The U.S. Women's Open, one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the

Chevron Championship The Chevron Championship is a professional women's golf tournament. An event on the LPGA Tour, it is one of the tour's five major championships, and has traditionally been the first of the season since its elevation to major status in 1983. Fou ...

, Women's PGA Championship, Women's Open Championship, and The Evian Championship. Established in

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

, the U.S. Women's Open is the only event to have been recognized as a major by the LPGA since the group's founding in 1950. Originally operated by the Women's Professional Golfers Association (WPGA) for its first three years and the LPGA for the next four, it became a USGA event in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

. Since 2018, the tournament has normally been held the week after Memorial Day. The U.S. Women's Open is the second major of the LPGA season and has the highest purse in women's golf. The most recent increase, announced in January 2022, saw the purse nearly double from its previous $5.5 million (

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

–

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

) to $10 million starting in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

. The 2022 purse increase came about when the nonprofit health care company ProMedica was announced as the tournament's presenting sponsor. For 2020, it was the final major of the year and be held for the first time over two courses, as it was postponed to December, due to the COVID-19 pandemic that postponed golf tournaments from March through June. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, international players outnumbered Americans for the first time. The

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

tournament was won South Korean Inbee Park, who became the event's youngest winner ever at age 19 years, 11 months, 17 days. In 2021, Yuka Saso matched Park as the youngest winner ever. Since

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, the U.S. Women's Open has normally been held prior to its men's counterpart (rather than following it and the U.S. Senior Open). When announcing this schedule change, the USGA stated that it would "provide optimum playing conditions for the world's best players across a broader variety of the country's finest golf courses." The playoff format was modified in 2018, reduced from three to two aggregate holes, followed by

sudden death Sudden Death or Sudden death may refer to: Medical * Cardiac arrest, also known as sudden cardiac death, natural death from cardiac causes * Sudden cardiac death of athletes * Sudden infant death syndrome * Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy * ...

. The last 18-hole playoff was in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

; the three-hole playoff was introduced the following year and used in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Qualification

The U.S. Women's Open is open to any professional or amateur female golfer. Amateurs must have an up-to-date USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 2.4, lowered in 2014 from 4.4 in 2013. Players may obtain a place by being exempt or by competing successfully in qualifying. In 2002, a two-stage method of qualification was introduced: 18 holes for local qualifying and 36 holes for sectional qualifying. In 2010, the qualification process reverted to a single sectional stage of 36 holes played on a single day. The criteria for exemption from qualifying has changed through the years. In 2010, there were eleven exemption categories, including winners of the U.S. Women's Open for the last ten years, winners of the other three majors for the last five years, the top 50 from the previous year's LPGA Tour money list, the top five from the previous year's Japan LPGA Tour, Korea LPGA Tour, and Ladies European Tour money lists, and official winners of LPGA co-sponsored events for the 52-week period prior to the U.S. Women's Open. There is no upper or lower age limit. The youngest-ever qualifiers were 11-year-old Lucy Li in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, and 12-year-old

Lexi Thompson Alexis Noel Thompson (born February 10, 1995) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 12, she was the youngest golfer ever to qualify to play in the U.S. Women's Open. She turned professional in June 2010 at age 15. ...

. Winners of major amateur tournaments are also exempt. Currently, winners of the U.S. Girls' Junior, and

U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur The U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur is one of thirteen United States Golf Association national championships. First played in 1987, it provides amateur women over the age of 25 an opportunity to compete for a national championship. Entrants must have a ...

and the finalist of the

U.S. Women's Amateur The U.S. Women's Amateur is the leading golf tournament in the United States for female amateur golfers. It is played annually and is one of the 13 United States national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association (USGA). F ...

(all USGA events) are exempt provided they did not turn professional beforehand. Winners of the Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship will qualify effective with the inaugural tournament in 2019. The

champion is exempt, regardless of turning professional between the Women's Amateur and the U.S. Women's Open as a result of an August 2019 rule change by the USGA.

Winners

The number following some winners' names indicates the cumulative number of U.S. Women's Open wins for that player. (a) =

Amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

† = Won 5 and 4 over

Betty Jameson Elizabeth May Jameson (May 9, 1919 – February 7, 2009) was an American professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1950. She won three major championships and a total of thi ...

in 36-hole match play final

Multiple champions

This table lists the golfers who have won more than one U.S. Women's Open. The defending champion has retained the title on seven occasions, most recently in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

: :*2001 - Karrie Webb :*1996 - Annika Sörenstam :*1990 - Betsy King :*1978 - Hollis Stacy :*1973 - Susie Berning :*1970 - Donna Caponi :*1959 - Mickey Wright Through 2022, three consecutive championships has not been achieved.

Future sites

*Oakmont Country Club is also slated to host in 2038. *Pebble Beach Golf Links is also slated to host in 2040 and 2048. *Oakland Hills Country Club is also slated to host in 2042. *Merion Country Club is also slated to host in 2046. Source:

References

External links