The 1972 U.S. Women's Open was the 27th

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open is 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, Women's PGA Championship, ...

, held June 29 to July 2 at the East Course of

Winged Foot Golf Club Winged Foot Golf Club is a private golf club in the Northeastern United States, located in Mamaroneck, New York, a suburb northeast of New York City. The club was founded in 1921, by a group largely made up of members of The New York Athleti ...

Mamaroneck, New York Mamaroneck ( ), is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 31,758 at the 2020 United States census over 29,156 at the 2 ...

Susie Berning Suzanne Maxwell Berning (July 22, 1941 – October 2, 2024) was an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1964 and won four major championships and eleven LPGA Tour victories in all. She also competed under her mai ...

won the second of her three U.S. Women's Open titles, a stroke ahead of runners-up

Kathy Ahern Kathy Ahern (May 7, 1949 – July 6, 1996) was an American professional golfer on the LPGA Tour. Career Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ahern was raised in Dallas, Texas, and won the Texas women's public links title at age 15 She joined the L ...

, Pam Barnett, and

Judy Rankin Judy Rankin ( Torluemke; born February 18, 1945) is an American professional golfer and golf broadcaster. A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, she joined the LPGA Tour in 1962 at age 17 and won 26 tour events. From 2010 through 2022, Ranki ...

. Berning opened with a 79 (+7) and started the final round at 228 (+12), four strokes behind 54-hole leader Barnett. Berning carded a one-under 71 for the third of her four

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

wins. Defending champion

JoAnne Carner JoAnne Gunderson Carner (born April 4, 1939) is an American former professional golfer. Her 43 victories on the LPGA Tour led to her induction in the World Golf Hall of Fame. She is the only woman to have won the U.S. Girls' Junior, U.S. Women ...

finished at 312 (+24), thirteen strokes back. With a winner's share of $6,000, the 1972 edition was the first to exceed that of the inaugural championship in

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

, the only one conducted as a

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

event. The course conditions at Winged Foot were soft, affected by the recent heavy rains of tropical storm Agnes, originally a

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

. Two-time champion

Louise Suggs Mae Louise Suggs (September 7, 1923 – August 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf. Amateur career Born in Atlanta, Suggs had a very successful amateur career, beginnin ...

made the cut at age 48. The championship was previously held at the East Course in

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

; the adjacent West Course has hosted many major championships.

Final leaderboard

''Sunday, July 2, 1972'' Source:

References

External links

Golf Observer final leaderboardU.S. Women's Open Golf Championship
– past champions – 1972 {{coord, 40.958, N, 73.754, W, type:event, display=title U.S. Women's Open Golf tournaments in New York (state) Women's sports in New York (state) Mamaroneck, New York

U.S. Women's Open Golf U.S. Women's Open Golf U.S. Women's Open Golf