Seven Australasians tackle women golf’s greatest event
The major golf season continues this week with the staging of the greatest event in the female game, the US Women’s Open, to be held this year at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, just under an hour north and west of Milwaukee.
Now a favourite of the USGA, Erin Hills, at just 20 years of age, has already hosted a US Amateur and US Open (men’s) previously and is slated to stage further USGA events in the future.
The US Open for men was played there in 2017 and won by Brooks Koepka while in 2011 Kelly Kraft won the US Amateur Championship.
This week, six Australians and one New Zealander will tee it up in the event, which carries a purse of US$12 million, the richest in the female game.
Lydia Ko heads the group in terms of Rolex World Ranking, but Australia’s Minjee Lee is the only player amongst the group to have won the title previously, when she was successful in 2022 at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines in North Carolina.
Lee is one of three Australians to have won the US Women’s Open, the other two being Jan Stephenson and Karrie Webb the latter of whom won in consecutive years in 2000 and 2001.
Ko and Lee will be joined by Hannah Green, Grace Kim, Stephanie Kyriacou, Gabi Ruffels and West Australian Jennifer Elliot who, like Kim, managed to earn her way into the field via local and final qualifying.
A triumph this week would give Ko victories in four of the five LPGA majors, adding the U.S. Women’s Open to the Evian Championship, Chevron Championship and AIG Women’s Open. Only Karrie Webb, the last to successfully defend her title – has won five different LPGA majors.
Ko has played well this season winning the HSBC Women’s World Championship and has been 6th on two other occasions in just seven events to date in 2025.
Despite her amazing success at the elite level, Ko has recorded only two top tens in 13 starts at the US Women’s Open.
Lee is playing the event for the 12th occasion and on top of her win in 2022 she has only one other top ten when 9th last year. The West Australian has been consistent this year with three top tens this season and several other top twenty finishes although she has slipped outside the top 20 in the world.
Hannah Green is already a major champion having won the Women’s PGA Championship several years ago, but she has yet to record a top ten in this event despite not missing a cut in six attempts. She did play well early in the season on the LPGA Tour however and if she can find some of that form, she could well add a second major to her resume.
