LOS ANGELES — Some of female golf’s heaviest hitters are showing up and out at the 81st U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally, which is being held for the first time ever this year at Riviera Country Club.

Through 54 holes in arguably the most difficult major championship in the women’s game, there are seven major winners in the top 12 on the leaderboard, all of whom have varying degrees of pedigree in the sport’s biggest tournaments.

Entering the week, the athlete whose name was on everyone’s lips as the clear favorite in the 156-player field was Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda. The 27-year-old got off to a sluggish start with a 73 on Thursday, but Korda has recovered beautifully, posting back-to-back rounds in the 60s on Friday and Saturday, something she had never before done in her U.S. Women’s Open career.

Her second-round 67 saw Korda card one bogey and five birdies, three of which came on the front nine at Riviera. Moving Day proved to be just as fortuitous for the 18-time LPGA Tour winner, with Korda again making one bogey and five birdies.

But her day-three effort saw the Olympic gold medalist finish with a flurry of birdies, as Nelly knocked her tee ball to five feet on 16, chipped her third to two feet on the par-5 17th and then stuffed her 153-yard approach shot to four feet on 18. That three-birdie closing stretch propelled Korda into a share of the lead at 6-under total alongside Sei Young Kim.

And while she was certainly locked in on her own game on Saturday in the event Korda has said multiple times she wants to win the most, when she looked at the leaderboard after signing her scorecard, the collective resume of the company she’s keeping through three rounds at Riviera wasn’t lost on the American superstar.

“I would definitely say that major championships at the end of the day are also about experience and not getting frustrated, knowing that you are going to miss a bunch of greens, and you're going to have to make some crazy up-and-downs and have to grind through it,” said Korda, who won The Chevron Championship this past April. “I would say experience definitely plays a big role in the leaderboard, how it shapes up in major championships. But I'm just grateful to be in this position, to be playing another 18 holes in this championship and have a chance for it.”

The Republic of Korea’s Sei Young Kim collected her 13th and most recent LPGA Tour victory last year at the BMW Ladies Championship, a triumph that ended a winless drought that had stretched four years, 10 months and 27 days, dating back to 2020. That year seven seasons saw Kim win twice, and she most notably became a major champion at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink after beating Inbee Park by five strokes in Pennsylvania.

Now, sitting in a tie with superstar Korda, Kim knows that patience, particularly at a venue that can be quite tricky when you put yourself out of position, is going to be key if she wants to actually contend for that long-awaited second major title on Sunday in Hollywood.

“It's been a long time since I won a major championship. Last time it was 2020, KPMG,” Kim said. “Maybe I play under the pressure tomorrow, but I try to (do) what I have to do to focus on the course. But this course is really need patient and just focus on one shot at a time. It's boring, but I have to do it.”

In a tie for third are Jennifer Kupcho and In Gee Chun, both of whom won their last majors in 2022. Kupcho, who was the first woman to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019, then became the last woman to make the jump into Poppie’s Pond at Mission Hills Country Club when she took home The Chevron Championship title back in 2022.

It would be a serendipitous wink from the golf gods if the American emerges as the winner on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, as she would be the first woman to win a major championship at Riviera. But Kupcho isn’t going to be focused on anything except what’s directly in front of her, namely a shot at hoisting the Harton S. Semple trophy if she can outlast a strong field comprised of several of her fellow major champions.

“(They’re) all really great competitors. We have great competitors week in and week out on the LPGA, so I think we're all fit for it. It's going to be a great Sunday finish,” Kupcho said about the caliber of the leaderboard. “Honestly, just go out and have fun. I can't control what anyone else is doing, so I'm going to go out there and do my best and see how that matches up with them.”

Chun’s most recent LPGA Tour victory was the 2022 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club, a title that the Korean wrestled away from Lexi Thompson just outside the U.S. capital. The 31-year-old hasn’t played spectacular golf since that victory, only managing to record three top 10s after winning the third major of her career.

A success at Riviera would be the second U.S. Women’s Open that Chun has won in 11 years, but while the trophy she hoisted at Lancaster Country Club changed her life, as it skyrocketed her name to stardom, a win in Hollywood would affirm that a much older In Gee still belongs among the game’s best.

“I just kept playing year by year and focus on what I can do out there,” Chun said. “Sometimes, I had a hard time on the course, but I trust the people who trust me, and they kept cheering me on. And I want to give something back to my fans and my sponsors, and that was a really good motivation to keep playing out here.”

After a frustrating start to her third round, 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner Ruoning Yin rallied late, making birdies on 13, 16 and 17 to clean up the three bogeys she made on the front nine and maintain her top-five position on the leaderboard after co-leading with Alison Lee through 36 holes.

Yin’s win at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course made her the first major champion from the People’s Republic of China since Shanshan Feng, who won the 2012 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y. And even though the 23-year-old talent would love to be able to press the gas pedal over the final 18 holes in pursuit of her second major victory, Ruoning knows that isn’t going to be possible at a challenging facility like Riviera.

“Two shots back in a major is not a lot, so especially this course is very difficult,” said Yin. “You can easily make bogeys, so tomorrow I think I'm going to stay patient, and then I think last six holes brings me good vibes, so going to keep doing that.”

Two recent U.S. Women’s Open champions are part of a logjam of athletes in a tie for 11th at 2-under. Maja Stark picked up her first major title last season at the 80th edition of the U.S. Women’s Open that was played at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, becoming just the sixth Swede in the history of women’s golf to win a major and first since Anna Nordqvist captured the 2021 AIG Women’s Open at Carnoustie.

Allisen Corpuz became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, the most recent Open to be played in the state of California. She was the second Hawaiian winner of the championship after Michelle Wie West triumphed at Pinehurst in 2014 and has enjoyed some consistent golf this week in front of a friendly local crowd, comprised of many of her fellow former USC Trojans, as well as several members of the support system she built while living much of her early life in Los Angeles.

“I think once you graduate college, it is a big transition, where you're headed over to someone's house every day, it feels like in college, and then you graduate, and suddenly you don't see them,” said Corpuz. “One of my friends I don't think I've seen them in person in six years, since COVID has hit. It’s really special to have so many friends still in LA and still so close and able to come out this weekend.

“Heard them all cheering for me today. Just means a little more to have them out.”

So, if you’re trying to predict a winner of the 81st U.S. Women’s Open, good luck. This leaderboard is more than stacked with impeccable talent, even outside of this list of major champions.

But one thing’s for certain at this tournament. Drama is going to ensue, and we all will just have to wait to see who ultimately scripts their own Hollywood ending at one of the most iconic venues in American golf.

Major Champions Make Up Majority of Top 12 after 54 Holes at U.S. Women’s Open

Related Articles