2018 U.S. Women's Open

2018 U.S. Women's Open

Tournament information
Dates	May 31 – June 3, 2018
Location	Shoal Creek, Alabama 33°26′17″N 86°36′43″W / 33.438°N 86.612°W / 33.438; -86.612
Course(s)	Shoal Creek Club
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	LPGA Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Length	6,732 yards (6,156 m)[1]
Field	156 players, 63 after cut
Cut	148 (+4)
Prize fund	$5.0 million
Winner's share	$900,000
Champion
Ariya Jutanugarn
277 (−11)
Location map
Shoal Creek Location in the United States Show map of the United States Shoal Creek Location in Alabama Show map of Alabama
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The 2018 U.S. Women's Open was the 73rd U.S. Women's Open, played May 31 – June 3 at Shoal Creek Club in Shoal Creek, Alabama, a suburb southeast of Birmingham.

The U.S. Women's Open is the oldest of the five current major championships and the second of the 2018 season. It has the largest purse in women's golf at $5 million. The tournament was televised by Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports.

The championship was moved up in the schedule this year; it had been played in July for decades, with a few exceptions. Also, the playoff format was modified as part of USGA changes for the four U.S. Open championships in golf (Open, Women's Open, Senior Open, Senior Women's) in 2018, reduced from three to two aggregate holes, followed by sudden death.^[2]

Ariya Jutanugarn won the championship in a playoff over Kim Hyo-joo, which ended on the fourth extra hole.^[3]

The championship was open to any female professional or amateur golfer with a USGA handicap index not exceeding 2.4. Players qualified by competing in one of 24 36-hole qualifying tournaments held at sites across the United States and at international sites in China, England, Japan, and South Korea. Additional players were exempt from qualifying because of past performances in professional or amateur tournaments around the world.

Many players were exempt in multiple categories. Players are listed only once, in the first category in which they became exempt, with additional categories in parentheses () next to their names.^[4] Golfers qualifying in Category 12 who qualified in other categories are denoted with the tour by which they qualified.

1. Winners of the U.S. Women's Open for the last ten years (2008–2017)

Chun In-gee (7,9,14,15), Paula Creamer, Ji Eun-hee (9,10,11,14,15), Brittany Lang (9), Inbee Park (4,5,9,10,11,14,15), Park Sung-hyun (8,9,11,14,15), Ryu So-yeon (6,8,9,14,15), Michelle Wie (9,10,11,14,15)

• Choi Na-yeon did not play

2. Winner and runner-up from the 2017 U.S. Women's Amateur; winner of the 2017 U.S. Girls' Junior and U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur (must be an amateur)

Kelsey Chugg (a), Sophia Schubert (a), Erica Shepherd (a), Albane Valenzuela (a)

3. Winner of the 2017 Mark H. McCormack Medal (Women's World Amateur Golf Ranking) (must be an amateur)

• Leona Maguire (a) did not play

4. Winners of the Women's PGA Championship for the last five years (2013–2017)

Brooke Henderson (9,10,11,14,15), Danielle Kang (9,14,15)

5. Winners of the Ricoh Women's British Open for the last five years (2013–2017)

Ariya Jutanugarn (9,10,11,14,15), In-Kyung Kim (9,11,14,15), Stacy Lewis (9,11,14,15), Mo Martin (9)

6. Winners of the ANA Inspiration for the last five years (2014–2018)

Lydia Ko (7,9,11,14,15), Brittany Lincicome (9,11,14,15), Pernilla Lindberg (9,10,11,14,15), Lexi Thompson (9,11,14,15)

7. Winners of the Evian Championship for the last five years (2013–2017)

Kim Hyo-joo (9), Anna Nordqvist (9,11,14,15)

• Suzann Pettersen (9,14,15) did not play

8. Ten lowest scorers and anyone tying for 10th place from the 2017 U.S. Women's Open

Choi Hye-jin (14,15), Carlota Ciganda (9,12-LET,14,15), Shanshan Feng (9,10,11,14,15), M. J. Hur (9,14,15), Kim Sei-young (9,14,15), Lee Jeong-eun (12-KLPGA,14,15), Mirim Lee (9,14,15), Amy Yang (9,14,15)

9. Top 75 money leaders from the 2017 final official LPGA money list

Marina Alex (14,15), Brittany Altomare (14,15), Nicole Broch Larsen, Ashleigh Buhai, Peiyun Chien, Chella Choi (14), Cydney Clanton, Jacqui Concolino, Austin Ernst, Jodi Ewart Shadoff (14,15), Sandra Gal, Hsu Wei-ling, Charley Hull (14,15), Karine Icher, Moriya Jutanugarn (10,11,14,15), Kim Kaufman, Cristie Kerr (11,14,15), Megan Khang, Katherine Kirk, Jessica Korda (10,11,14,15), Nelly Korda (14,15), Olafia Kristinsdottir, Candie Kung, Lee Jeong-eun, Lee Mi-hyang (11,14,15), Minjee Lee (11,14,15), Gaby López, Caroline Masson (15), Ally McDonald, Azahara Muñoz (12-LET,14), Haru Nomura, Su-Hyun Oh, Ryann O'Toole, Jane Park, Pornanong Phatlum, Madelene Sagström, Lizette Salas (14,15), Alena Sharp, Jenny Shin (14,15), Sarah Jane Smith, Jennifer Song (14,15), Angela Stanford, Ayako Uehara, Jing Yan, Angel Yin (15), Yoo Sun-young

• Laura Gonzalez Escallon, Jang Ha-na (14,15) and Gerina Piller did not play

10. Top 10 money leaders from the 2018 official LPGA money list, through the close of entries on April 25

Ko Jin-young (11,12-KLPGA,14,15)

11. Winners of LPGA co-sponsored events, whose victories are considered official, from the conclusion of the 2017 U.S. Women's Open to the initiation of the 2018 U.S. Women's Open

12. Top five money leaders from the 2017 Japan LPGA Tour, Korea LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour

Georgia Hall (14,15), Kim Ji-hyun, Lee Min-young (14,15), Teresa Lu (14,15), Klára Spilková, Ai Suzuki (14,15), Anne van Dam

• Kim Hae-rym (14,15), Kim Ha-neul (14), Oh Ji-hyun, and Jiyai Shin (14,15) did not play

13. Top three money leaders from the 2017 China LPGA Tour

Saranporn Langkulgasettrin, Lee Solar, Supamas Sangchan

14. Top 50 point leaders from the current Rolex Rankings and anyone tying for 50th place as of April 25

Nasa Hataoka (15)

15. Top 50 point leaders from the current Rolex Rankings and anyone tying for 50th place as of May 28

• Ahn Sun-ju did not play

16. Special exemptions selected by the USGA

Karrie Webb^[5]

Additional players qualified through sectional qualifying tournaments which took place May 2–17 at sites in the United States, China, South Korea, England, and Japan.^[4]

The following players were added to the field before the start of the tournament when spots reserved for exemptions in various categories were not used and to replace players who withdrew from the tournament.

Jennifer Chang (a), Hailee Cooper (a), Lindy Duncan, Andrea Lee (a), Lee Lopez, Wichanee Meechai, Olivia Mehaffey (a), Emilia Migliaccio (a), Song Gaeun (a), Luna Sobrón Galmés, Sophie Walker, Rumi Yoshiba

2018 yardages by round

• Scoring average: 74.682
  • by round: 74.705, 75.123, 73.921, 74.318
• Most difficult holes in relation to par: 12, 4, 18, 16

Source:^[6]

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Ariya Jutanugarn	67	−5
	Lee Jeong-eun
	Sarah Jane Smith
T4	Linn Grant (a)	69	−3
	Danielle Kang
	Michelle Wie
T7	Luna Sobrón Galmés	70	−2
	Kristen Gillman (a)
	Kim Hyo-joo
	Kim Ji-hyun
	Kim Sei-young
	Nelly Korda
	Su-Hyun Oh
	Inbee Park
	Emily Kristine Pedersen
	Mel Reid
	Madelene Sagström
	Patty Tavatanakit (a)

Friday, June 1, 2018
Saturday June 2, 2018

Weather delayed the conclusion of the second round until Saturday.

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Sarah Jane Smith	67-67=134	−10
2	Ariya Jutanugarn	67-70=137	−7
3	Su-Hyun Oh	70-68=138	−6
T4	Chella Choi	71-70=141	−3
	Carlota Ciganda	73-68=141
	Linn Grant (a)	69-72=141
	Kim Ji-hyun	70-71=141
	Kim Sei-young	70-71=141
	Inbee Park	70-71=141
	Jenny Shin	72-69=141
	Michelle Wie	69-72=141

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Ariya Jutanugarn	67-70-67=204	−12
2	Sarah Jane Smith	67-67-74=208	−8
3	Kim Hyo-joo	70-72-68=210	−6
4	Kim Ji-hyun	70-71-70=211	−5
T5	Carlota Ciganda	73-68-71=212	−4
	Inbee Park	70-71-71=212
	Madelene Sagström	70-72-70=212
8	Wei-Ling Hsu	71-73-70=214	−2
T9	Ji Eun-hee	73-72-70=215	−1
	Megan Khang	72-74-69=215
	Nelly Korda	70-74-71=215
	Ryu So-yeon	73-70-72=215
	Patty Tavatanakit (a)	70-73-72=215

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Ariya Jutanugarn	67-70-67-73=277	−11	Playoff
	Kim Hyo-joo	70-72-68-67=277
3	Carlota Ciganda	73-68-71-69=281	−7	349,790
4	Danielle Kang	69-77-70-69=285	−3	244,704
T5	Wei-Ling Hsu	71-73-70-72=286	−2	182,487
	Sarah Jane Smith	67-67-74-78=286
	Lexi Thompson	71-75-70-70=286
	Patty Tavatanakit (a)	70-73-72-71=286		0
9	Inbee Park	70-71-71-75=287	−1	145,919
T10	Nasa Hataoka	74-70-72-72=288	E	104,505
	Charley Hull	74-73-70-71=288
	Megan Khang	72-74-69-73=288
	Kim Ji-hyun	70-71-70-77=288
	Nelly Korda	70-74-71-73=288
	Angela Stanford	73-72-71-72=288
	Michelle Wie	69-72-76-71=288

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	5	4	3	5	4	3	4	4	5	4	3	4	4	3	5	4
Jutanugarn	−13	−12	−13	−13	−14	−15	−15	−15	−16	−13	−13	−12	−12	−12	−12	−13	−12	−11
Kim	−7	−7	−8	−8	−8	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−10	−10	−10	−11	−11	−11	−11
Ciganda	−4	−4	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−7	−7	−7	−8	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−8	−7
Kang	−1	−1	−2	−2	−2	−2	−3	−4	−4	−4	−4	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−4	−3
Smith	−8	−7	−8	−8	−8	−7	−7	−8	−7	−7	−5	−4	−4	−4	−3	−2	−2	−2

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Triple bogey+

Source:^[7]

In the first year of the new USGA two-hole aggregate playoff format, the playoff was held on holes 14 and 18, both par fours. Jutanugarn parred both while Kim went birdie-bogey to stay tied and it moved to sudden-death, using the same holes only. Both parred the 14th hole, but Kim again made bogey at the 18th hole while Jutanugarn made another par and won the championship.

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Ariya Jutanugarn	4-4-4-4=16	E	900,000
2	Kim Hyo-joo	3-5-4-5=17	+1	540,000

• Official website
• United States Golf Association website