ERIN, Wis. — This week marks the 80th edition of the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally, and in the years since LPGA Founder Patty Berg won the inaugural playing of this major in 1946, several other athletes have written their own chapters of history at this event. While low scores have been posted and tournament scoring records have been toppled, some of the more important moments saw many of the 55 past champions of the U.S. Women’s Open become the first player from their respective countries to either capture this prestigious title or win a major championship, sometimes even doing both.

Look back at some of the women who have accomplished incredible firsts for their countries and continents at the U.S. Women’s Open.

Fay Crocker

Fay Crocker courtesy of the USGA

Uruguay native Fay Crocker became the first international player to win a major championship on the LPGA Tour when she captured the U.S. Women’s Open in 1955 at Wichita Country Club in Wichita, Kan., after beating Mary Lena Faulk and Louise Suggs. Only months earlier, Crocker won the Serbin Open to become the first foreign-born athlete to earn a victory on the LPGA Tour, and she picked up her second career title at the Wolverine Open before her triumph in Kansas. Her U.S. Women’s Open was the first of two major championship wins that Crocker would collect throughout her LPGA Tour career, as she won the Titleholders Championship at Georgia’s Augusta Country Club in 1960, her last career victory on the LPGA Tour.

Catherine Lacoste

Frenchwoman Catherine Lacoste remains the only amateur to ever win the U.S. Women’s Open, doing so in 1967 at Virginia Hot Springs Golf and Tennis Club in Hot Springs, Va., after beating Susie Maxwell Berning and Beth Stone. But just as significantly, Lacoste was the first European athlete to win a major championship in LPGA Tour history and first of just three French players to accomplish the feat, later joined by Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, who won The Chevron Championship in 2003, and Celine Boutier, who captured The Amundi Evian Championship title in her home country in 2023.

Jan Stephenson

Jan Stephenson won the 1983 U.S. Women’s Open at Cedar Ridge in Tulsa, Okla., a victory that secured the Australian her third major victory and one that saw her become the first Aussie to win the U.S. Women’s Open. Stephenson was later joined as a U.S. Women’s Open champion by her fellow countrywomen Karrie Webb, who collected back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001, and Minjee Lee, who won the 2022 edition of the championship held at Pine Needles Lodge and Country Club.

Laura Davies

Dame Laura Davies burst onto the LPGA Tour scene in 1987 and won that season’s U.S. Women’s Open at Plainfield Country Club in Plainfield, N.J., as a non-member after beating JoAnne Carner and Ayako Okamoto in a playoff in the Garden State. That victory was one of 20 total wins and four major titles that Davies collected throughout her career, and she became the first Englishwoman to win a major championship with that title, later joined by Alison Nicholas and Georgia Hall.

Liselotte Neumann

Liselotte Neumann won the 1988 U.S. Women’s Open to not only pick up her first career LPGA Tour victory but also become the first woman from Sweden to take home a major championship title. Neumann beat Patty Sheehan by three strokes at Baltimore Country Club in Maryland en route to her major triumph, and there are only a handful of other Swedes who have won majors besides Neumann, a short list that only otherwise includes 10-time major champion Annika Sorenstam, 1993 Chevron Championship winner Helen Alfredsson, 2018 Chevron Championship victor Pernilla Lindberg and nine-time LPGA Tour winner Anna Nordqvist.

Se Ri Pak

Many remember Se Ri Pak’s shot from the water at the 1998 U.S. Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis., a decision that ultimately helped the Republic of Korea native force even more extra holes with amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn and go on to win her second major title in just under a couple of months’ time on the LPGA Tour. Pak became the first Korean, male or female, to win a major championship in May 1998 when she won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Del. She was also the first Korean in the history of the U.S. Women’s Open to win that title. These performances ultimately inspired the next generation of Koreans to take up the game of golf.

Ariya Jutanugarn

The 2018 season saw Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn capture the U.S. Women’s Open title at Shoal Creek in Alabama after beating Hyo Joo Kim in a playoff that wound up lasting four holes. Jutanugarn was the first Thai player to win a U.S. Women’s Open, and in doing so, became the first athlete from Thailand, male or female, to win a major championship. The victory is one of 12 wins that Jutanugarn has collected throughout her career and the second major title that she has earned since joining the LPGA in 2015.

Yuka Saso

Yuka Saso of the Philippines celebrates with the Harton S. Semple Trophy after winning the 76th U.S. Women's Open Championship

Yuka Saso is a bit of a two-for-one in the first-ever player to win from a country department at the U.S. Women’s Open. In 2021, at The Olympic Club, Saso became the first player from the Philippines to win the event as a non-member and was the first Filipino to hoist a major championship trophy in the history of the LPGA. Because she held dual citizenship with the Philippines and Japan, it was mandated by the Japanese government that Saso must choose citizenship for one country by the time she turned 22. After ultimately taking up Japanese citizenship, Saso captured her second U.S. Women’s Open title at Lancaster Country Club in 2024 under the Japanese flag, making her the first player from Japan to win the major tournament.

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