Michelle Wie West and Annika Sorenstam are in the field, and there’s a chance this might be their last appearances.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – It’s finally here. For the first time in U.S. Women’s Open history, the best women in the world will tee it up at iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links. That it comes at a time when a fresh-faced Rose Zhang is enjoying a meteoric rise in the game is the cherry on top of a weeklong celebration.
The purse will be announced on Wednesday, but in 2022 the field played for a record $10 million with winner Minjee Lee receiving $1.8 million. Karrie Webb was the last player and eighth overall to successfully defend her title in 2000-2001. The last two defending champions have missed the cut the following year.
Michelle Wie West and Annika Sorenstam are among the dozen past champions in the field, and there’s a chance this might be their last appearance in the event. For more on two of the most popular players to ever play the game and more, read on:
The first time Patty Sheehan met Juli Inkster was in the 1970s at the California Women’s Amateur at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Back then, tournament founder Helen Lengfeld, a legend in California golf circles, handed each contestant a lucky penny when she checked in. Winners received a piece of silver from her personal collection. Sheehan and Inkster combined for three titles from 1977 to 1981 and cherished each memory made along American golf’s most iconic coast.
“It’s just the most spectacular place on the face of the earth,” said Sheehan, who always wanted to live somewhere along 17-Mile Drive but never felt that she could afford it.
The No. 7 hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. (Photo: Fred Vuich/USGA)
The first time NCAA champion Rachel Heck played Pebble Beach was on her first visit to Stanford. Her parents surprised her with a tee time for her 15th birthday.
“I legitimately shed tears on the 18th hole walking down that fairway,” said Heck. “It’s breathtaking. It’s more than you can imagine.”
This Fourth of July, the best women in the world will tee it up at Pebble Beach Golf Links for the first time at the 78th U.S. Women’s Open. It will mark the 14th USGA championship at Pebble.
LPGA founder Betty Jameson won the 1940 U.S. Women’s Amateur title at Pebble and Grace Lenczyk won there in 1948. But the best female professionals from all the over the world have never before had the chance to do what Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite, Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell and Gary Woodland have done over the past five decades – win a U.S. Open there.
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“It was a long time coming,” said Inkster, a two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion. “It’s such an iconic venue for golf, and for us to not have played there. … I just didn’t think that was right.”
Inkster, 63, played in what’s now the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as an amateur with PGA Tour pros Bob Mann and Barry Jaeckel. Contestants back then were given tee prizes, little mementos of Pebble filled with liqueur, and Inkster lost those cherished items in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
“That was when Bing Crosby had his clambake and women weren’t allowed,” said Inkster. “(Husband) Brian and my dad went, and they loved it.”
Two years ago, Inkster signed up for U.S. Women’s Open qualifying when the championship was being held at San Francisco’s’ Olympic Club for the first time. Inkster estimated that she’d played the course 50n times and said she would’ve been disappointed in herself if she didn’t try.
She did not, however, sign up for the 36-hole qualifier this year.
Sheehan, 66, said it will take a smart, patient player who understands what the ocean does to a golf ball to win at Pebble. It’s also important not to lose focus, she said, while gazing at the views.
“There’s not necessarily a religious feel to it,” said Sheehan, “but it’s almost like you feel like you’re in God’s country of golf.”
Juli Inkster holds the U.S. Women’s Open trophy after winning the 2002 U.S. Women’s Open Championship at Prarie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., July, 2002. (Copyright USGA/J.D. Cuban)
Friends Sheehan and Inkster, both San Jose State grads, met on a Monday at Oakmont Country Club for an 18-hole playoff at the 1992 U.S. Women’s Open. It was the first of Sheehan’s two U.S. Open titles.
Morgan Pressel, former LPGA player turned Golf Channel lead analyst, likes a game like Lydia Ko’s around Pebble. Ko recently moved to the Bay Area where husband Jun Chung works in finance for Hyundai.
“Just thinking about her success around greens with Poa annua, like Lake Merced,” said Pressel, “potentially cooler weather, very small greens that require a tremendous short game. She just keeps popping back.”
Judy Rankin has played Pebble Beach only one time, at a Team USA Olympic fundraiser the week before the 1992 U.S. Open. Rankin said it takes a certain kind of discipline to win at Pebble.
“I don’t think you’ll win at Pebble,” said Rankin, “if you’re kind of one who shoots from the hip.”
The pioneering Rankin worked the television broadcast in 1992 and remembers Nick Faldo changing clubs about eight times on the par-3 seventh because the wind was so fierce. Faldo doubled the hole, and Kite followed with that memorable chip-in that spurred him to victory.
Now the women will have a chance to add to that rich history.
“I really do think it is a nod to the fact that they have arrived both in a commercial sense,” said Rankin, “but they have arrived also in the way they play. Their games are just so extraordinarily good.”
1993: Patty Sheehan won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1992 and 1994, the LPGA Championship in 1995, and the Nabisco Dinah Shore (now known as the ANA Inspiration) in 1996. She finished in the Top 10 on the LPGA money list every year from 1982 to 1993.
Past champions will gather for a dinner on Monday night at Pebble for the first time since 2014. Players will stay at the Lodge there in the heart of it all, and those who aren’t in the field that week will have the chance to play Cypress Point on Tuesday.
Inkster, a NorCal native, has played Cypress several times and usually hits 3-wood on the famed par-3 16th.
“I’ve hit a bunch of drivers too,” she said, “and believe me, not all on the green, either.”
Sheehan plans to take selfies at the dinner and tour her wife and daughter and her daughter’s golf-crazed boyfriend around her favorite patch of earth.
The great champions of the game will talk about old memories and make plenty of new ones.
Like in 1975, when the heavens opened early at the Women’s Open at Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield, New Jersey, and Sandra Palmer hunkered down in a cabana on the range. She looked out and saw one person practicing in a rain suit, her caddie standing nearby with an umbrella. Palmer thought to herself, well, if she can do it, and grabbed her clubs.
“You’ll never guess in a million years who it was,” she said. “Patty Berg.”
Palmer went on to win that championship, beating JoAnne Carner, Nancy Lopez and Sandra Post by four strokes.
Those are the stories they’ll tell at Pebble Beach, while raising a glass to those like Berg, who won in 1946 and paved the way.
Soon after receiving the happy news, Amy Olson surveyed her friends on the LPGA to see how long they played while pregnant. The consensus: 28 to 30 weeks.
Olson will be 30 weeks pregnant when she competes at historic Pebble Beach Golf Links in the most anticipated U.S. Women’s Open since the men and women played in back-to-back weeks at Pinehurst No. 2 nine years ago.
Olson, who turns 31 on July 10, was six months pregnant when she qualified for the first women’s major ever held at Pebble Beach, taking medalist honors at the Minnesota qualifier with a 36-hole score of six-under 138.
“It’s one of those memories I’ll talk about forever,” said Olson of playing a major while pregnant, “and the fact that it’s at Pebble is really cool.
“The fact that there will be two of us walking down the fairway together, that’s pretty awesome.”
Olson’s only experience playing Pebble Beach so far came last winter on a simulator. The North Dakota native said she stopped by the resort with her college team once and again while on tour to experience the atmosphere of the 18th. The Women’s Open will be her last tournament before the baby arrives.
Olson led a rain-delayed Round 1 at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor when she was a junior in college. The 2009 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, who won an NCAA record 20 college titles at North Dakota State, said she had a carefree attitude back then and likely didn’t think much about it.
In 2020, Olson aced her way to another first-round lead at a December playing of the championship at Champions Golf Club. The week took a sorrowful turn, however, when Olson learned that her father-in-law Lee Olson, a tough West Point grad who had a soft spot for the women in his life, died unexpectedly on Saturday evening. Husband Grant flew home to be with his mother and brother and prepare for the funeral.
On Monday, a grief-stricken and gutsy Amy held the solo lead early on the back nine before being overtaken by A Lim Kim, who birdied the last three holes to win the crown jewel of women’s golf in her first attempt.
It marked the second time in Olson’s career that she’d finished tied for second in a major.
“I allowed myself to think about what I’m grateful for,” she said, tearing up after the final round. “And I’ve got a long list.”
Olson’s limited status this season has only gotten her into three events thus far and she played in two of them in June, missing the cut in each.
She did, however, make her seventh ace ahead of the Meijer LPGA in Michigan and then followed it up with an albatross two days later in the pro-am. While Olson said the baby was certainly bringing her some “serious golf mojo,” she noted that they needed to work their timing.
Heading into Pebble Beach, Olson said she was past the point of the extra body weight yielding any positive returns as her distance off the tee diminished.
A veteran of 34 major championships, Olson has played enough to know that length is key, so fairways will be an even bigger premium this week.
She also made adjustments to her setup on the greens, making sure that her right arm doesn’t run into her belly.
“I’m kind of going on a day-by-day, week-by-week strategy here,” Olson said.
Brittany Lincicome played the KPMG Women’s PGA while 30 weeks pregnant with her second daughter Sophia last summer at Congressional. She played 10 times total while pregnant that season, with her best finish, a T-6, coming at the ShopRite.
Stacy Lewis played the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open while four months pregnant with daughter Chesnee. At that point, she hadn’t lost any yardage or stamina. Her short game had actually improved.
Catriona Matthew, a 48-year-old mother of two, said loss of distance usually hits after the five-month mark.
“You just start hitting it nowhere,” Matthew, who famously won the Women’s British Open 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daugther, once said. “You’ve lost the speed. You don’t realize, I suppose, how much your body is working. You don’t think you should be tired, but you are.”
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Juli Inkster won four of her seven majors after becoming a mom. Kathy Cornelius won the 1956 U.S. Women’s Open after giving birth to her first daugther, Karen.
Susie Maxwell Berning, a 2022 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, is a four-time major winner and mother of two, who won two of her three U.S. Women’s Open titles after giving birth.
Seven-time major winner Inbee Park is currently on maternity leave as is 2020 Women’s British Open champion Sophia Popov and veteran Solheim Cup player Caroline Masson.
Olson, who has yet to win on the LPGA, isn’t sure what comes next after maternity leave. She’s never had more than one year of status at any point in her career, so taking it year-by-year isn’t anything new.
“Truly I like couldn’t tell you either way,” said Olson. “I want to see how it goes. I have been super, super blessed and thankful for everything I’ve been able to do out here. I love it, and I think I probably will never do what I’ve done over the last nine years, playing 25 weeks out of year.
“But will I ever come out again? Couldn’t tell you.”
Migliaccio will work as an on-course reporter when she’s not competing at Pebble Beach.
The U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach is going to be historic.
It’s the first time the best women in the world will tackle the famed links on the Monterey Peninsula. It’s one of the most anticipated U.S. Women’s Opens in ever.
For Emilia Migliaccio, it will be extra busy.
The recent national champion at Wake Forest is teeing it up at Pebble Beach Golf Links, but she will also sport a headset when she’s not battling the course. Migliaccio will work as an on-course reporter covering featured groups during the streaming window when she’s not playing.
Featured groups will be shown live from 11:50 a.m. ET and 5:35 p.m. ET on Peacock, uswomensopen.com, the USGA mobile app, the USGA streaming app for smart TVs as well as DirecTV. Peacock will also have coverage 4-6 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday.
Migliaccio is one of 28 amateurs teeing it up at Pebble Beach. This will be her third start at the U.S. Women’s Open. She missed the cut in her previous two attempts.
Jessica Korda’s indefinite break from competition now includes the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California as the six-time LPGA winner has withdrawn. The USGA reports that Korda is one of three fully exempt players to pull out of the competition along with Japan’s Mone Inami, No. 66 in the Rolex Rankings, and South Korea’s Hee Jeong Lim, No. 84.
The 30-year-old Korda has struggled with a back injury for some time now and said recently that she has reached a point where the pain is not improving, forcing her to withdraw from several events.
“As a competitor, it’s upsetting to have to do this time and time again,” Korda wrote on her social media accounts. “At the advice of my medical team, I have made the decision to stop playing until I can get my back fully healthy.”
A six-time winner on the LPGA, Korda last teed it up in May at the Cognizant Founders Cup, where she withdrew after a first-round 72. Her best finish this season in six starts is a share of 18th at the Dio Implant LPGA Open.
The U.S. Women’s Open Trophy as seen on the 18th hole of Pebble Beach Golf Links
in the Pebble Beach, Calif. on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. (Copyright USGA/Kip Evans)
Five players have since been added to the field of 156, with recent LPGA winners already in the field: Azahara Munoz, Moriya Jutanugarn, Allysha Mae Mateo, Jenny Coleman and Kumkang Park.
Coleman was the second alternate from the Atlanta qualifying site and got the call after Agathe Laisne declined the spot.
This year’s championship takes place July 6-9 and marks the first time the iconic track will play host to a women’s major. The cutoff date to qualify from the Rolex Rankings (top 75) is July 3. The winner of this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will earn a spot if not otherwise qualified.
Pebble Beach will host its first U.S. Women’s Open and 14th USGA championship in July.
U.S. Women’s Open qualifying tournaments stretched across 23 sites for the historic championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Entries for this year’s event crossed the 2,000 mark for the first time as 2,107 players applied.
Pebble Beach will host its first U.S. Women’s Open and 14th USGA championship July 6-9. Thirty-six hole qualifiers for the championship were held May 9 through June 7.
A number of college and amateur stars advanced as well as one former U.S. Women’s Open contender, who will be seven months pregnant when the championship is contested.
Pebble Beach Golf Links has previously hosted six U.S. Opens (1972, 1982, 1992, 2000, 2010, 2019), five U.S. Amateurs (1929, 1947, 1961, 1999, 2018) and two U.S. Women’s Amateurs (1940, 1948).
Here are a dozen noteworthy amateurs and professionals who advanced through qualifying:
The 2023 U.S. Women’s Open is going to be special.
For the first time in its history, Pebble Beach Golf Links is set to host a women’s major championship. The best women golfers in the world will soon be competing on the cliffs of the Monterey Peninsula, battling for the Harton S. Semple trophy.
Among those in the field will be Amy Olson.
Olson earned a spot by shooting a second-round 6-under 138 at a USGA qualifier at Somerset Country Club in Mendota Heights, Minnesota.
Sure, earning medalist honors with her performance is impressive, but doing so while six months pregnant brings the accomplishment to another level.
“I wanted a shot at it because it’s Pebble. That was the big motivation and it’ll be my last tournament before the baby comes, so it’s a good way to go out,” she told the Minnesota Golf Association.
— Minnesota Golf Association (@MNGolfAssn) May 23, 2023
In five major starts last season, Olson missed four cuts and tied for 60th at the U.S. Women’s Open. Her best finish in a major is a tie for second, which she’s done twice: the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2018 Evian Championship.
“Chevron, I think, was a little bit more of a wake-up call.”
It’s an off-week for the LPGA, but Lydia Ko joins Lexi Thompson and Jessica Korda in headlining the Ladies European Tour event this week — in Florida — for the latest installment of the Aramco Team Series at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The LPGA’s season-ending ADT Championship was held at Trump International for eight years.
This year’s total prize fund on the LET is a record-setting 35 million euros ($37M). There are once again six Saudi-backed events on the LET’s 2023 schedule, with the Aramco Team Series featuring five stops worldwide, each with a $1 million purse. The series began in Singapore last March.
Other Aramco stops include the Centurion Club in London next July, Hong Kong in October, and one final leg in Saudi Arabia Nov. 3-5 at Riyadh Golf Club. The events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
Ko began 2023 with a victory at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, which featured a $5 million purse, but has yet to contend this season on the LPGA. She missed the cut at the year’s first major, the Chevron Championship, and hasn’t finished inside the top 30 since February.
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Golfweek caught up with Ko ahead of the LET event to talk about her recent form, playing Pebble Beach Golf Links for the first time and how she fared caddying for husband Jun Chung on the U.S. Am Tour in Monterey, California, last month. Spoiler: She was “super proud.”
“I love Pebble, it’s one of my favorite places, so being able to go this year is just amazing.”
Former U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Gabriela Ruffels will make her third U.S. Women’s Open appearance this summer at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Ruffels, 23, currently leads the Epson Tour money list after winning her second event of the season earlier this month in record fashion.
The former USC star finished at 7 under over 36 holes to top the qualifying field on Monday at The Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Ruffels tied for 13th at the 2020 USWO.
“I love USGA events, especially at Pebble it’s going to be really historic and unique,” Ruffels told Golf Canada. “I love Pebble, it’s one of my favorite places, so being able to go this year is just amazing.”
After a competitive 36-holes, Gabriela Ruffels of Indian Wells, California and Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C. have earned direct exemptions into the 2023 U.S. Women’s Openhttps://t.co/80mkPuGV2x
Lauren Kim, 17, of Surrey, British Columbia, finished at 5 under to take the second spot. Both Kim and Ruffels competed at the Women’s Open at Pine Needles last year. Kim heads to the University of Texas in the fall.
A number of LPGA players teed it up at the Echo Lake qualifier in Westfield, New Jersey. LPGA winners Jenny Shin and Annie Park qualified, as did Haeji Kang and rookie Natthakritta Vongtaveelap.
— Georgia State Golf Association (@GSGA) May 16, 2023
In Georgia, it was an Alabama sweep at Druid Hills Golf Club as amateurs Sarah Edwards and Benedetta Moresco qualified. Edwards, a senior from Jay, Florida, won the qualifier with rounds of 69-68. Italy’s Moresco finished one shot back.
“I absolutely loved LACC. … It has great character, is very undulating … it’s stunning.”
Morgan Pressel made history when she first qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open at the tender age of 12. Her appearance at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club back in 2001 led to a significant increase in teens and pre-teens signing up for Women’s Open qualifying, forever changing the makeup of the championship.
Pressel, of course, went on to clinch a major championship title at age 18 when she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco (now the Chevron). After 16 seasons on the LPGA, the former prodigy shifted focus to her work in television. She’s now lead analyst for LPGA coverage on Golf Channel/NBC and adds the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club to her work schedule next month.
The USGA recently held back-to-back media days for the men’s and women’s U.S. Opens, and Pressel participated in both, teeing it up at LACC for the first time as well as Pebble Beach Golf Links, which hosts the Women’s Open for the first time in July. It’s also the first U.S. Open for the North Course at LACC.
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Golfweek was on hand for both media days and caught up with Pressel to talk about the significance of both venues and her key takeaways. The following are excerpts from that conversation:
