Jeongeun Lee6 survived a late wobble to win the US Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston.
The South Korean, who began the day two shots behind joint overnight leaders Celine Boutier and Yu Liu, carded a final-round 70 to win by one.
Lee finished bogey-par-bogey but Boutier was unable to get the birdie on the last she needed to take proceedings to a play-off. It meant Lee6, clinched her first win on the LPGA Tour.
And that’s your lot ... though a lovely wrap-up report will follow in due course. Congratulations to Jeongeun Lee6, commiserations to Celine Boutier, and thanks to you, dear reader, for joining us here. Next up, the Women’s PGA at Hazeltime in three weeks ... and don’t forget to join us for the men’s US Open on June 13. See you then!
Jeongeun Lee6, the 2019 US Open champion, speaks! “I felt pretty nervous on 16, 17 and 18. I know I made two bogeys but I tried the best I could. All my shots were pretty good. I was calm because I knew I could play well. Throughout the year I couldn’t imagine coming this far. I feel proud and I worked so hard.” That was a genuinely sweet interview, because towards the end, Lee6 broke down in tears of happiness ... and that set her translator off too! “I’m sorry,” she paused, “I’m just really proud of her!” That’s a lovely moment, one sure to become a part of this grand old tournament’s rich legend.
Jeongeun Lee6 was certainly No1 today. Having stepped on the gas after the turn to take the lead, the young South Korean never gave it up, despite that late wobble. That’s thanks to the cushion she’d built up by playing some sensational golf. She’s the deserved victor. And so to the prize-giving ceremony. First up, Gina Kim of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who is awarded with the medal for low amateur. Then the gold winner’s medal is hung around Lee6’s neck, and she’s handed the famous old pot!
So here’s how the 74th US Women’s Open ended up.
-6: Jeongeun Lee6
-4: Angel Yin, Ryu So-yeon, Lexi Thompson
-3: Gerina Piller, Mamiko Higa, Jaye Marie Green, Celine Boutier, Yu Liu
-2: Ally McDonald, Jessica Korda
Boutier chips up gamely from the swale down the side of 18. She’s left with a four foot bogey putt ... and it lips out. A double bogey to start, and another to finish. Her flat stick has really let her down today. A miserable 75, and she looks so deflated. Poor Boutier, who will see that missed putt on 16 when she closes her eyes tonight. She drops out of second into a tie for fifth. Her playing partner and former Duke team-mate Liu ends with a 75 as well, both of the third-round leaders having started abysmally, unable to claw it back.
A broad smile spreads across Lee6’s face. Then suddenly emotions take over, as she doubles over, as if in pain, then dissolves into the happiest tears. She’s soon back up and smiling again ... and covered in champagne! She’s embraced by her compatriot Ryu So-yeon, before nipping into the clubhouse, presumably to mop up all that sticky booze.
Boutier’s got a perfect lie in the bunker, and plenty of green to play with. But her splash out is awful, only just making it onto the dancefloor, then curling off down the swale to the right. Jeongeun Lee6 is the 2019 US Open champion!
Boutier has birdied this hole twice already this week. So it should hold fewer fears for her than the rest of the field. But pressure does funny things. She pushes her approach into the bunker to the right of the green, and so she’ll need to Birdie Kim it from the sand if she’s to force a play-off. Lee6 so close now.
Boutier crashes a drive down the middle of 18. Prime position to become only the third player today to make a birdie on this fiendish closing hole. The tension at the Charleston is palpable.
Here’s Boutier on 17 with a 30-foot birdie attempt. It’s never going in, always staying on the high side, but that’s a par. She’ll need to birdie the last to force a play-off. Liu’s race is run with bogey at 17; she’s -3. Up on 18, Thompson shows Boutier the way by nearly slamdunking her second into the cup for eagle. That’s a birdie, though, only the second all day at 18! She ends the week at -4. Meanwhile Green finishes with a 74, a disappointing end to an otherwise fine week’s work. She’s -3.
Boutier’s tee shot at 17 finds the centre of the green, but it’s not particularly close. She looks gutted, presumably of the mind that she’s thrown away her chance at the last hole. But events on 18 may cheer her up a little, because Lee6 can’t make her par putt. She’s stumbled home after looking so impressive all afternoon, dropping two strokes in the last three holes. But she’s still in the lead, and only two players can stop her. Not an ideal finish - bogey-par-bogey - but there are worse places to be in.
-6: Lee6 (F)
-5: Boutier (16)
-4: Yin (F), Ryu (F), Liu (16)
Boutier’s only three feet from the cup at 16 ... and she shoves her short birdie putt, the ball horseshoeing out. Just a par. Those early-round putting woes are back with a vengeance. The gap at the top is still two, though Lee6 has plenty to do to save her par at 18 ... and her chip up isn’t great, but it isn’t bad either. A little bit short and eight feet to the right of the cup. A real test to finish. Then again, winning the US Open isn’t supposed to be easy.
Lee6 does indeed get a free drop. But she’s still dropping into the thick rough, and her ball sits right down in the cabbage. She’s 161 yards from the hole, and doesn’t look too confident, happy to take full instruction from her caddie. She lashes out and sends her ball greenwards ... but it stops just short of the fairway. Another test to get up and down for par, her third in a row. The nerves have certainly kicked in on this closing stretch.
Lee6’s drive at 18 bounds over a bunker down the left of the fairway, and plunges into deep rough. Much may depend on the lie. And she doesn’t have a good one. But her stance may be impeded by a nearby drain cover, so she’ll be having a word with the match referee I’ll be bound. Especially as Boutier has just creamed her second at 16 to a couple of feet. That’s quite wonderful, and this tournament is back in the balance!
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Lee6 has left herself a puzzle of a putt. Downhill and with the grain, then uphill and against it. There’s a fair bit of left-to-right movement as well. What she’d give for a two-putt par. But she nearly drains it! A couple of joules of energy less, and that would have dropped, but it horseshoes out. She’s left with a three footer - a tricky little one under the circumstances - and it’s calmly converted. That’s a superb par. Boutier meanwhile can’t make her birdie putt on 15, so the gap remains at two. Liu nearly joined her at -5 but her birdie putt died to the left one turn short.
-7: Lee6 (17)
-5: Boutier (15)
-4: Yin (F), Ryu (F), Green (15), Liu (15)
A 7-iron for Lee6 at the 157-yard par-three 17th. She pulls it, and though it finds the green, she’s left herself a long two putts for par. Meanwhile back on 15, Boutier’s third is nothing better than average, and she’s left facing a good 25 feet for the birdie she desperately requires.
Lee6 chips up to six feet on 16, but her par putt slips by. That’s her first bogey since the opening hole, all down to that poorly judged approach shot. The lead at the top is now just two, with second-placed Boutier in prime position down the par-five 15th after two straight ones. If she birdies that, the pressure is really on Lee6, who hasn’t got a tour victory, never mind a major, to her name yet. Will doubts creep in?
-7: Lee6 (16)
-5: Boutier (14)
-4: Yin (F), Ryu (F), Green (15), Liu (14)
Pars for Thompson and Green on the par-five 15th. At -4 and -3, their slim chances are pretty much gone, unless we’re about to witness something very dramatic. Meanwhile Ryu So-yeon signs for a final round of 71. The 2011 champion ends the week at -4.
A rare mistake by the leader. Lee6, sending a wedge into 16 from 120 yards, leaves herself well short, and the ball topples off the false front and rolls back down the fairway, 9th-at-Augusta style. A testing up and down coming up. And a test of her nerves. Elsewhere, it’s a three-putt bogey for Jessica Korda on 16. She’s -3. And Yu Liu bogeys 14, the result of a poor approach and underhit putt; she’s -4.
Green can’t make the par save on 14. That might be her race run, because Lee6 wedges delightfully to five feet at 15, and makes a precious birdie that gives her a big cushion at the top.
-8: Lee6 (15)
-5: Boutier (13), Liu (13)
-4: Yin (F), Ryu (17), J Korda (15), Green (14)
-3: Piller (F), Thompson (14)
Green elects to putt up again ... and this time she underhits it. She’s left with another test from eight feet. Meanwhile a stroke of luck for Lee6 on 15, as she sends her second, a fairway wood, a little off line, towards the bunkers to the right of the fairway. But her ball takes a bounce back in, and she ends up on the short stuff. A sign that this is going to be her day?
Another poor wedge in from Green. This time it’s after a perfect drive at 14, her ball disappearing down a slope to the left. Thompson finds the dancefloor, though, despite sending her drive into the thick stuff down the right. Par for the big-hitting Jessica Korda at 15; she really needed something there. She remains at -4.
Thompson’s second into 13 falls off the back of the green. Three putts coming back, and her hopes of a first US Open look gone for another year. She’s -3. But Green makes her par saver, and stays within two of Lee6, who can’t make her birdie putt on 14. Meanwhile Jessica Korda is back up to -4, where she started, after clipping her second at 14 to kick-in distance.
-7: Lee6 (14)
-5: Green (12), Boutier (12), Liu (12)
Lee6 wedges straight at the flag from prime position in the centre of the 14th fairway. It’s a bit short, and her ball threatens to topple backwards off the green’s false front, but it hangs on and she’ll have a look at birdie from 15 feet. The 23-year-old tour rookie isn’t showing any nerves yet ... unlike Green, who sends an appalling wedge into 13 from 120 yards, miles from the flag. Her long birdie putt ends up six feet wide; she’s faced with a tester she’ll really need to make if she’s to keep any pressure on the leader.
Birdie for Ryu So-yeon, who very nearly eagles 15 after knocking her second to 15 feet. The putt dies off to the left and it’s just a birdie. She’s -4 and the two-time major winner will be ruing that double bogey on the opening hole. Meanwhile a miserable finish for Charley Hull, who double-bogeys the long 18th, all her good work mid-round undone. A 72 and she finishes level par for the championship. The difference between a top-ten and top-20 finish.
A dropped shot for Celine Boutier at 11, the result of sending her tee shot long, then failing to hit the uphill 12-footer she’d left herself. She’s -5. Meanwhile Jaye Marie Green’s second into 12 topples off the left-hand side of the green and down a swale. She’s left with a tricky up and down to save her par. Out comes the putter, and she flies he ball up the hill and ten feet past. She can’t make the one coming back, and suddenly a gap’s developed at the top!
-7: Lee6 (13)
-5: Green (12), Boutier (11), Liu (11)
Jeongeun Lee6 is making her move! A wedge from 100 yards at 12 to four feet, and in goes the putt. That’s back-to-back birdies for the player whose fan club back home in Korea is called Lucky 6. She’s already got top-ten finishes under her belt at the Evian, the US Open and the ANA. This could be Lucky 6’s lucky week, because currently Lee6 is No1.
-7: Lee6 (12)
-6: Green (11), Boutier (10)
-5: Liu (10)
Green is one dimple away from rolling in a monster birdie putt on the par-three 11th. She stays in a tie for the lead at -6. But her partner Thompson drops a stroke, the result of finding the bunker to the left of the green. Shortsided, and with the ground sloping away viciously, she does extremely well just to hold the green. It’s a hell of a bunker shot. But she’s left with a 25-footer coming back, and her ball shaves the hole. She’s -4.
A stunning up-and-down by the co-leader Celine Boutier on 10. She’s long and right, down the swale, and faced with a tight lie under some hanging branches. So she bundles her chip into the face of the bank, taking much of the sting out of the shot, and rolling her ball to six feet. In goes the par saver, and that’ll feel like a birdie. She remains at -6.
Lee6 is going round with Mamiko Higa, who is in the process of carding a final round as bad as her opening round of 65 was superb. The Japanese debutant has already bogeyed 3, 6, 8 and 10, and now she’s yipped a tiddler at 11, having hit a tee shot that made Lee6’s aforementioned effort look distinctly average. What a miss. But when it’s not your day, it’s not your day.
Thompson makes a par at 10 that feels like a birdie. Out of position from the tee, she ends up facing a nervy ten-footer to scramble par. In it goes, and that’s two momentum-saving putts in a row. She remains a shot off the leaders, whose number now include Jeongeun Lee6, the South Korean rookie having caressed a 7-iron to six feet at the par-three 11th. This tournament is really hotting up!
-6: Lee6 (11), Green (10), Boutier (9)
-5: Thompson (10), Liu (9)
-4: Yin (F)
-3: Piller (F), Ryu (13), J Korda (11)
Angel Yin finds the 18th green in two big strokes. She started the day six back, and if she ends up winning this, it’ll be a US Open record. With that in mind, she gives a long birdie putt plenty of oomph - no point dying wondering - and leaves herself a little five-foot tester coming back. And she can’t make it. She gave that a bit too much, too. Hey, it’s better than leaving them short. Such a shame, her first and only birdie of the day at the very last. It’s still a brilliant 68, but though she’s the new clubhouse leader at -4, chances are she’ll come up short.
Liu prods gingerly at her eagle putt, and it’s always dying on the low side. Such a shame. But a kick-in birdie isn’t to be sniffed at. She moves to -5, repairing more of that early damage. Par for Boutier. Meanwhile Jeongeun Lee6 - so called because there are five other players on the Korean tour with the same name - has one of those is-it-good-or-bad-luck moments at 11. She’s over the back of 10, and sends her chip trundling straight at the flag. It hits the stick but fails to drop, stopping just beside the hole. But she’ll make her par, and that would have gone sailing 20 feet past had it not hit the stick. So it’s swings and roundabouts. She stays one off the lead at -5.
If Green’s second into 9 was good, Liu’s is simply sensational! She draws back her fairway wood and gives the ball a smooth skelp from 272 yards. Arrowed straight at the flag, it ends up ten feet past, and she’ll have a great look at eagle! Good luck guessing which way this tournament is going to go, because after all that early nonsense, the best players in the world are beginning to play their shots. Coming up, ladies and gentlemen: major championship golf, Sunday, the back nine!
Thompson is faced with a monster putt up the 9th. The best part of 100 feet. Her pace is almost perfect, her direction less so, the ball breaking a good 12 feet to the left of the hole. But she knocks in the birdie putt. That took moxie, because she’d just witnessed Green’s eagle effort shaving the left of the cup. Green shows a little frustration at not converting after that stunning second shot, but she’ll take the birdie that gives her a share of the lead. Both players seem pretty happy as they swan off to the 10th. Meanwhile Yin nearly drains a long one on 17 but will have to settle for par to remain one off.
-6: Green (9), Boutier (8)
-5: Yin (17), Lee6 (9), Thompson (9)
-4: Liu (8)
Gerina Piller has missed her fair share of short putts since the turn. But she makes missable par savers on 17 and 18, and she’s signing for a very fine 68. It won’t be enough to win, but she’s the clubhouse leader right now.
-6: Boutier (8)
-5: Yin (16), Lee6 (9), Green (8)
-4: Thompson (8), Liu (8)
-3: Piller (F), Korda (9), Higa (9)
Jaye Marie Green sends a pearler of a 3-wood into the heart of the par-five 9th. It’s one of the shots of the day, rolling serenely onto the putting surface, past the pin, then curling back towards the cup off the backstop. She’ll have a look at eagle from 15 feet or so. Lexi Thompson is between clubs, so opts for 4-iron and only just makes the front of the green. But birdie is on.
Angel Yin drains a 35-footer on 16 to get to within one stroke of the lead! She’s currently putting together a flawless four-under round, and the score she could end up posting would ask several testing questions of the jittery folk making up the final few groups. Meanwhile it’s a 72 for Ariya Jutanugarn, who ends the defence of her title At +2. She’ll always have Shoal Creek.
Jessica Korda finds herself in a bunker guarding the par-five 9th. She can only flop out weakly into another bunker just in front. She hammers the sand in anger, but cools her boots quickly, splashing the second bunker shot out to 15 feet, a decent result from a very difficult lie. But she can’t make the par saver, and that’s a costly six on a hole that’s been giving up birdies today. She’s -3. Meanwhile Thompson and Green both go very close to birdie at 8, but stay at -4 and -5 respectively.
Putts are beginning to drop! Birdie for Lexi Thompson at 7. She’s a little unlucky with her approach, which looks good for a minute but takes a big hard bounce through the green. But no matter, because she sends a putt from the fringe straight into the cup. She’s -4 again. Birdie for the ANA Inspiration champ Ko Jin-young, and she’s -3. That’s a fine response to yipping a short birdie putt on 9. A third birdie of the day for the big-hitting Angel Yin at 15; she’s suddenly in the mix at -4. But bogey for Green at 5, and now Boutier has the sole ownership of the lead. This is going to chop and change all afternoon, isn’t it.
-6: Boutier (6)
-5: Lee6 (8), Green (7)
-4: Yin (15), Korda (8), Thompson (7), Liu (6)
-3: Piller (16), Ko (10), Madsen (9), Higa (8)
Liu’s tee shot at the par-three 6th topples down the bank to the right. A heavy-handed chip up costs her another shot. She’s back to -4. But her playing partner - and former title-winning team-mate at Duke University - Boutier rolls in a 15-footer for birdie. Reward for a lovely 5-iron in! She’s turned this around magnificently after a dreadful start, and grabs back a share of the lead.
-6: Green (6), Boutier (6)
-5: Lee6 (7)
-4: J Korda (8), Higa (7), Liu (6)
Gerina Piller will be cursing her putter. For the third hole in a row, she misses a putt from less than ten feet. The last two were for par, this one at 15 was for birdie. She remains at -3, two off.
-6: Green (6)
-5: Lee6 (7), Boutier (5), Liu (5)
-4: J Korda (7), Higa (7)
-3: Piller (15), Yin (14), Thompson (6)
Are the final pair turning it around? Celine Boutier finds greenside sand at the par-five 5th in two, then splashes a long bunker shot to two feet. Birdie. Yu Liu makes birdie too, and the pair are back to -5, just one off Green’s lead. Jeongeun Lee6 continues to go along very nicely: the rookie of the year opened bogey-birdie, but since then it’s been drama-free pars all the way. The latest comes at 7, and she’s sitting very nicely at -5.
The last nine pairings are currently +23. That’s the pressure of trying to win your first major, the task set for the vast majority of these players. But Jaye Marie Green could be good for this, you know. She’s missed the cut in her last four tournaments, but the one before that was the ANA Inspiration, and she tied for 12th there. She’s on record as saying she loves to grind out a score, and that’s why she enjoys the majors. She tied for 18th at the PGA last year, and for 15th at the British Open. A solid par for her at the par-three 6th, and she remains a shot in the lead at -6.
This is absurd. Now it’s Mamiko Higa’s turn to slip out of the leading group, letting a ten-footer slip by at 6. Then Lexi Thompson fails to commit to an eight-footer at 5 and has to settle for par. But finally someone makes a positive move! Jaye Marie Green sticks her approach at 5 to kick-in distance, and that’s a birdie that gives her the outright lead of the US Open!
-6: Green (5)
-5: Lee6 (6)
-4: J Korda (7), Higa (6), Boutier (4), Liu (4)
-3: Piller (14), Yin (13), Thompson (5)
Yet another dropped shot by Liu, this time at 4. Her friend from Duke and playing partner Boutier stops the bleeding with par, very nearly draining a 50-footer for birdie. The 54-hole leaders are both three over for their rounds, now one off the lead at -4.
Charley Hull is going along very nicely today. The 23-year-old from Kettering was out in 35, birdies at 7 and 9 offsetting bogey at 6. She finished this tournament in a tie for tenth place last year, and another high finish is on the cards, especially the way the leading groups are playing. She’s -2 through 11, just three off the lead. If Hull, Piller or Yin posts a target, the rest of the field will have some serious thinking to do.
Piller’s momentum has deserted her. In more ways than one. A straight uphill ten-footer for par at 14 isn’t given enough welly, and that’s back-to-back bogeys. She’s -3. She allows herself a wry smile; she knows she got spooked by the sight of her name suddenly at the top of the leader board. Shades of Patrick Cantlay at this year’s Masters.
A miserable three-putt bogey on the par-four 13th puts a stop to Piller’s gallop. She slips back to -4. But as things stand, she’s one of only two players in the top ten currently under par for their round today. The other is the 20-year-old Californian Angel Yin, who was out in 34 after birdies at 5 and 9. Boutier meanwhile drops another shot at 3, while Thompson makes it three bogeys in the first four holes, three-putting from the back of 4. This is carnage. Nobody can make a putt right now!
-5: Lee6 (4), Higa (4), Green (4), Liu (3)
-4: Piller (13), J Korda (5), Boutier (3)
-3: Yin (11), Ryu (7), Thompson (4)
Jessica Korda misreads an eight-foot birdie putt on the par-five 5th. A big right-to-left break not factored in at all. A good chance to share the lead spurned on the easiest hole on the course. She remains at -4. One of the tour’s biggest hitters, Korda should be making hay around Charleston, but her putter has been stone-cold all week. She took 37 putts yesterday. By the looks of things, her flat stick is conspiring against her again today.
Piller’s birdie putt at 12 shaves the hole. No four in a row; no share of the lead. She remains at -5. But staying put is absolutely fine, because everyone else is heading the wrong way. Liu can’t get up and down from greenside vegetation at 2, and she’s opened with back-to-back bogeys. Meanwhile Thompson overrules her caddie on the 182-yard par-three 3rd, selecting an 8-iron instead of the proffered 7-iron. Probably just as well, because she whistles it through the green and into a deep bunker at the back. She can’t get up and down to save par. Green also fails to scramble from the sand, and all of a sudden Gerina Piller, who started seven back today, is tied for the lead!
-5: Piller (12), Lee6 (4), Green (3), Boutier (2), Liu (2), Higa (4)
-4: J Korda (4), Thompson (3)
-3: Yin (10), Ryu (6)
The 1st has been playing the toughest on the course, so it’s no wonder so many players have been shedding shots on it today. Throw in the tension of the final day at the US Open, and there you have it. Boutier looked particularly nervous, though. By all accounts she missed a series of short putts on the practice green, which doesn’t augur well at all. But here’s somebody who isn’t looking nervous: Gerina Piller, who has just made it three birdies in a row, this time at 11. She’s five under for her round, and on exactly the same mark for the tournament, just one off the lead!
-6: Green (2), Liu (1)
-5: Piller (11), Lee6 (3), Higa (3), Thompson (2), Boutier (1)
Boutier’s second at 1 is dreadful, a hybrid pulled into thick grass down the left. She’s zig-zagging down this opening hole, her nerves betraying her. The following wedge into the green is overly conservative, and she’s got a long putt left for par. She can’t make it, then yips the bogey putt. A double. Meanwhile her playing partner Liu sends her second down the swale to the left of the green ... and she can’t get up and down. Bogey, and a very shaky start by the 54-hole leaders.
Thompson can’t make her par saver and she slips to -5. Par for Green. A bounce-back birdie for Lee6 at 2; she’s -5 again. Meanwhile the leaders tee off. Celine Boutier’s drive leaks off a little to the right, but Yu Liu sends a calm one down the middle. And there’s another birdie for Gerina Piller! She’s already got a top-ten finish at the US Open to her name, in 2016. Now -4, another could be on the cards this year. Back in the groove after taking a sabbatical in 2018 after the birth of her first child.
Thompson is right up against the lip of the bunker, and has no chance of reaching the green. She takes her medicine and advances the ball as far as she can, before knocking a wedge pin high. But she’ll be left with a 25-footer across the green to scramble par.
Meanwhile on 1, par for first-round leader Mamiko Higa, but bogey for Jeongeun Lee6. While back the tee Lexi Thompson has pulled her opening drive into the sand down the left. Her playing partner Jaye Marie Green splits the fairway.
-7: Liu, Boutier
-6: Higa (1), Thompson, Green
-4: Korda (1), Lee6 (1)
-3: Piller (9), Lopez (1)
Everyone, that is, with the exception of Gerina Piller. The 34-year-old from Roswell, New Mexico, is an identifiable flying object this afternoon. She’s out in 33, after making birdie at 3, 5 and 9. That’s sailed her up the leader board to -3.
Here we go, then! A fast start is essential if the chasing pack want to hunt down Yu Liu and Celine Boutier. But that’s not what the 2011 champion Ryu So-yeon has made. A double-bogey six at the opening hole, and her challenge looks pretty much kaput from the get-go. She’s -1. The opening hole has also taken little chunks out of Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Minjee Lee, both of whom have started out with bogey. They’re both -2. And it’s a bogey at 1 for Gaby Lopez as well; the 25-year-old Mexican slips to -3. Everyone heading the wrong way.
Welcome to our live coverage of the second major of the year: the US Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston in South Carolina. Sit tight, because this promises to be quite a ride. Here’s how the top of the leader board looks after three rounds:
-7: Yu Liu, Celine Boutier
-6: Lexi Thompson, Jaye Marie Green, Mamiko Higa
-5: Jeongeun Lee6
-4: Gaby Lopez, Jessica Korda
-3: Nanna Koerstz Madsen, Minjee Lee, Ryu So-yeon
A tightly packed race for the oldest and grandest major in the women’s game. This is the 74th staging of the championship, and should the 28-year-old South Korean Ryu So-yeon prevail this afternoon, she’ll join an elite group of multiple US Open champions. The 2011 winner would be added to a list that includes title-hoovering legends such as Babe Zaharias, Mickey Wright, Betsy Rawls, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Inbee Park. Some company to keep.
Ryu - who also triumphed at the 2017 ANA Inspiration - is one of only two players from the leading pack to have previously won a major championship. The other is Lexi Thompson, whose victory at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco (the ANA in one of its previous guises) stands as her only major title. That’s scant reward for her talent, and a second major is long overdue. It would already have come at the 2017 ANA but for that infamous ball-marking controversy; if she can get her putter warmed up for the first time this week, her powerful tee-to-green game could get her over the line.
The rest are searching for their maiden major. Plenty are poised to stake their claim: Jeongeun Lee6, the current Rookie of the Year; Jessica Korda, who already has five tour wins to her name; Minjee Lee, who can boast five victories on the LPGA tour; Jaye Marie Green, who loves courses that are “a grind”; Mamiko Higa, whose opening-day 65 was the best by a debutant in US Open history. The 54-hole leaders Yu Liu and Celine Boutier - old pals from Duke University - have plenty filling their rear-view mirror. It’s on!
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