Out of the Rough: U.S. Women's Open (2025)

The best women golfers in the World look to take on Erin Hills for the 80th U.S. Women’s Open this week.

The U.S. Women’s Open is the longest-running tournament currently on the LPGA Tour and with that, is the oldest women’s major.

The event was founded in 1946 as this year marks the 80th playing.

Wisconsin’s Erin Hills will play host this week. In doing so, it will become the 16th venue to host both the men’s and women’s U.S. Opens.

It last hosted the men’s U.S. Open in 2017 that saw Brooks Koepka claim victory.

Golfers will play for a chance to see their names etched on the Harton S. Semple Trophy among many of the game’s greats.

Along with that, the U.S. Women’s Open holds the largest purse in the sport. Although this year’s exact dollar figure has not been announced, the purse last season was $12 million.

The Field

A 156-women field will take to Erin Hills this week.

That field was constructed via a multitude of qualifying events in which 1,904 entries were received. Entries were received from 46 states and 60 foreign countries. The 1,904 entries were the second highest number of entries ever.

Yuka Saso comes in as the defending champion, taking down the daunting Lancaster Country Club that saw just two women under par that year. Last year marked her second U.S. Women’s Open title as she’ll eye for her third this season.

The 2023 champion at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Allisen Corpuz and the 2022 champion at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, Minjee Lee will also be teeing it up this week.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda and the red-hot World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul will help headline this week’s field.

They’ll be joined by the likes of Lydia Ko, Ruoning Yin, Haeran Ryu, Lilia Vu, Hyojoo Kim, Hannah Green, Jin Young Ko and Lauren Coughlin who round out the top ten of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

The most notable absentee from this week’s field will be England’s Georgia Hall who has not missed this event since 2016.

Other former U.S. Women’s Open champions teeing it up this week include, A Lim Kim (2020,) Jeongeun Lee6 (2019,) Ariya Jutanugarn (2018,) Sung Hyun Park (2017) and Gee Chun (2015.)

The Course

Erin Hills plays as a par-72 at 6,829 yards.

It was opened in 2006 and proves that Mother Nature is indeed the best golf architect.

Very little ground was moved when forming this course. Instead, the course is now one of the most natural layouts to be found anywhere in the United States.

The course is laid out on a rugged landscape that was formed by glacial action thousands of years ago. 

The idea for the course, as proven with the clover featured in it’s logo, was to bring the feel of Ireland to Wisconsin with this links style course.

It was successful in doing so with its rolling dune-like hills, golden fescue and inhibited views across the course.

The fairways here at Erin Hills play both firm and fast and are hard to hold. 

The same can be said for these bentgrass greens that average 6,650 square feet in size.

Erin Hills is known for its unique architecture which includes blind shots and architectural quicks, all while maintaining a traditional Irish feel.

The second nine holes play tougher than the front nine and will be sure to offer dramatics down to the final hole come Sunday.

Wind will almost certainly be a factor this week as this course sits on 652 acres of wide-open former farmland. 

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, Thursday calls for the highest chance of precipitation at just 25-percent. Friday calls for a 20-percent chance, Saturday a 15-percent chance and Sunday a five-percent chance. Temperatures will be at the lowest on Thursday at 70-degrees. Temperatures will increase to 77-degrees for Friday before settling to 75-degrees on Saturday. Temperatures will then hit a weekly high of 80-degrees on Sunday. Winds are set to begin at seven miles-per-hour on Thursday before reaching ten miles-per-hour for both Friday and Saturday. They’ll decrease slightly to nine miles-per-hour for Sunday. 

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Average Driving Distance

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Scrambling Percentage

• Par 5 Scoring Average

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Strokes Gained: Scoring (SG: Scoring)

  
  

Betting Card

Minjee Lee (+2200)

The 2022 U.S. Women’s Open champion leads my betting card as she eyes for her second title. She too won the Evian Championship in 2021. Over her last five starts on the LPGA Tour, her worst finish was 15th in her latest outing at the Mizuho Americas Open. Prior to that she placed 14th at the The Chevron Championship, seventh at the JM Eagle LA Championship, second at the Blue Bay LPGA and 11th at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. She also placed fourth at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions to open her 2025 campaign. She is currently fourth on Tour in SG: Scoring, ninth in SG: PUTT, 14th in par-five average scoring, 20th in GIR%, 21st in scrambling, 41st in SG: TTG and 63rd in average driving distance. She placed T9th last year at the U.S. Women’s Open, T13th in 2023 and of course won in 2022.

Charley Hull (+4500)

This may be my favorite overall play this week. She placed T19th at the U.S. Women’s Open in 2024, was the runner-up in 2023 and placed T20th in 2022. This is the type of course and event that suits her best. Remember, this is a links style course, the type of course she grew up playing. Hull is currently second on Tour in par-five average scoring, 13th in GIR%, 16th in scrambling, 17th in average driving distance, 19th in SG: Scoring, 27th in SG: TTG and 44th in SG: PUTT. She is slightly out of form coming into this week with a 32nd last week at the MEXICO Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba, 40th at the Black Desert Championship and missed the cut at The Chevron Championship. However, prior to that she placed 11th at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass, fourth at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and 19th at the Founder’s Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands.

Angel Yin (+4500)

Yin is currently third on Tour in both SG: PUTT and SG: Scoring, eighth in scrambling, tenth in GIR%, 13th in par-five average scoring, 52nd in average driving distance and 69th in SG: TTG. She missed the cut in his last outing at the Mizuho Americas Open but prior to that, has had one of the best starts of the season on Tour. She placed 13th at The Chevron Championship, 37th at the JM Eagle LA Championship, 13th at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass, won the Honda LPGA Thailand, placed tenth at the Founder’s Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands and placed 18th at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. She missed the cut last year at the U.S. Women’s Open but placed T20th in 2023, T51st in 2022 and sixth in 2021. 

A Lim Kim (+5000)

This is a value play at a big number for a player of A Lim Kim’s standard. She is out of form, which is why the number is what it is. She placed 56th in his last outing at the Mizuho Americas Open, missed the cut at the Black Desert Championship and placed 40th at The Chevron Championship. Prior to that however she placed 13th at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass, 17th at the Blue Bay LPGA, seventh at the HSBC Women’s World Championship, sixth at the Honda LPGA Thailand and won the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Kim is currently eighth on Tour in par-five average scoring, tenth in both average driving distance and SG: Scoring, 14th in SG: TTG, 36th in GIR%, 62nd in scrambling and 81st in SG: PUTT. She placed T16th last year at the U.S. Women’s Open, T64th in 2023, T34th in 2022, missed the cut in 2021 and won in 2020. 

Lindy Duncan (+6600)

My ‘long shot’ for the week is Duncan. She is currently eighth on Tour in SG: PUTT, ninth in SG: Scoring, 21st in average driving distance, 30th in GIR%, 37th in scrambling, 38th in par five average scoring and 58th in SG: TTG. She is in great form coming into this week. She placed 21st last week at the MEXICO Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba, 11th at the Mizuho Americas Open, 36th at the Black Desert Championship and was the runner-up at The Chevron Championship. She also placed fifth at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass and 12th at the Blue Bay LPGA on the season. She didn’t play in this event a season ago. She placed T59th in 2023 in her latest appearance.