ERIN, Wis. — The 80th playing of the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally gets underway this week at Erin Hills, marking the second major championship of the 2025 LPGA Tour season. The 156-player field boasts some of the most recognizable talents in all of women’s golf, including 24 of the top 25 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and eight past winners of this prestigious event, most notably defending champion and two-time U.S. Women’s Open winner Yuka Saso and Australian Minjee Lee, who won this championship when it was held at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club back in 2022.

Take a look at just some of the featured groups this week at the U.S. Women’s Open.

Thursday, 7:40 a.m.*/Friday, 1:25 p.m. – Yuka Saso/Lydia Ko/Rianne Malixi (a)

Defending champion Yuka Saso is looking to become the first athlete since Karrie Webb in 2001 to win back-to-back U.S. Women’s Open this week at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis. Saso became the first Japanese woman to win this major tournament in 2024 after she beat her fellow countrywoman Hinako Shibuno by three strokes at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Penn. She also became the youngest player in history to win two U.S. Women’s Opens last year and also tied Inbee Park as the youngest winner of this championship in 2021 when she won as a non-member at The Olympic Club. Because of all that past success in what is arguably the most difficult of the five LPGA major championships, it’s hard to count Saso completely out of the conversation at Erin Hills, but her recent form suggests a repeat winner is unlikely in 2025. The 23-year-old has made eight starts on the LPGA Tour this season and missed four cuts, three of which have come in her last three starts at The Chevron Championship (+6), the Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion (+6) and the Mizuho Americas Open (+12). Statistically, according to KPMG Performance Insights, Saso is only gaining strokes with her putting, currently ranking 18th in that metric, and she is additionally tied for sixth in putts per green in regulation (1.72). While putting is certainly one of the keys to success in major championships, at a place like Erin Hills, there will definitely be a premium put on ball-striking for those in the 156-player field this week, a part of her game that Saso will need to have dialed in if she wants the opportunity to collect a third U.S. Women’s Open title come Sunday afternoon.

Lydia Ko is once again chasing history this week at Erin Hills, as she has a chance to both complete the Career Grand Slam and surpass Annika Sorenstam on the Career Money List if she were to earn a 24th LPGA Tour victory at the 80th U.S. Women’s Open. If she does the former, Ko would be the first player since Inbee Park in 2015 to join the Career Grand Slam club and would do so in her first attempt. If she were to secure the $2.4 million winner’s check that is up for grabs, the 28-year-old would topple a record that Sorenstam has held since May 2001 and become the highest-earning athlete in the history of the LPGA with just 24 wins, compared to the Swede’s 72 titles. Ko is already a winner this season on the LPGA Tour, capturing a victory at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, and she has earned three other top-12 finishes in her six other starts this year – a solo sixth that came at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, a tie for sixth she recorded at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass and a tie for 11th she posted at the Mizuho Americas Open in her last Tour event. The LPGA Hall of Famer is making her 14th start in the U.S. Women’s Open, and in her 13 previous appearances, Ko has earned five top-15 results, the best of which is a tie for third that came at CordeValle Golf Resort in 2016. Looking at Ko’s statistics, the New Zealander is ranked inside the top 25 of three major strokes gained categories this year on the LPGA Tour, including strokes gained around the green (6, +0.61), strokes gained total (8, +1.81) and strokes gained tee to green (22, +1.03), examining data from KPMG Performance Insights. She is also tied for second in par-5 scoring (4.50), fourth in bogey avoidance (10.65 percent), ninth in birdie to bogey ratio (2.11) and ninth in scoring average (69.83).

Amateur Rianne Malixi won both the U.S. Girls’ Junior and the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2024, beating Asterisk Talley at El Caballero Country Club in the former and doing so again at Southern Hills Country Club in the latter, becoming the second player in history to win both titles in the same season. The 18-year-old hails from the Philippines and is currently committed to play collegiate golf at Duke University. She has accrued five points in the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway point standings, earning three points for her two aforementioned USGA Championship victories in 2024 and picking up two additional points because she reached the No. 3 spot in the World Amateur Golf Rankings last year.

Thursday, 1:25 p.m./Friday, 7:40 a.m.* – Nelly Korda/Charley Hull/Lexi Thompson

Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda will be working hard to find victory lane on the LPGA Tour for the first time since last year’s ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican this week at the 80th edition of the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally. This is her 11th start in this major championship, and Korda has only finished in the top 10 twice, doing so in 2018 at Shoal Creek (T10) and in 2022 at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club (T8). This is her eighth start of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and the 26-year-old hasn’t finished any worse than T28 and earned four top-15 results in her seven previous events, the best of which is a solo second that she posted at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Looking at her KPMG Performance Insights data, Korda is gaining strokes in every major category except around the green and currently ranks in the top 25 of five strokes gained metrics. She is second in both strokes gained total (+2.40) and strokes gained off the tee (+1.03), ninth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.59), 15th in strokes gained putting (+0.86) and 21st in strokes gained approach (+0.65). Korda additionally leads the LPGA Tour in scoring average (68.88), birdie percentage (29.17 percent) and both birdie or better average (5.29) and birdie or better percentage (29.40 percent). She is sixth in average driving distance (279.21 yards) and 11th in greens in regulation percentage (75 percent).

Charley Hull is making her eighth start of the 2025 LPGA Tour season at Erin Hills and comes to the 80th edition of the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally off a T32 showing at the MEXICO Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba last week. In the seven events she has played ahead of this week in Wisconsin, Hull has earned three top-20 finishes, the most notable of which is the tie for fourth that she posted at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore. Like her groupmate Korda, this is Hull’s 11th time competing in this major championship, and she has earned six top-25 results in her 10 previous U.S. Women’s Open appearances, the best of which is a tie for second that the 29-year-old recorded two years ago at Pebble Beach Golf Links. She also tied for 10th at the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open at Shoal Creek. Hull is gaining shots or breaking even in every major strokes gained category so far this year, according to KPMG Performance Insights, most notably ranking 13th in strokes gained off the tee (+0.60). She additionally ranks fifth in par-5 scoring (4.51), eighth in ball-striking (36), 13th in greens in regulation percentage (74.75 percent) and 17th in average driving distance (275.93 yards). And considering those ball-striking numbers and the proper English weather that is on the way this week at Erin Hills, don’t count out the Brit as a potential winner of the 80th U.S. Women’s Open.

Lexi Thompson is making her 19th U.S. Women’s Open start this week in Wisconsin and is one of two players in the field to have competed in that many editions of this major tournament throughout their careers. In her 18 previous appearances, Thompson has collected seven top-15 finishes, the best of which is a tie for second that she recorded in 2019 at the Country Club of Charleston in South Carolina. After stepping away from full-time professional golf at the conclusion of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, the 30-year-old has kept a limited schedule in 2025, only playing in four events ahead of this week at Erin Hills. In those four events, the 11-time Tour winner has missed one cut at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro and earned two top-15 finishes at the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands, where she tied for 13th, and The Chevron Championship, where she tied for 14th. Because of how little she has played, there isn’t a ton to go on in terms of Thompson’s statistical data, but one metric that does stand out is her greens in regulation percentage. Thompson currently ranks eighth in greens in reg on the LPGA Tour, finding the putting surface 75.79 percent of the time on her approach shots, something that will be a key to success at a windy and wet Erin Hills Golf Course.

Thursday, 1:36 p.m./Friday, 7:51 a.m.* – Minjee Lee/Mao Saigo/Jin Young Ko

Minjee Lee won the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally back in 2022 when the championship was contested at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. Along with that victory, the Australian has finished inside the top 15 four other times at this major tournament, most recently doing so in the last two U.S. Women’s Opens at Pebble Beach and Lancaster Country Club after tying for 13th and tying for ninth, respectively. The U.S. Women’s Open is Lee’s 10th start of the season, and outside of withdrawing from the Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion after the first round, the 10-time LPGA Tour winner hasn’t finished worse than T35 this year, earning six top-15 finishes, the best of which is a solo second that Lee recorded at the Blue Bay LPGA in the People’s Republic of China. She is gaining strokes in five major categories this year, according to KPMG Performance Insights, with strokes gained approach shockingly being the only metric in which she is losing strokes to her competitors. Lee is in the top 15 of three of those categories in 2025, currently sitting at fourth in strokes gained total (+2.23), ninth in strokes gained putting (+1.12) and 12th in strokes gained off the tee (+0.61). Lee is also eighth in scoring average (69.759), birdie to bogey ratio (2.12) and bogey avoidance (11.11 percent).

Mao Saigo became a Rolex First-Time Winner at The Chevron Championship last month after winning in a five-person playoff at The Club at Carlton Woods in the Woodlands, Texas. This is her fourth start in the U.S. Women’s Open, and the Japan native hasn’t finished any better than T33 in her previous three appearances. She is teeing it up in her 10th tournament of the 2025 season at Erin Hills, and along with her victory, Saigo has collected three other top-15 results – tying for 11th at the HSBC Women’s World Championship, tying for fifth at the Blue Bay LPGA and tying for ninth at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards. The second-year LPGA Tour member is currently leading the LPGA in official money ($1,422,258) and Rolex Player of the Year points (68) this season, ranks fourth in the Race to the CME Globe and is sitting at 13th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. Her most notable statistical ranking is in sub-par rounds, a metric in which Saigo is tied for eighth with 22 scores below par posted in 2025.

Former Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko has only ever missed the cut once when playing in the U.S. Women’s Open and recorded six consecutive top-20 finishes in this major tournament from 2017 to 2022. Her career-best finish in the event is a tie for second that came in 2020 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas, and Ko also has two other top 10s on her U.S. Women’s Open resume – a tie for seventh that she posted at The Olympic Club in 2021 and a solo fourth that she recorded at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in 2022. The 29-year-old has played in eight events before this week at Erin Hills and has earned four top-10 results in 2025, the most notable of which is the solo second she posted at Bradenton Country Club in the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands. Ko is ranked inside the top 25 of three strokes gained categories so far this season, including strokes gained total (11, +1.63), strokes gained approach (13, +0.87) and strokes gained tee to green (24, +0.99). The 15-time LPGA Tour winner is also sixth in scoring average (69.62), T9 in putts per green in regulation (1.73) and ninth in greens hit from the rough percentage (65.12 percent), the last of which is a skill that will likely come in handy this week what is set to be a challenging Erin Hills Golf Course.

*Off No. 10

All times are local. For a full list of tee times, please click here. For more information on how to watch the U.S. Women’s Open, please click here.

Featured Groups: 2025 U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally

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