Lexi Thompson says being picked as one of three wildcards for the United States Solheim Cup team to face Europe next month “means the world” to her.

The 29-year-old is retiring from playing full time at the end of the year so will be making her seventh and final appearance in the biennial competition.

US captain Stacy Lewis said the decision to pick Thompson “was probably the easiest to make of these three”.

“She’s somebody who is going to help the team out a lot, on the golf course and also off,” Lewis added.

“With her experience, everybody on the team’s going to be watching what she does to try to learn from her.”

Thompson has won 12½ points from her 23 matches, including three from four in last year’s thrilling 14-14 draw in Spain that saw Europe retain the trophy.

“To be able to represent my country, it’s the highest honour that you can possibly have,” said Thompson, who turned professional at the age of 15 and won her only major four years later.

“To be there again this year, especially stateside, it’s a dream come true.”

Lewis has also selected Jennifer Kupcho and Sarah Schmelzel for the three-day matchplay competition, which is being held at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia from 13-15 September.

They join automatic qualifiers Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu, Lauren Coughlin, Ally Ewing, Allisen Corpuz, Megan Khang, Andrea Lee, Rose Zhang and Alison Lee in a 12-strong team.

Europe finalised its team on Monday, with captain Suzann Pettersen selecting experienced trio Georgia Hall, Anna Nordqvist and Emily Pedersen, alongside Swiss debutant Albane Valenzuela, as her wildcard picks.

England’s Charley Hull and Esther Henseleit of Germany topped the Ladies European Tour (LET) Solheim Cup points list to confirm their places, while Ireland’s Leona Maguire, France’s Celine Boutier, Carlota Ciganda of Spain and Swedish trio Maja Stark, Linn Grant and Madelene Sagstrom qualified through their world rankings.

Europe go into the 19th staging of the event looking to retain the trophy they have held since winning at Gleneagles, Scotland in 2019. A second away victory followed in Toledo, Ohio in 2021 before last year’s tied match.

Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard finished two shots clear on 16 under overall to win the British Masters at The Belfry.

The 32-year-old carded a level-par round of 72 to secure his first DP World Tour title, with South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence two strokes adrift in second.

Norgaard’s compatriot Rasmus Hojgaard charged up the leaderboard with a seven-under-par 65 to take third overall on 12 under.

Matt Wallace was the highest-placed home golfer in eighth, four shots further back, while Tyrrell Hatton signed for a disappointing two-over 74 to end in a tie for 18th on four under.

“You have no idea how much it means,” Norgaard said. “I’ve been dreaming of this since I was 10 years old.

“I’ve had kind of a long career, just moving slowly ahead and every year getting a little bit better. I’ve never won on the Challenge Tour, nothing like that, so to win here for a first win I feel very good.

“I was trying not to think about it too much but this morning I almost threw up at breakfast, I was just so nervous.”

Norgaard becomes the third Dane to win the British Masters after Thomas Bjorn in 2005 and Thorbjorn Olesen in 2022.

Asked about winning the first Ryder Cup qualifying event, Norgaard added: “I didn’t even know. That’s a good start.

“It’s the ultimate goal for sure, but I’ve just been thinking so much about getting into the final event of the season this year. Getting into the top 50 [on the Race to Dubai] has been on my radar so I think this should secure it now.”

Asked how many tournaments is too many in one year, McIlroy replied: “27. I’m usually sort of like a 22 sort of person. But again, that was when I was sort of in my 20s and didn’t have the responsibilities that I do now.

“I’m going to try to cut it back to like 18 or 20 a year going forward, I think.”

The world number three still has a number of tournaments left to take part in during the remainder of the year, including next week’s Irish Open at Royal County Down and the Alfred Dunhill Links at St Andrews in October.

“My season is not over, obviously. I’ve still got five events left to play,” he said.

“But yeah, it’s been, I feel like the tournaments came thick and fast, and obviously with the Olympics thrown in there, as well, this year, it sort of condensed everything a bit.”

Scottie Scheffler underlined his status as the world’s number one golfer with a dominant victory at the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta.

It caps a remarkable 2024 for the American who has won an Olympic gold medal, his second Masters and become the first to land successive Players Championship titles.

He is the first player since Tiger Woods in 2007 to win seven events in a PGA Tour season.

Scheffler, who started the final round with a five-shot lead over Collin Morikawa, shot a four-under 67 to win on 30 under and collect $25m (£19m) of the $100m prize fund.

He was four clear of Morikawa, who hit a 66, with another American, Sahith Theegala, in third on 24 under after a 64.

For a third successive year, Scheffler began the week on 10 under par as the leader of the FedEx Cup standings, two clear of Xander Schauffele in second, with Morikawa among a group on four under in the staggered start.

And he stayed ahead through the first three rounds to set up what looked like a straightforward final round.

His five-shot lead was six after Morikawa bogeyed the first hole.

However, Scheffler made uncharacteristic errors as he recorded successive bogeys on the seventh and eighth holes that allowed Morikawa, who birdied the fourth, sixth and eighth holes, to close to within two.

A wayward drive left Scheffler hacking out from underneath a conifer tree down the left of the seventh, while he mis-hit a greenside bunker shot on the eighth that squirted out right and ended up further away from the hole.

“I was a bit frustrated because it was quite a basic shot, but I’ve shanked it from a similar lie before,” he said.

“Ted [Scott, Scheffler’s caddie] did a good job of helping me reset. He gave me a nice pep talk there on the back of the eighth green because I looked at him like, ‘man, I don’t know about this, this isn’t looking so hot right now’.

“He gave me a little pep talk and then I was able to hit a really nice iron shot in there [on nine] and got things rolling.

“He really is a huge part of the team. I don’t know if I’d be able to do any of this without him on my bag.

“And then I did some really nice stuff to finish this tournament off.”

That “nice stuff” started on the ninth hole with a birdie, and two more followed on the 10th and 11th as Scheffler surged four clear.

Morikawa responded with a birdie on the 13th, but Scheffler drained a 15-foot eagle putt on the next to re-establish his five-shot lead, and he parred his way home to secure his first FedEx Cup title.

“Nothing fazes him,” said Morikawa, who collected $12.5m for finishing runner-up.

“Whether I was gaining some ground or he was gaining ground, it didn’t change how he walked or how he played or how he went through every shot.

“That’s something to learn. His mental game is a lot stronger than a lot of people know.”

Sunday’s prize money takes Scheffler’s official earnings for the season to around $54m and he has broken the PGA Tour record in that respect for a third season in a row.

It has also been quite the year off the course for Scheffler, who became a father for the first time in May and then just days later was arrested on the morning of the second round of the US PGA Championship for an alleged traffic offence as he arrived at the course.

He was taken to the police station and charged with assaulting a police officer but made it back to the course in time to play. All charges were later dropped.

“I feel like I’ve lived almost a full lifetime in this one year,” said Scheffler “It’s been nuts.”

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy finished the best of the UK golfers. He started the week level with Morikawa on four under and closed with a five-under 66 to end joint ninth on 16 under.

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre had six birdies on his back nine as he shot a 64 to end 11 under, one ahead of Tommy Fleetwood who sneaked into the top 20 with a 67.

Fleetwood’s fellow Englishman Aaron Rai, who won his first PGA Tour title in August, hit a closing 70 for a total of six under.