USGA announces three additional exemptions for 78th U.S. Women’s Open Championship

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (July 3, 2023) – The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced that three additional players have earned full exemptions into the 78th U.S. Women’s Open Championship, to be contested July 6-9 at Pebble Beach Golf Links, based on the current Women’s Rolex World Golf Rankings, bringing the number of fully exempt players to 89. Additionally, two alternates from qualifying were added to the field.

Akie Iwai, of Japan, who had qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open on May 29 in Japan, is now fully exempt based on her No. 50 ranking. This will be her first appearance in the championship. Now that Iwai is fully exempt, Chizuru Komiya, first alternate from the Japan qualifying site, has been added to the field and will also make her championship debut.

Albane Valenzuela also earned an exemption based on the Women’s Rolex World Golf Rankings as of July 3. Valenzuela, of Switzerland, who is No. 67 in the rankings, is playing in her fourth U.S. Women’s Open, and first since 2019. The 25-year-old recorded her best finish at a major earlier this year at the Chevron Championship, finishing T4. Valenzuela has made the 36-hole cut twice in a U.S. Women’s Open, including a top-25 finish in 2018 at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Ala.

So Young Lee, of Korea, is also fully exempt into the championship, having moved to No. 75 in the rankings. As of Monday, July 3, she had not yet confirmed her place in the field. Should she decline, the spot would be given to the next person on the reallotment list.

The USGA held four spots in the field for those players who could potentially qualify by moving into the top 75 of the Rankings, as of July 3. Since Iwai, Valenzuela and Lee were the only players to earn an exemption, one additional alternate from qualifying was added to the field. Joy Chou, of Taiwan, first alternate from the St. Louis, Mo., site, becomes the 156th player in the field. Chou, a graduate of Iowa State University, currently competes on the Epson Tour.

The U.S. Women’s Open is making its debut at Pebble Beach, which has previously hosted six U.S. Opens, most recently in 2019. The iconic venue is also set to host the U.S. Women’s Open in 2035, 2040 and 2048.

There were 26 U.S. Women’s Open qualifying sites, including international sites in Canada, Japan and Belgium. The USGA accepted 2,107 entries by the deadline of May 3, the highest total in championship history.