Getting a spot on the Solheim Cup is harder than expected, but Sarah Schmelzel was ready to give it her all. In February and March, the 30-year-old carded four back-to-back top 10s and was trending in almost all the LPGA Tour events. She wanted to rank better on the Solheim Cup standings, and thus Schmelzel did everything she could. However, an abrupt end to that streak followed. The LPGA Tour pro missed the cut in the next five of six events. What went wrong?

After missing the Chevron Championship cut, Schmelzel told the LPGA Tour that she was rushed to the hospital before the event started as an ovarian cyst had ruptured. She revealed she has endometriosis and has been dealing with it throughout her golf career. But not once had she been hospitalized; even after that, the pain did not go away. Although Schmelzel decided to compete, she missed the cut after shooting 75-76. And then things derailed.

Schmelzel told the LPGA Tour, “I totally lost my golf swing. I didn’t have any feel.” She was not doing well on or off the course because, with the disease, Schmelzel was also stressing about losing out on the Solheim Cup. She said, “I continued to try to play through it because I had gotten off to a good start, and I was trying to get Solheim points… I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get back to a performance state because I started missing cuts, and I didn’t know where the golf ball was going. It was hard to work through.” But with the help of her team and physio, Schmelzel overcame the ruptured cyst and the pain it caused.

However, the journey to make it to Team USA was not easy, and even though she was feeling much better after the endometriosis got serious, Schmelzel still missed out on securing a Solheim Cup spot through the rankings.

Sarah Schmelzel relives the stress of not making it to the Solheim Cup

After missing the cut at the US Women’s Open, Sarah Schmelzel’s dream of making it to the Solheim Cup was slipping away. She was 12th in the rankings and could not make the team from that position. Schmelzel geared up and, after a T30 at the Meijer LPGA Classic, she carded a T9 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. This finish catapulted her to 9th in the Solheim Cup standings, only two spots from securing a place.

However, she missed the cut at the Dow Championship, and a T44 finish pushed her to 10th in the rankings. Schmelzel did not miss any cuts after that and carded two more top 20s before the list was finalized with the AIG Women’s Open. She recounted those days and said, “There was a lot of pressure on those two weeks, maybe self-induced, but also just knowing the gravity of the situation, of I have two events before this team is finalized.” But it wasn’t enough; Schmelzel was still 11th on the points list and thought she might miss out on making her Solheim Cup debut.

In the end, Captain Stacy Lewis chose Schmelzel, and she could fulfill the goal she set at the start of the year. Schmelzel called the entire process a bit emotional and expressed, “This is a dream come true kind of a thing.”

Will Schmelzel continue her consistent form, fulfill her dream, and help Team USA defeat the Europeans at the Robert Trent Jones GC? It remains to be seen.