MAINEVILLE, Ohio — Last week’s Solheim Cup was a lifelong dream realized for Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela. She made her debut appearance in the biennial team competition at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, becoming the first player from her home country to ever compete in the Solheim Cup.

And while many of her fellow Solheim Cup participants in the field this week at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G are dragging a bit, the 26-year-old has felt reinvigorated after her team-play experience, energy that is showing through three rounds at TPC River’s Bend.

“The crowds on Sunday were crazy,” Valenzuela said. “I was definitely a little bit tired of hearing USA all the way. I'm excited to go to Europe next week. But it was awesome. I think it actually energized me a ton. I had an outing on Monday so that was a little bit of a toll for early in the week, but overall, I feel great. It's been so fun playing in Solheim. I think it just made me love what I do even more. It's such a great job to have. I feel very fortunate.”

The 2024 Solheim Cup rookie played in two matches last week, losing her foursomes match alongside Celine Boutier 3 and 2 to Lauren Coughlin and Rose Zhang on Friday and then halving her match with Lilia Vu on Sunday to earn a half-point for the Blue and Yellow. Even though she didn’t play in three of the matches, it was a confidence boost for Valenzuela to even make the European Team in the first place, one that has translated to this week in Maineville, Ohio.

The Stanford University alum got off to a quiet start at the Queen City Championship, carding a 2-under 70 on Thursday after making one bogey and three birdies at TPC River’s Bend. She turned up the heat on Friday, firing a near-perfect 6-under 66 with one bogey, three birdies and two eagles on the par-5 6th and par-5 8th holes on her scorecard, a second-round effort that moved Valenzuela from a tie for 35th into a tie for eighth with 36 holes to play.

Saturday in Greater Cincinnati saw Valenzuela grab a birdie almost immediately on the par-4 2nd hole to move to 9-under, but she erased that early effort with a bogey on four. After parring five and six, the Swiss picked up a pair of back-to-back birdies on the par-3 7th and par-5 8th holes to climb to 10-under.

Valenzuela then struck again with a birdie on 11, collecting her fifth and final birdie of the third round on the par-4 13th hole, parring in to post a 68 and move into a share of fourth alongside two-time LPGA Tour winner Haeran Ryu at 12-under overall.

“I feel like I've been hitting the ball pretty well the last few days,” said Valenzuela. “The last few months, I feel like my driver has been pretty solid. I hit some good iron shots. I wasn't able to convert all the putts but still made a few here and there. I just tried to capitalize on the fact I could get shorter clubs into par 5s. Overall, happy with 68.”

This is Valenzuela’s second start in the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, and it’s her 18th event of the 2024 LPGA Tour season. In her 17 previous tournaments this year, the 26-year-old has earned five top-20 finishes, results that include a solo second at the Honda LPGA Thailand and a tie for 20th showing at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.

A victory has continued to elude Valenzuela over her last five seasons as an LPGA Tour member, and it’s a goal that she would love to check off her professional golf bucket list this year now that she has played in her first Solheim Cup. She is within five of the lead entering the final round for the fourth time this season and will be working to capitalize on as many birdie opportunities as she can during the final round at TPC River’s Bend in an effort to chase down the leaders and hoist her first LPGA Tour trophy on Sunday in Ohio.

“I’m trying to make birdies, right?” said Valenzuela. “There are a lot of birdie opportunities and girls go low, so I'm just trying to make as many as I can. If it's one, if it's 10, who knows? It's golf. You can't control the variables. All I can do is stick to my process, my routine, and try my best.”

And even if she doesn’t manage to track down 54-hole leader Jeeno Thitikul in the final round, Valenzuela will still have plenty of positives to glean from both this week at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G and last week’s Solheim Cup to bolster her self-belief as she looks ahead to the rest of the 2024 season on the LPGA Tour.

Albane Valenzuela Vaults Into Top Five After Moving Day at TPC River’s Bend

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