The 2021 U.S. Women's Open was the 76th U.S. Women's Open, played June 3–6, 2021 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, California.

The U.S. Women's Open is the oldest of the five current major championships and was the second of the 2021 season. It has the largest purse in women's golf at $5.5 million.

The winner was the Philippines' Yuka Saso, who defeated Japan's Nasa Hataoka on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff after both players had tied at 280 (4 under par). In third place was American Lexi Thompson, who had held a five stroke lead just before the midway point of the final round but dropped five strokes on the back-nine, including bogeys on each of the last two holes, to miss the playoff by one stroke.

Venue

The 2021 U.S. Women's Open was played on The Olympic Club's Lake course, which had previously hosted the men's U.S. Open five times. It was the first time the tournament had been in California since 2016, when it took place at CordeValle Golf Club.

Course layout Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards5283822093964324202631543803,1933924113981714101375634853263,2936,486Par543444434354443435543671

Yardage by round RoundHole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalPar5434444343544434355436711stYards5353811963954313882601483863,1203933873721763981365574983253,2426,3622ndYards528389188403422379269162 3813,1213944173841344061445654843343,2626,3833rdYards5273861963884383852291563743,079400375402184415995664903283,2596,338FinalYards5343751914024264192711473843,1493844153761444121325584413143,1766,325

Field The field for the U.S. Women's Open is made up of players who gain entry through qualifying events and those who are exempt from qualifying. The exemption criteria include provision for recent major champions, winners of major amateur events, and leading players in the Women's World Golf Rankings. 156 players will make up the field.

Exemptions This list details the exemption criteria for the 2021 U.S. Women's Open and the players who qualified under them; any additional criteria under which players are exempt is indicated in parentheses.

1. Recent winners of the U.S. Women's Open (2011–2020)

Choi Na-yeon Chun In-gee (7,15) Ariya Jutanugarn (2,8,10,15) Kim A-lim (2,10,15) Brittany Lang Lee Jeong-eun (2,15) Inbee Park (2,9,10,15) Park Sung-hyun (6,15) Ryu So-yeon (5,9,15) Michelle Wie West

2. The leading ten players, and those tying for tenth place, in the 2020 U.S. Women's Open

Moriya Jutanugarn (9,15) Megan Khang (15) Ko Jin-young (5,7,10,14,15) Amy Olson (9,15) Kaitlyn Papp (a) Hinako Shibuno (8,15)

3. The winner of the 2020 U.S. Women's Amateur

Rose Zhang (a,13)

4. The runner-up in the 2020 U.S. Women's Amateur

Gabriela Ruffels

5. Recent winners of the ANA Inspiration (2017–2021)

Mirim Lee (10,15) Pernilla Lindberg Patty Tavatanakit (10,14,15)

6. Recent winners of the Women's PGA Championship (2017–2020)

Hannah Green (15) Danielle Kang (9,10,14,15) Kim Sei-young (9,10,14,15)

7. Recent winners of Evian Championship (2016–2019)

Anna Nordqvist (9,15) Angela Stanford (9,10)

8. Recent winners of Women’s British Open (2016–2020)

Georgia Hall (9,10,15) In-Kyung Kim Sophia Popov (10,15)

9. The leading 30 players from the 2020 LPGA Race to the CME Globe final points standings

Céline Boutier (15) Ashleigh Buhai (15) Carlota Ciganda (15) Austin Ernst (10,14,15) Jodi Ewart Shadoff Ally Ewing (10,15) Nasa Hataoka (15) Brooke Henderson (10,15) Stacy Lewis (10,15) Cheyenne Knight Lydia Ko (10,14,15) Nelly Korda (10,14,15) Jennifer Kupcho (15) Minjee Lee Gaby López (15) Yealimi Noh (15) Park Hee-young Mel Reid (10,15) Madelene Sagström (15) Jennifer Song (15) Thidapa Suwannapura

10. Winners of official LPGA Tour events from the originally scheduled date of the 2020 U.S. Women's Open to the start of the 2021 tournament

Hsu Wei-Ling Kim Hyo-joo (15) Jessica Korda (14,15)

11. The winner of the 2021 Augusta National Women's Amateur

Tsubasa Kajitani (a)

12. The winner of the 2020 Women's Amateur Championship

Aline Krauter (a)

13. The winner of the Mark H. McCormack Medal in 2020

14. The leading 10 players on the 2021 Race to CME Globe points standings as of April 14, 2021

Lexi Thompson (15)

15. The leading 75 players on the Women's World Golf Rankings as of April 14, 2021

Marina Alex Brittany Altomare Shanshan Feng Kristen Gillman Charley Hull M. J. Hur Ji Eun-hee Lee Da-yeon Lee Mi-hyang Liu Yu Nanna Koerstz Madsen Caroline Masson Emily Kristine Pedersen Lizette Salas Yuka Saso Angel Yin Amy Yang

Choi Hye-jin and Ryu Hae-ran did not play.

16. The leading 75 players on the Women's World Golf Rankings not otherwise exempt as of May 17, 2021

Lin Xiyu Jenny Shin

Yuna Nishimura and Miyū Yamashita did not play.

17. The leading player from the 2020 China LPGA Tour order of merit not otherwise exempt as of April 14, 2021

Yin Ruoning

18. The top four finishers in the 2020 South African Women's Open

Nicole Garcia Leonie Harm Karolin Lampert Lee-Anne Pace

19. The leading two players from the 2020 LPGA of Korea Tour order of merit not otherwise exempt as of April 14, 2021

20. Special exemptions

Paula Creamer Cristie Kerr

Qualifying The championship is open to any female professional or amateur golfer with a USGA or World Handicap System index not exceeding 2.4. Players may qualify by competing in tournaments of over 36 holes held between April 21 and May 13, 2021, at 22 designated sites. The following table details the players who qualified.

Date Location Venue Field Spots Qualifiers Apr26 Yokohama, Japan Yokohama Country Club 107 5 Chihiro Kogure (a), Miname Katsu, Hikari Kawamitsu, Momoka Miyake, Natsumi Nakanish Apr26 Woodburn, Oregon Oga Golf Course 53 2 Luna Sobrón, Monica Vaughn (a) Apr26 Ormond Beach, Florida Oceanside Country Club 56 2 Kim Métraux, Megan Osland Apr26 Half Moon Bay, California Half Moon Bay Golf Links 71 3 Lucy Li, Kathleen Scavo, Kelly Tan Apr26 Beaumont, California Morongo Golf Resort 76 5 Pajaree Anannarukarn, Alison Lee, Wichanee Meechai, Sarah Jane Smith, Linnea Ström Apr27 Alexandria, Virginia Belhaven Country Club 63 3 Sarah Kemp, Emily Mahar (a), Aneka Seumanutafa (a) Apr28 St. Peters, Missouri Old Hickory Golf Club 41 2 Maja Stark (a), Emma Talley Apr29 Dekalb, Illinois Kishwaukee Country Club 47 2 Abbey Daniel (a), Céline Herbin May3 Bradenton, Florida Bradenton Country Club 69 3 Alyssa Lamoureux (a), Elizabeth Szokol, Karoline Tuttle (a) May3 Mendota Heights, Minnesota Somerset Country Club 33 2 Sarah Burnham, Isabella McCauley (a) May3 Humble, Texas Golf Club of Houston 70 3 Gurleen Kaur (a), Park Boh-yun (a), Tseng Tsai-Ching May3 Novato, California Marin Country Club 50 2 Rachel Heck (a), Jaclyn LaHa (a) May3 Brentwood, California Brentwood Country Club 77 4 Amari Avery (a), Jenny Coleman, Amelia Garvey (a), Haley Moore May3 Atlanta, Georgia Druid Hills Golf Club 54 3 Hung Jo-Hua (a), Alexandra Swayne (a), Ana Peláez Triviño (a) May4 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Shannopin Country Club 49 2 Jensen Castle (a), Allie White May4 Southern Pines, North Carolina Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club 72 3 Haylee Harford, Gina Kim (a), Lauren Stephenson May5 Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham Country & Polo Club 38 2 Christina Kim, Noemie Paré (a) May10 Westminster, Colorado The Ranch Country Club 39 2 Matilda Castren, Louise Stahle May10 Honolulu, Hawaii Oahu Country Club 40 2 Tiffany Chan, Claire Choi (a) May10 Spring Lake, New Jersey Spring Lake Country Club 48 2 Megha Ganne (a), Cheyenne Woods May10 Corinth, Texas Oakmont Country Club 67 3 Ingrid Gutiérrez Núñez, Kim Kaufman, Rebecca Lee-Bentham May11 West Palm Beach, Florida Banyan Cay Resort & Country Club 61 3 Chloe Kovelesky (a), Azahara Muñoz, María Parra May13 Gold Canyon, Arizona Superstition Mountain Golf Club 63 6 Mina Harigae, Amanda Linnér (a), Stephanie Meadow, Giulia Molinaro, Pornanong Phatlum, Sarah Schmelzel

Alternates who gained entry The following players gained a place in the field having finished as the leading alternates in the specified final qualifying events: Addie Baggarly (a, Ormond Beach) Cheng Ssu-Chia (Half Moon Bay) Daniela Darquea (St. Peters) Leigha Devine (a, Spring Lake) Muni He (Woodburn) Minori Nagano (a, Bradenton) Natalie Srinivasan (Southern Pines) Ayako Uehara (Beaumont) Britney Yada (Westminster)

Round summaries First round Thursday, June 3, 2021 Place Player Score To parT1 Megha Ganne (a) 67 −4 Mel ReidT3 Brooke Henderson 68 −3 Megan Khang Angel YinT6 Shanshan Feng 69 −2 Yuka Saso Lexi ThompsonT9 Marina Alex 70 −1 Austin Ernst Ko Jin-young Jennifer Kupcho Lee Jeong-eun Wichanee Meechai Lauren Stephenson Source:

Second round Friday, June 4, 2021 Place Player Score To par1 Yuka Saso 69-67=136 −62 Lee Jeong-eun 70-67=137 −5T3 Megan Khang 68-70=138 −4 Megha Ganne (a) 67-71=1385 Shanshan Feng 69-70=139 −3T6 Inbee Park 71-69=140 −2 Lexi Thompson 69-71=140 Mel Reid 67-73=140T9 Nasa Hataoka 72-69=141 −1 Ariya Jutanugarn 71-70=141 Maja Stark (a) 71-70=141 Source:

Third round Saturday, June 5, 2021 Place Player Score To par1 Lexi Thompson 69-71-66=206 −72 Yuka Saso 69-67-71=207 −6T3 Megha Ganne (a) 67-71-72=210 −3 Lee Jeong-eun 70-67-73=2105 Shanshan Feng 69-70-72=211 −2T6 Nasa Hataoka 72-69-71=212 −1 Megan Khang 68-70-74=2128 Inbee Park 71-69-73=213 ET9 Angel Yin 68-79-67=214 +1 Kim Hyo-joo 72-70-72=214 Maja Stark (a) 71-70-73=214 Source:

Final round Sunday, June 6, 2021 Place Player Score To par Money ($)T1 Yuka Saso 69-67-71-73=280 −4 Playoff Nasa Hataoka 72-69-71-68=280 3 Lexi Thompson 69-71-66-75=281 −3 381,974T4 Shanshan Feng 69-70-72-71=282 −2 245,394 Megan Khang 68-70-74-70=282 6 Angel Yin 68-79-67-70=284 E 197,751 T7 Brooke Henderson 68-78-69-70=285 +1 147,265 Ariya Jutanugarn 71-70-74-70=285 Ko Jin-young 70-74-72-69=285 Lin Xiyu 72-74-72-67=285 Inbee Park 71-69-73-72=285 Source:

Scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Par 5 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 5 5 4 Saso −6 −4 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −4 −4 Hataoka −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 E −1 −2 −2 −2 −1 −1 −2 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 Thompson −8 −7 −7 −7 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −6 −6 −6 −5 −5 -5 −4 −3 Feng −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −2 −2 Khang −1 E −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −2 −3 −2 Yin E E E E E E −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −1 −1 −1 E E E Henderson +2 +2 +2 +2 +1 +1 +1 E +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +1 +1 Jutanugarn +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +3 +2 +1 +1 +1 Ko +2 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +2 +2 +2 +2 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 Lin +4 +5 +5 +6 +5 +5 +5 +5 +4 +4 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +2 +1 +1 Park E +1 +1 +1 +2 +3 +3 +2 +2 +3 +3 +2 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par {| class="wikitable" span="50" style="font-size:85%;" |- | style="background:red;" width="10" | | Eagle | style="background:pink;" width="10" | | Birdie | style="background:palegreen;" width="10" | | Bogey | style="background:green;" width="10" | | Double Bogey

Playoff Place Player Score To par Money ($)1 Yuka Saso 4-4-3=11 −1 1,000,0002 Nasa Hataoka 4-4-4=12 E 536,500 Two-hole aggregate playoff on holes 9 and 18 before a sudden-death playoff on hole 9

Scorecard Hole 9 18 9 Par 4 4 4 Saso E E −1 Hataoka E E E Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par Source:

Notes

References

External links

United States Golf Association website