The wait is finally over. This week, the LPGA Tour will make its first visit to Pebble Beach Golf Links since 1951 for the U.S. Women’s Open. The oldest major in the women’s game will see an abundance of firsts this week – including its premier on live, primetime coverage on NBC for the third and final rounds – making one of the most exciting weeks on the schedule even more electrifying.
A Trip to the Links
Though this week will be the first time the No. 1 public course in the country will host a women’s major, it won’t be Pebble Beach’s first rodeo. Opened in 1919, the facility quickly became world-renowned as a championship course when it put on the 1929 U.S. Amateur. The first women’s championship came 11 years later with the 1940 U.S. Women’s Amateur which returned in 1948. The LPGA Tour visited Pebble Beach just a few years later for the first leg of the 1950 and 1951 Weathervane Transcontinental Women’s Open, won by Babe Zaharias and Patty Berg, respectively. After a short hiatus from the limelight, Pebble Beach returned to stardom with its first U.S. Open in 1972 and the course has hosted five more U.S. Opens since, making this week’s event the seventh U.S. Open hosted by Pebble Beach and certainly not the last. There are plenty more majors to come for the club and at least three more visits from the LPGA Tour as the U.S. Women’s Open is scheduled to be held at the venue in 2035, 2040 and 2048.
World No. 1 Record
Jin Young Ko has spent another week at the top spot in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings bringing her career total to 160 weeks, setting the record one notch higher. With her T20 finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Ko maintained her title as the best in the world and broke LPGA legend Lorena Ochoa’s previous record of 158 weeks as world No. 1, which was set in 2010. Ko has spent six weeks in the top spot this season, having regained the honor with her second win of the year at the Cognizant Founders Cup. Not only did Ko have to overcome a four-shot deficit, but she also had to best major champion Minjee Lee in a playoff to hoist her third Founders Cup trophy in five years and climb back to the top of the standings. After missing the latter half of the 2022 season due to injury, Ko has easily returned to form in 2023. Including her two victories, Ko has already registered five top-10 finishes in just nine starts and has only finished outside the top 25 once, a T44 that came at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. Though Ko will have to defend her ranking every time she tees it up in the coming weeks as Nelly Korda and others in the top five are in hot pursuit of the No. 1 spot, her record is safe. Ko’s closest competitor is No. 3 Lydia Ko who has spent a total of 125 weeks at world No. 1 throughout her career.
The Extraordinary Amy Olson
Playing golf while pregnant is already something to brag about. Doing it while on the LPGA Tour should garner some ooh’s and ah’s. Medaling in her qualifier for the 78th U.S. Women’s Open while pregnant deserves some applause: so let’s give it up for Amy Olson. When the 30-year-old found out she was pregnant in January, announcing it publicly via Instagram in March, she immediately started figuring out whether or not she would be able to play in the U.S. Women’s Open – after all, it’s Pebble Beach. Her research gave her the peace of mind she needed to give it a shot and Olson made the trip to Somerset Country Club for a speedy one-day, 36-hole qualifier. When the last putt dropped, Olson was sitting two strokes ahead of her closest competitors at 6-under, successfully qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open. Olson is thrilled to hit the links this week with a baby on board and hopes her presence will serve as a reminder of how truly extraordinary female athletes and moms can be.
Fantastic First Timers
With a record 2,107 entries for the 78th U.S. Women’s Open, the 156-player field is studded with talented newcomers. The slew of newbies is headlined by Rolex Rankings No. 19 Miyu Yamashita. The 21-year-old started this season right where she left off in 2022, at the top of the JLPGA Official Money List. After winning five times last year, Yamashita has already won four times in 2023, most recently at the Nichirei Ladies just a few weeks ago. Joining Yamashita are fellow JLPGA stars and sisters Chisato and Akie Iwai. Chisato has won twice on the Japanese tour and Akie also has one title to her credit. Another international star headlining the clique of newcomers is Alice Hewson. Currently 11th in the Race to Costa Del Sol, Hewson has carded eight top-20 finishes on the Ladies European Tour this season, and earlier this year, Hewson made her Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown debut playing for England. On this side of the pond, several 2023 LPGA Tour rookies will also be making their U.S. Women’s Open debuts, including Jaravee Boonchant, Manon De Roey, Kum-Kang Park, Natthakritta Vongtaveelap and Xiaowen Yin.
A Final Farewell to a Legend
In a week of so many firsts, there is one important last: Michelle Wie West’s final outing on the LPGA Tour. During the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open – also her most recent professional event – Wie West announced her retirement from the Tour, noting that her last event would be the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. After such an illustrious career it’s finally time for the LPGA and its fans to say a tearful goodbye to one of the game’s greats and wish her the best of luck in her next chapter. After a storied amateur career, where she became the youngest player to qualify for a Tour event at the LPGA Takefuji Classic when she was just 12 years old, Wie West joined the LPGA Tour in 2009. In her rookie season, she led the U.S. team to victory at the Solheim Cup with a stunning 3-0-1 record, and just a few months later, she earned her first victory at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Wie West broke through in 2014, taking home two titles, including her lone major: the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst. In her 15 years on the LPGA Tour, Wie West has captured five titles and left an indelible mark on the game, and while she won’t be teeing off on Tour again after this week, Wie West hasn’t left golf behind. Just a few weeks ago, Wie West served as the tournament host and negotiated several historic perks for players at the Mizuho Americas Open, a role she’ll continue to hold in years to come as a dedicated advocate for elevating the women’s game.
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