> The U.S. Women’s Open was added to the USGA’s roster of championships in 1953.
> In recent years, the U.S. Women's Open has truly become the international showground for women's golf. In 2007, there were 18 different counties represented.
> Juli Inkster and Annika Sorenstam share the 72-hole scoring record of 272.
> In 1965, the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open was televised nationally for the first time. The Women’s Open has been televised ever since, with all four championship rounds now broadcast internationally.
The United States Golf Association (USGA) conducts 13 national championships annually, including the U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur. The U.S. Women’s Open was added to the USGA’s roster of championships in 1953, 58 years after the first U.S. Women’s Amateur, and is the oldest championship open to female golfers of both professional and amateur status.
The reason for the USGA’s relatively late assumption of the Women’s Open is simple: women’s professional golf is relatively new. When Opal Hill turned professional in 1938, she and Helen Hicks were among only a handful of female professional golfers in the world.
Before coming under the control of the USGA, the Women’s Open was first operated by the short-lived Women’s Professional Golfers Association (WPGA) in 1946. The WPGA introduced the Women's Open at match play at the Spokane (Wash.) Country Club. The Spokane Athletic Round Table, a men's fraternal organization, contributed the $19,700 purse from its slot-machine proceeds.
The first Women's Open was the only one conducted at match play. Patty Berg won the 36-hole qualifying medal in 1946 with rounds of 72-73-145, and then won the championship by defeating Betty Jameson, 5 and 4, in the 36-hole final.
The small membership of the WPGA operated the championship for three years. By 1950, however, women's professional golf was making significant strides and the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was founded. A group of 11 women, including Berg, Jameson, Louise Suggs and Babe Didrikson Zaharias, established the new association to provide organized tournaments for women professionals.
The LPGA conducted the Women's Open for four years, but asked the USGA to operate the championship beginning in 1953. The first Women's Open under the USGA flag was played at the Country Club of Rochester, N.Y., where Betsy Rawls won the second of her four Women's Open titles (1951, 1953, 1957 and 1960).
In its 62-year history, the U.S. Women's Open has reigned as the world's greatest women's championship, attracting a steadily increasing number of entries. Only 37 contestants played in 1953, but the field increased to 205 players in 1976 when sectional qualifying was introduced. In 2001, a record 980 contestants entered and in 2005, that record was surpassed with 1,158 entries. Local qualifying was introduced in 2002.
In recent years, the U.S. Women's Open has truly become the international showground for women's golf. More than half of the last 12 champions have been foreign-born, whereas only four of the first 40 champions were foreign-born. The emergence of the Women's Open as a great international contest came in 1987, when England's Laura Davies prevailed in an 18-hole playoff against Japan's Ayako Okamoto and JoAnne Gunderson Carner of the United States. Another foreign-born player, Annika Sorenstam of Sweden, established a 72-hole scoring record of 272, 8 under par, at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., in 1996. In 1999, Juli Inkster, an American professional, matched that 72-hole score of 272, also setting a record in relation to par with 16-under at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi.
In 1965, the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open was televised nationally for the first time. The Women’s Open has been televised ever since, with all four championship rounds now broadcast internationally.