2008 U.S. Women's Open


The 2008 U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship was the 63rd U.S. Women's Open, held June 26–29 at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb southwest of Minneapolis. It was the first U.S. Women's Open played at the course, which hosted the Solheim Cup in 2002. The winner was 19-year-old Inbee Park, four strokes ahead of runner-up Helen Alfredsson. The tournament was televised by ESPN and NBC Sports.
The course hosted the U.S. Open in 1930, part of the grand slam of Bobby Jones.

Field

Exempt players

1. Last 10 U.S. Women's Open Champions

Juli Inkster, Birdie Kim, Cristie Kerr, Hilary Lunke, Meg Mallon, Se Ri Pak, Annika Sörenstam, Karrie Webb
2. Top two finishers in the 2007 U.S. Women's Amateur and winner of the 2006 U.S. Women's Amateur

Amanda Blumenherst, Kimberly Kim, Mariajo Uribe
3. Last five LPGA Champions

Suzann Pettersen, Yani Tseng
4. Last five Women's British Open Champions

Jeong Jang, Lorena Ochoa, Sherri Steinhauer, Karen Stupples
5. Last five Kraft Nabisco Champions

Grace Park, Morgan Pressel
6. From the 2007 U.S. Women's Open, the 20 lowest scorers and ties.

Kyeong Bae, Paula Creamer, Julieta Granada, Amy Hung, Jimin Kang, Christina Kim, Mi Hyun Kim, Jee Young Lee, Brittany Lincicome, Catriona Matthew, Ai Miyazato, Angela Park, Inbee Park, Jiyai Shin, Angela Stanford
7. From the 2007 LPGA Tour money list, the top 40 money leaders

Shi Hyun Ahn, Nicole Castrale, Laura Davies, Laura Diaz, Meaghan Francella, Natalie Gulbis, Sophie Gustafson, Rachel Hetherington, Maria Hjorth, Pat Hurst, I.K. Kim, Young Kim, Brittany Lang, Sarah Lee, Seon Hwa Lee, Na On Min, Stacy Prammanasudh, Reilley Rankin, Lindsey Wright
8. From the 2008 LPGA Tour money, the top 35 money leaders through June 1

Minea Blomqvist, Na Yeon Choi, Allison Fouch, Hee-Won Han, Song-Hee Kim, Candie Kung, Leta Lindley, Teresa Lu, Jane Park, Momoko Ueda, Sun Young Yoo
9. Winner of tournaments from the conclusion of last year's U.S. Women's Open until now

Louise Friberg
10. Top 3 players from the Japan LPGA Tour, LPGA of Korea Tour, and Ladies European Tour

Sun-Ju Ahn, Bettina Hauert, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Eun-Hee Ji, Gwladys Nocera, Sakura Yokomine

Qualifiers

- amateur

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Course layout

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yardage3444735571784384123162274133,3585283531645251853453604415303,4316,789
Par455344434365435344453773

Source:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Open kicked off on Thursday with the field playing in threesomes starting from either the first tee or the tenth tee. Featured threesomes included Annika Sörenstam, Suzann Pettersen, and Paula Creamer, ranked 2, 3, and 4 respectively in the world rankings. Sorenstam and Petterssen opened their U.S. Opens with scores of 75 and 77 respectively. Creamer shot a 70 to move three shots off the pace. The other featured threesome included number one ranked player Lorena Ochoa, defending U.S. Open champion Cristie Kerr, and 2007 U.S. Women's Amateur champion Maria José Uribe. Uribe led that group with a 69 to lead all amateurs and end the day in a tie for fourth overall; Kerr shot a 1-under 72; Ochoa had an up-and-down round of even-par 73. The rounds of the day belonged to Ji Young Oh, who had eight birdies and two bogeys and to Pat Hurst who had six birdies and an eagle. Oh and Hurst tied after Round 1 at six-under par 67.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Pat Hurst67−6
T1Ji Young Oh67−6
3Song-Hee Kim68−5
T4Louise Friberg69−4
T4Jiyai Shin69−4
T4Mariajo Uribe 69−4
T7Helen Alfredsson70−3
T7Paula Creamer70−3
T7Laura Davies70−3
T7Catriona Matthew70−3
T7Linda Wessberg70−3

Second round

Friday, June 27, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
With Thursday's rounds completed many well-known American players took a step down on the competition while many lesser-known and international players took a step up. A two-hour weather delay required some to finish their rounds on Saturday morning. Angela Park had an even round on Thursday, and a 6-under 67 in the second round. She held a one-stroke lead over three others: Inbee Park of Korea, Helen Alfredsson of Sweden, and the only Finnish player in the tournament, Minea Blomqvist. The two leading Americans were Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr at 4-under 142. Both first-round leaders took a severe fall on Friday, with Ji Young Oh, who had to finish her second round on Saturday due to the weather delay, shooting a 76 and Pat Hurst turning in a 5-over 78. Many top-ranked or well-known players missed the cut, including Laura Davies, Natalie Gulbis, 13-year-old Alexis Thompson, 2003 champion and Minnesotan Hilary Lunke, Juli Inkster, and Michelle Wie.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Angela Park
73-67=140−6
T2Helen Alfredsson70-71=141−5
T2Minea Blomqvist72-69=141−5
T2Inbee Park72-69=141−5
T5Jeong Jang73-69=142−4
T5Cristie Kerr72-70=142−4
T5Candie Kung72-70=142−4
T5Paula Creamer70-72=142−4
T9Stacy Lewis73-70=143−3
T9Momoko Ueda72-71=143−3
T9Teresa Lu71-72=143−3
T9Ai Miyazato71-72=143−3
T9Louise Friberg69-74=143−3
T9Jiyai Shin69-74=143−3
T9Mariajo Uribe 69-74=143−3
T9Ji Young Oh67-72=143−3

Third round

Saturday, June 28, 2008
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Stacy Lewis73-70-67=210−9
2Paula Creamer70-72-69=211−8
T3Helen Alfredsson70-71-71=212−7
T3Inbee Park72-69-71=212−7
5I.K. Kim71-73-69=213−6
6Mi Hyun Kim72-72-70=214−5
T7Mariajo Uribe 69-74-72=215−4
T7Angela Park
73-67-75=215−4
T9Young Kim74-71-71=216−3
T9Momoko Ueda72-71-73=216−3
T9Teresa Lu71-72-73=216−3
T9Jeong Jang73-69-74=216−3

Final round

Sunday, June 29, 2008
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Inbee Park72-69-71-71=283−9585,000
2Helen Alfredsson70-71-71-75=287−5350,000
T3Angela Park
73-67-75-73=288−4162,487
T3In-Kyung Kim71-73-69-75=288−4162,487
T3Stacy Lewis73-70-67-78=288−4162,487
T6Giulia Sergas73-74-72-70=289−394,117
T6Nicole Castrale74-70-74-71=289−394,117
T6Mi Hyun Kim72-72-70-75=289−394,117
T6Paula Creamer70-72-69-78=289−394,117
T10Teresa Lu71-72-73-74=290−275,734
T10Mariajo Uribe 69-74-72-75=290−20

Source:

Scorecard

Final round
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718
Par455344434543534445
Park−8−9−9−9−9−8−8−7−7−7−8−8−9−9−9−9−8−9
Alfredsson−7−8−7−6−5−5−5−4−4−4−4−3−5−5−5−4−4−5
I.K. Kim−6−7−6−6−5−4−4−3−3−3−4−3−4−5−4−5−3−4
Lewis−9−7−7−7−7−7−7−6−5−5−5−4−5−5−4−4−4−4
Creamer−8−6−6−7−7−6−6−5−3−3−3−2−2−2−2−3−3−3
M.H. Kim−4−4−4−5−5−4−4−2−3−3−4−5−4−4−4−4−3−3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source: