"Thanks for a great year" - Defending champion Allisen Corpuz returns the U.S. Women's Open trophy

Allisen Corpuz is at the Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to defend her U.S. Women's Open title. Corpuz won the title a year ago at Pebble Beach after coming back from a one-stroke deficit after 54 holes.

One of Allisen Corpuz's first actions was to return her U.S. Women's Open trophy. The event's official X (formerly Twitter) account posted a video clip showing the moment Corpuz put the trophy back in its place, much to the applause of those in attendance.

"Thanks for a great year," Allisen Corpuz said.

As with all tournaments run by the United States Golf Association (USGA), the U.S. Women's Open champion is entitled to keep the trophy for one year. It must, however, be returned before the start of the next edition of the event.

The U.S. Women's Open presents its champion with the Harton S. Semple Trophy, a sterling silver, two-handled trophy produced by J.E. Caldwell and Co.

The trophy's original version was first awarded in 1953 and was in use until 1992, when Harton S. Semple's family donated an identical replica that took its place and gave rise to the trophy's name. Semple had been president of the USGA from 1974 to 1975. Between 1948 and 1952, the U.S. Women's Open awarded a trophy that had been donated by the Spokane Athletic Round Table.

The Harton S. Semple Trophy is one of 15 trophies awarded annually by the USGA. Also on this list are the U.S. Open Championship Trophy, the Havemeyer Trophy (to the champion of the U.S. Amateur Championship), and the Robert Cox Trophy (to the champion of the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship).

Allisen Corpuz's 2023 U.S. Women's Open victory revisited

Her win at the 2023 U.S. Women's Open is the biggest triumph in Allisen Corpuz's career thus far. In fact, it is her only professional victory in four seasons at the highest level.

The event was held at Pebble Beach Golf Links and was highly competitive. This is demonstrated by the fact that a new leader led each round and that only the winner finished in the top three every time.

Corpuz began the first round of the 2023 edition with a score of 69, which placed her tied for third place by one stroke behind leaders Hyo Joo Kim and Xiyu Lin. The next day, Corpuz remained in the hunt for first place, now two strokes behind Bailey Tardy. In the third round, Corpuz carded a score of 71, which was good enough to keep her in the lead, but saw the rise of a new leader, Nasa Hataoka. Corpuz entered the final round one stroke behind the Japanese.

Corpuz proved to be the most stable player of the event and repeated her first day's score (69) to finally reach first place and create a three-stroke lead over Charley Hull and Jiyay Shin, who tied for second place.