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The 2023 US Women's Open is about to tee off in 48 hours, as the first round will take place on April 6 at Pebble Beach Golf Links, California. The 78th edition of the USGA event will have a purse size of $10 million.
The 2022 US Women's Open was played in Southern Pines, North Carolina, where Minjee Lee triumphed by a four-stroke margin over Mina Harigae.
As this year's tournament approaches, it is an apt time to look back at some of the biggest highlights of last year's edition. Here are the top five moments from last year's US Open.
5 best highlights from the 2022 US Women's Open
1) Minjee Lee's second major win
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Minjee Lee shot 67 in the first round of the 2022 US Women's Open and was placed T3. However, after that, she didn't look back over the next three days and held the lead throughout the tournament.
The Aussie golfer was dominant with scores of 67, 66, 67, and 71 over the four days. She aggregated at 13-under, four more than Mina Harigae.
2) Amateur Ingrid Lindblad created history
Ingrid Lindblad made history last year when she shot 6-under 65 in the first round of the US Women's Open. This was the lowest score by an amateur in the US Women's Open in 77 years of history.
The young Swedish golfer placed second after the first day at Southern Pines. However, she slipped several spots over the next three rounds and eventually finished T11, becoming the leading amateur at the event.
3) Southern Pines hosted the tournament for the fourth time
Prior to 2022, the Pine Needles at Southern Pines had hosted the US Women's Open three times (1996, 2001, and 2007). With the 2022 event, it became the only golf course to host the tournament four times in the history of the event.
Pine Needles is a 6,638-yard, par-71 golf course. The golf course witnessed Annika Sörenstam defend her title in 1996. Similarly, Karrie Webb also defended her title in 2001, beating Pak Se-ri by an 8-stroke margin.
Cristie Kerr and Min Jee Lee won the USGA event in 2007 and 2022, respectively.
4) Defending champion Yuka Saso failed to make a cut
Yuka Saso was coming to the Southern Pines as the reigning champion and was looking to become the first player since Karrie Webb to successfully defend the title. However, what happened at the event was completely unexpected.
The Japanese golfer carded 77 and 74 in the two rounds to aggregate 9-over at Southern Pines. She looked completely out of clues in the tournament and made 14 bogeys over 36 holes.
5) Seven past champions missed the cut
Along with Yuka Saso, six other past champions had failed to make it to the weekend of the 77th USGA event.
Three-time champions Annika Sörenstam, So Yeon Ryu (2011), Na Yeon Choi (2012), Ariya Jutanugarn (2018), Brittany Lang (2016), and Michelle Wie West (2014) all failed to make it to the final two rounds of the 2022 event.
