Donald Trump may be grabbing many of the headlines ahead of the US Women’s Open, which gets underway tomorrow, but with 19 of the top-20 players in the Rolex Rankings competing for the season’s third major title, the world's best will be hoping to steal back the limelight come Sunday.
Donald Trump may be grabbing many of the headlines ahead of the US Women’s Open, which gets underway tomorrow, but with 19 of the top-20 players in the Rolex Rankings competing for the season’s third major title, the world's best will be hoping to steal back the limelight come Sunday.
With the race for the World No. 1 having been blown wide open this season following Lydia Ko's slump in form, and with only one repeat winner on the LPGA in 2017, the title is really everyone's to play for.
World no. 1 So Yeon Ryu headlines the field at Trump National, in Bedminster, and will be looking to add to the major title she won at the ANA Inspiration earlier this year. She will be joined in the field by Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn, who returns following a wrist injury, and her sister Moriya, who has several top-10 finishes already under her belt this season.
Crowd favourite Lexi Thompson will be looking to avenge her agonising play-off defeat at the first major of the season, and appeared to have an extra bounce in her step this week after being joined at the New Jersey venue by her mum, who has just finished radiation treatment for Uterine Cancer. The American, who won the U.S. Girls Junior in 2008, is looking to win her country's flagship event for the first time.
Michelle Wie, who has enjoyed a fantastic run so far this season, is hopeful she will be ready to tee it up come Thursday afternoon, despite suffering with neck spasms. The American is playing some of the best golf in her career, having finished second, third and fourth in three of her last five starts.
English Ladies European Tour rookie Meghan MacLaren, whose journey we have been charting in our 'Follow the Pro' series, is making her major debut this week, after qualifying at the European Sectional at Buckinghamshire Golf Club. She will be joined by compatriot Georgia Hall, who earned her first top-10 finish on the LPGA last week, rookie Bronte Law, and twenty-one-year-old Charley Hull, all of whom will be hoping to pick up their maiden major victory.
Other Brits looking to make an impression this week are Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Mel Reid, both of whom will be trying to catch the eye of European Solheim Cup captain Annika Sorenstam, who is making her final preparation before naming her team at the Ricoh Women's British Open next month.
Leona Maguire, the No. 1 ranked amateur golfer in the world, is one of 22 amateurs competing at the tournament. A native of Cavan, Ireland, Maguire is seeing action in her second consecutive U.S. Women’s Open and her fifth career major. Her best finish in a major came last year when she tied for 25th at the Women's British Open.
Speculation about whether the President will show up continues, following the announcement that the airspace around the golf course has been closed for the duration of the tournament.
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