Admin May 28, 2024
The U.S. Women’s Open returns to Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club for the second time with the same backdrop: The world’s No. 1 player arrives having won the previous major.
Nine years ago, Inbee Park won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, as the Hall of Famer returned to the top of the world rankings with her sixth career major title before the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open, where she ultimately tied for third.
This year, Nelly Korda is the dominant No. 1, with April’s Chevron Championship part of her six victories this season. The gap between Korda (13.12 points) and No. 2 Lilia Vu (6.32) is bigger than Vu and Trish Johnson (0.0001) in 1,620th place, the final spot in the rankings. Korda is the favorite in her bid for a third major victory, though there are two caveats: She hasn’t played very well in the U.S. Women’s Open, and she’s never competed at Lancaster.
We combed through the 156-player field and ranked the 25 most likely to win the major on Sunday. We promise no surprises when it comes to the top spot.
25. In Gee Chun
Rolex Rankings: 75 USWO starts: 9 Best finish: Win, 2015
Chun returns to the home of her 2015 U.S. Women’s Open triumph, battling back inflammation for most of 2024. She gave a glimmer of hope she could win in Lancaster again during the Mizuho Americas Open, where the South Korean finished T-14 for her best finish of the season.
24. Lauren Coughlin
Rolex Rankings: 55 USWO starts: 0 Best finish: N/A
Coughlin posted a career-best finish at the Chevron (T-3), the peak of three top-15 finishes over her past six starts. The run, which got her into Lancaster thanks to moving into the top 75 in the Rolex Rankings as of May 27, is no fluke either. The 31-year-old is 18th on tour in strokes gained, according to KPMG performance insights.
23. Allisen Corpuz
Rolex Rankings: 21 USWO starts: 5 Best finish: Win, 2023
The defending champion has struggled recently, missing her first cut of the season at the Mizuho Americas Open two weeks ago. Her lone top-10 came in February at the HSBC Women’s World Championship.
22. Charley Hull
Rolex Rankings: 8 USWO starts: 9 Best finish: T-2, 2023
The Englishwoman put on a brilliant Sunday charge at Pebble Beach last year, ripping a fairway wood from under the iconic 18th fairway Cypress tree to try and catch Corpuz before earning one of four second-place finishes last season. Hull has had a more tempered 2024 campaign, with a pair of top-10s in her first three starts but hasn’t had one since. Her best finish since the Chevron was a T-13 at the JM Eagle LA Championship.
21. Jin Hee Im
Rolex Rankings: 38 USWO starts: 8 Best finish: Playoff Loss, 2018
The talented South Korean rookie has found her LPGA footing since the Chevron. The 26-year-old earned her first career top-10 (T-8) at the major, then finished T-4 at the LA Championship by carding a tournament-record 63 during the third round at Wilshire Country Club. Im won four times on the KLPGA last year and earned her LPGA status through Q-Series last December.
20. Jiyai Shin
Rolex Rankings: 20 USWO starts: 9 Best finish: T-2, 2023
The former World No. 1 has become a consistent force when she tees it up in the few events in the United States she still plays. Shin, who gave up her LPGA membership in 2013 to compete in Japan, nearly won her first domestic regular LPGA tournament in 10 years at the Seri Pak Championship in March, where she ended up T-5. At Pebble Beach last year, the South Korean played her first U.S. Women’s Open in two years and finished runner-up.
19. Celine Boutier
Rolex Rankings: 3 USWO starts: 7 Best finish: T-5, 2019
The four-time winner in 2023 has followed up with a slow start this year. Outside of a runner-up in Singapore in February, the Frenchwoman hasn’t had a top-10 finish.
18. Ruoning Yin
Rolex Rankings: 4 USWO starts: 2 Best finish: T-20, 2023
Yin had her best finish of 2024 at the Cognizant Founders Cup (T-4) before withdrawing from the LPGA’s New Jersey swing early due to a wrist injury at the Mizuho Americas Open. The uncertain status of her injury pushes the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA winner higher up the list than her talents would suggest.
17. Ayaka Furue
Rolex Rankings: 25 USWO starts: 3 Best finish: T-6, 2023
Furue and Brooke Henderson have the second most top-10s on the LPGA (five) this season behind Korda’s seven. Those include four instances where the Japanese native was in the top five going into Sunday, where Furue’s final-round struggles were pronounced. She is averaging 71.9 during the closing 18, 1.8 strokes worse than any other round of the week. Over those four times she was in contention, she averaged a 73.
16. Xiyu Lin
Rolex Rankings: 12 USWO starts: 9 Best finish: T-7, 2021
The Chinese talent earned her best finish of the season at the Cognizant Founders Cup with a T-4. The 10-year LPGA veteran is seventh on tour in scoring average this season (70.33).
15. Yuka Saso
Rolex Rankings: 30 USWO starts: 5 Best finish: Win, 2021
Saso started the 2024 campaign by making eight straight top-30 finishes, but her run was snapped by missing the cut at Liberty National. It’s the longest stretch of Saso’s career, besting a seven-straight top-30 finish streak that included her major title at Olympic Club in 2021.
14. Hae Ran Ryu
Rolex Rankings: 26 USWO starts: 4 Best finish: 8th, 2023
Ryu held the 54-hole lead at the Chevron before a Sunday 74 pushed her back to fifth place. The 2023 rookie of the year followed up with a third-place finish at the LA Championship, her fifth top-5 finish since joining the LPGA.
13. Gabi Ruffels
Rolex Rankings: 40 USWO starts: 4 Best finish: T-13, 2020
The 2024 rookie-of-the-year leader has a pair of top-3 finishes at the Founders Cup (third) and the Mizuho Americas Open (T-3).
12. Minjee Lee
Rolex Rankings: 9 USWO starts: 10 Best finish: Win, 2022
The Australian’s up-and-down season might finally be rolling. After missing three cuts in her first four events in the U.S., including the Chevron, Lee was T-7 at the Founders Cup and T-21 at the Mizuho Americas Open.
11. Jin Young Ko
Rolex Rankings: 7 USWO starts: 7 Best finish: T-2, 2020
The two-time major champion followed missing the cut in the Chevron with a bounce-back T-4 performance at the LA Championship and a T-12 in her title defense at the Founders Cup.
10. Patty Tavatanakit
Rolex Rankings: 22 USWO starts: 6 Best finish: T-5, 2017
Since Tavatanakit’s victory on home soil at the Honda LPGA Thailand in February, she has finished in the top 25 in six of seven starts. The 2021 ANA Inspiration winner finished T-7 at the Mizuho Americas Open.
9. Sei Young Kim
Rolex Rankings: 34 USWO starts: 8 Best finish: T-8, 2017
Kim is third on the LPGA in strokes gained thanks to a leap in her putting ability. She jumped from -0.07 SG/putting to .84 this year, accounting for almost her entire gain of 1.12 strokes per round. The 12-time winner has three top-10s in 2024, already more than the two she had last season.
8. Madelene Sagstrom
Rolex Rankings: 35 USWO starts: 7 Best finish: T-17, 2018
Sagstrom had one of the best runner-up performances the LPGA has seen recently at the Founders Cup, with her 22-under score being 13 strokes better than Gabi Ruffels’ third-place finish. The strong play in Clifton, N.J., was among two top-10s for the Swede since the Chevron, alongside a T-8 at the LA Championship.
7. Lydia Ko
Rolex Rankings: 14 USWO starts: 12 Best finish: T-3, 2016
Ko’s last two events were her worst results of the season, with a T-35 at the Founders Cup and her only missed cut of the year at the Mizuho. Before that, the Kiwi had finished in the top 20 in six of her previous seven starts.
6. Brooke Henderson
Rolex Rankings: 11 USWO starts: 11 Best finish: T-5, 2015
The Canadian’s challenging finish at the Chevron Championship may have knocked her confidence down. Henderson finished in the top 30 or better in her first eight events of the season. Despite a T-3 at Carlton Woods, she had her two worst results of 2024 in New Jersey, with a T-35 at the Founders Cup and a T-56 at the Mizuho.
5. Atthaya Thitikul
Rolex Rankings: 13 USWO starts: 2 Best finish: T-24, 2022
The Thai almost started her 2024 campaign with a victory, holding the lead Saturday evening at the Chevron before fading during an extended Sunday weather delay to finish 12th. The former World no. 1 finished the Mizuho with a T-7.
4. Maja Stark
Rolex Rankings: 16 USWO starts: 4 Best finish: T-9, 2023
Stark is playing arguably the best stretch of her career, even without a victory. The Swede has had three top-3 finishes in her last five starts, including a pair of runners-up at the Chevron and the LA Championship.
3. Rose Zhang
Rolex Rankings: 6 USWO starts: 5 Best finish: T-9, 2023
Zhang turned an up-and-down season into a solid sophomore campaign with her second career victory at the Founders Cup. She is in second place on tour in strokes gained (2.21) in 2024, trailing only Korda (2.9). The pair are the only two players above two in SG/total this season.
2. Hannah Green
Rolex Rankings: 5 USWO starts: 5 Best finish: T-13, 2023
The only other multiple-time winner on the LPGA this season almost bested Korda down the stretch at Liberty National for her third win of 2024. Green got quite the consolation prize, surpassing compatriot Minjee Lee to become the top-ranked Australian in the world for the first time in Green’s career.
1. Nelly Korda
Rolex Rankings: 1 USWO starts: 9 Best finish: T-8, 2022
Could Korda’s 10th appearance in the U.S. Women’s Open be her breakthrough? She’s has only one top-10 in this major since playing as a 14-year-old in 2013. Her New Jersey swing showcased how different of a player Korda is in 2024: She missed back-to-back cuts in the Garden State last year; this year, Korda finished T-7 in her bid for six-in-a-row at the Founders Cup, then won the Mizuho Americas Open.
