028 Valhalla matches won't go on sale until after this September's tournament wraps up in the Netherlands, per WDRB.
On the competitive side, Team USA enters the current cycle as the defending champion, according to Golf Channel. Qualification for the 12-player 2028 U.S. roster will run through a two-year points race starting next summer, with the top seven finishers on the U.S. points list, the top two players in the Rolex World Rankings not otherwise qualified, and three captain's picks rounding out the team, per the LPGA.
Valhalla's turn in the spotlight comes as the women's game has also arrived at Hazeltine. For Louisville, the 2028 matches represent the first time the city's premier golf venue will showcase women's championship golf on the same stage it has reserved for men's majors for nearly four decades.
