# 2010 U.S. Women's Open

The 2010 U.S. Women's Open was the 65th U.S. Women's Open, played July 8–11 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. Paula Creamer, in her fourth tournament after surgery to her left thumb, won her first major championship, four shots ahead of runners-up Na Yeon Choi and Suzann Pettersen.
It was the second U.S. Women's Open, and 15th overall USGA championship (8 U.S. Open and 5 U.S. Amateur championships also; a 16th has since been hosted) held at Oakmont, which hosted 18 years earlier in 1992; Patty Sheehan won that year, in an 18-hole playoff over Juli Inkster. The Tournament was televised by ESPN and NBC Sports.

## Qualifying and field

For the first time since 2001, qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open took place in a single sectional qualifying tournament stage, rather than in a two-stage process of local and sectional qualifying tournaments. Twenty separate sectional qualifying tournaments took place from May 2 through June 3 in 16 states across the United States.

### Exempt from qualifying

Players in eleven categories were exempt from qualifying. Players are listed only once in the first category in which they qualify, with additional categories in parentheses ( ) next to their names. Golfers qualifying in Category 10 who qualify by more than one method are also denoted with the tour by which they qualified.
1. Winners of the U.S. Women's Open for the last ten years (2000–2009) Juli Inkster, Eun-Hee Ji (6,7), Cristie Kerr (3,6,7,8,9), Birdie Kim, Hilary Lunke, Inbee Park (7,8), Karrie Webb (5,7) (Eligible but not playing: Annika Sörenstam$^1$ and Meg Mallon$^3$) Kim and Lunke did not play.
2. Winner and runner-up from the 2009 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship (must be an amateur) Jennifer Johnson (The winner, Jennifer Song, turned professional on June 17, 2010, and lost her exemption in this category. She remains exempt in Category 6 below.)
3. Winners of the LPGA Championship for the last five years Anna Nordqvist (7,9), Se Ri Pak (7,9), Suzann Pettersen (6,7,8,9), Yani Tseng (5,7,8,9)
4. Winners of the Ricoh Women's British Open for the last five years Jeong Jang, Catriona Matthew (7,9,10–LET), Jiyai Shin (6,7,8,9), Sherri Steinhauer (Eligible but not playing: Lorena Ochoa$^1$ (5,7,8,9))
5. Winners of the Kraft Nabisco Championship for the last five years Brittany Lincicome (6,7), Morgan Pressel (6,7)
6. From the 2009 U.S. Women's Open Championship, the 15 lowest scores and anyone tying for 15th place Sun Ju Ahn (10–Korea), Kyeong Bae (7), Na Yeon Choi (7,9), Paula Creamer (7), In-Kyung Kim (7), Song-Hee Kim (7,8), Candie Kung (7), Ai Miyazato (7,8,9), Hee Young Park (7), Morgan Pressel (7), Jennifer Song
7. From the 2009 final official LPGA money list, the top 50 money leaders Helen Alfredsson, Meaghan Francella, Sandra Gal, Natalie Gulbis, Sophie Gustafson (9,10–LET), Hee-Won Han, Maria Hjorth, Katherine Hull, M. J. Hur (9), Pat Hurst, Vicky Hurst, Christina Kim, Brittany Lang, Jee Young Lee, Meena Lee, Seon Hwa Lee, Stacy Lewis (8), Mika Miyazato, Ji Young Oh, Michele Redman, Angela Stanford, Momoko Ueda, Wendy Ward, Michelle Wie (8,9), Lindsey Wright, Amy Yang, Eunjung Yi, Sun Young Yoo
'8. From the 2010 official LPGA money list, the top 10 money leaders through the close of entries on May 5
9. Winners of LPGA co-sponsored events, whose victories are considered official, from the conclusion of the 2009 U.S. Women's Open Championship to the initiation of the 2010 U.S. Women's Open Championship Bo Bae Song$^2$
10. Top five money leaders from the 2009 Japan LPGA Tour, Korea LPGA Tour, and Ladies European Tour Japan LPGA Tour: Sakura Yokomine, Shinobu Moromizato, Chie Arimura, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Yuko Mitsuka, Korea LPGA Tour: Hee Kyung Seo, So Yeon Ryu, Bo-Mee Lee, Jeong-Eun Lee Ladies European Tour: Becky Brewerton, Tania Elósegui, Marianne Skarpnord
11. Special exemptions selected by the USGA none offered
$^1$Both Sörenstam and Ochoa have announced their retirement, but are officially listed by the LPGA as "inactive". $^2$Bo Bae Song was not an LPGA Tour member when she won the Mizuno Classic in 2009. This means that her victory and prize money are not included in LPGA career statistics. However, since the Mizuno Classic is sanctioned by the LPGA as an official money event, Song's victory is considered "official" for purposes of U.S. Women's Open entry. $^3$Mallon announced her retirement from competitive golf on July 7, 2010, and withdrew from the tournament. She was replaced by alternate Nicole Vandermade.

### Qualifiers

The following players qualified for the 2010 U.S. Women's Open through one of the sectional qualifying tournaments. At sites with multiple qualifiers, players are listed in order of qualifying scores, from lowest score to highest.
May 17 at White Bear Yacht Club, White Bear Lake, Minnesota Martha Nause
May 17 at Shady Oaks Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas María Hernández, Taylor Leon, Heather Young
May 19 at Plantation Bay Country Club, Ormond Beach, Florida Alexis Thompson, Yueer Feng, Jaye Marie Green, Shasta Averyhardt, Sarah Kemp, Veronica Felibert
May 24 at Pinnacle Peak Country Club, Scottsdale, Arizona Aiko Ueno, Shi Hyun Ahn, Paige Mackenzie, Nicole Zhang, Juliana Murcia Ortiz, Esther Choe
May 24 at Corral de Tierra Country Club, Corral de Tierra, California Mina Harigae, Tiffany Lim, Sofie Andersson Sally Watson
May 24 at Mission Viejo Country Club, Mission Viejo, California Tiffany Joh, Alison Lee, Jenny Shin, Gabriella Then
May 24 at The Oaks Club, Osprey, Florida Jessica Korda, Samantha Richdale, Jennifer Gleason, Victoria Tanco, Sandra Changkija
May 24 at Twin Orchard Country Club, Long Grove, Florida Libby Smith, Nicole Jeray, Laura Kueny, Ashli Bunch
May 24 at Woodmont Country Club, Rockville, Maryland Chella Choi, Karine Icher, Pornanong Phatlum, Hye Jung Choi, Laura Diaz, Meredith Duncan, Alison Walshe, Julieta Granada, Alena Sharp, Shanshan Feng, Jung Yeon Lee, Louise Friberg
May 24 at Persimmon Woods Golf Club, St. Louis, Missouri Kelli Shean, Lucy Nunn
May 24 at Shadow Hawk Golf Club, Richmond, Texas Lisa McCloskey, Christi Cano, Janine Fellows
May 25 at Hawk Pointe Golf Club, Washington, New Jersey Amanda Blumenherst, Azahara Muñoz, Na On Min, Jennifer Rosales
May 26 at White Columns Country Club, Milton, Georgia Allison Fouch, Karen Stupples, Irene Cho, Stacy Prammanasudh, Sarah Lynn Sargent
May 26 at Tumble Creek Club, Roslyn, Washington Christine Wong
May 30 at Hoakalei Country Club, Ewa Beach, Hawaii Sakurako Mori
May 31 at Broadmoor Golf Club, Colorado Springs, Colorado Kimberly Kim, Jill McGill, Mhairi McKay
June 1 at Industry Hills Golf Club, City of Industry, California Giulia Sergas, Kaitlin Drolson, Belen Mozo, Stephanie Kono, Sun Gyoung Park, Ariya Jutanugarn, Charlotte Mayorkas, Tamie Durdin, Danielle Kang, Lizette Salas, Anna Rawson
June 1 at Twin Hills Country Club, Longmeadow, Massachusetts Brittany Altomare, Liz Janangelo
June 2 at Fox Chapel Golf Club, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Janice Moodie, Jennifer Kirby, Becky Morgan
June 3 at Carolina Trace (Lakes Course), Sanford, North Carolina Hsiao-Ching Lu, Gwladys Nocera, Joomi Kim
Alternates
* Courtney Ellenbogen – the first alternate from the Sanford, North Carolina qualifier with a score of 77-68=145 was added to the field when the last three winners on the LPGA Tour—Meaghan Francella, Ai Miyazato and Cristie Kerr—already had qualified for the tournament, opening up additional spots.
* Nicole Vandermade – replaced Meg Mallon who announced her retirement from golf and withdrew from the tournament on July 7. Vandermade was the first alternate from the Richmond, Texas qualifier with a score of 74-71=145.
* Sara-Maude Juneau – replaced Chie Arimura. Juneau was the first alternate from the St. Louis qualifier with a score of 75-71=146.

## Course layout

| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
| Yards | 437 | 325 | 400 | 559 | 360 | 170 | 392 | 252 | 447 | 3,342 | 440 | 340 | 602 | 153 | 350 | 442 | 209 | 245 | 445 | 3,226 | 6,568 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 35 | 71 |
Source: Lengths of the course for previous U.S. Women's Opens:
* 1992: 6,312 yards (5,772 m), par 71
Note: The 9th hole is par 5 for women only in USGA championships. For men's majors, it is a par 4.

## Round summaries
### First round

Thursday, July 8, 2010
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| 1 | Brittany Lang | 69 | −2 |
| T2 | M. J. Hur | 70 | −1 |
| T2 | Inbee Park | 70 | −1 |
| T2 | Kelli Shean (a) | 70 | −1 |
| T2 | Amy Yang | 70 | −1 |
| T6 | Mhairi McKay | 71 | E |
| T6 | Sakura Yokomine | 71 | E |
| T8 | Shi Hyun Ahn | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Paula Creamer | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Sophie Gustafson | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Vicky Hurst | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Cristie Kerr | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Christina Kim | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Song-Hee Kim | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Jeong-Eun Lee | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Jee Young Lee | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Kristy McPherson | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Shinobu Moromizato | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Hee-Kyung Seo | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Alena Sharp | 72 | +1 |
| T8 | Wendy Ward | 72 | +1 |

### Second round

Friday, July 9, 2010 Saturday, July 10, 2010 Weather interrupted play on Friday afternoon, and the round was concluded Saturday.
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| T1 | Paula Creamer | 72-70=142 | E |
| T1 | Sakura Yokomine | 71-71=142 | E |
| T3 | Cristie Kerr | 72-71=143 | +1 |
| T3 | Brittany Lang | 69-74=143 | +1 |
| T5 | Sophie Gustafson | 72-72=144 | +2 |
| T5 | Christina Kim | 72-72=144 | +2 |
| T5 | Suzann Pettersen | 73-71=144 | +2 |
| T8 | Maria Hjorth | 73-72=145 | +3 |
| T8 | Jeong Jang | 73-72=145 | +3 |
| T8 | I.K. Kim | 74-71=145 | +3 |
| T8 | Stacy Lewis | 75-70=145 | +3 |
| T8 | Angela Stanford | 73-72=145 | +3 |
| T8 | Wendy Ward | 72-73=145 | +3 |
| T8 | Amy Yang | 70-75=145 | +3 |
* The 36-hole cut was at 152 (+10) or better; 68 of the 156 players advanced to the third and fourth rounds, including six amateurs.
Amateurs (a): Shean (+7), McCloskey (+8), Johnson (+9), Kang (+10), Lim (+10), Wong (+10), Watson (+11), Kono (+12), Changkija (+14), Gulyanamitta (+14), Salas (+14), Zhang (+14), Ellenbogen (+15), Korda (+15), Tanco (+16), Fellows (+17), Jutanugarn (+17), Kirby (+17), Park (+17), Juneau (+18), Murcia Ortiz (+18), Altomare (+19), Lee-Bentham (+20), Drolson (+22), Feng (+22), Then (+23), Lee (+24), Vandermade (+24), Green (+29).

### Third round

Saturday, July 10, 2011
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| 1 | Paula Creamer | 72-70-70=212 | −1 |
| 2 | Wendy Ward | 72-73-70=215 | +2 |
| T3 | Amy Yang | 70-75-71=216 | +3 |
| T3 | Christina Kim | 72-72-72=216 | +3 |
| T3 | Suzann Pettersen | 73-71-72=216 | +3 |
| 6 | Lexi Thompson | 73-74-70=217 | +4 |
| T7 | Natalie Gulbis | 73-73-72=218 | +5 |
| T7 | I.K. Kim | 74-71-73=218 | +5 |
| T7 | Sophie Gustafson | 72-72-74=218 | +5 |
| T7 | Cristie Kerr | 72-71-75=218 | +5 |
| T7 | Brittany Lang | 69-74-75=218 | +5 |
| T7 | Sakura Yokomine | 71-71-76=218 | +5 |

### Final round

Sunday, July 11, 2010
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money ($) |
| 1 | Paula Creamer | 72-70-70-69=281 | −3 | 585,000 |
| T2 | Na Yeon Choi | 75-72-72-66=285 | +1 | 248,468 |
| T2 | Suzann Pettersen | 73-71-72-69=285 | +1 | 248,468 |
| 4 | I.K. Kim | 74-71-73-68=286 | +2 | 152,565 |
| T5 | Jiyai Shin | 76-71-72-68=287 | +3 | 110,481 |
| T5 | Brittany Lang | 69-74-75-69=287 | +3 | 110,481 |
| T5 | Amy Yang | 70-75-71-71=287 | +3 | 110,481 |
| T8 | Inbee Park | 70-78-73-68=289 | +5 | 87,202 |
| T8 | Christina Kim | 72-72-72-73=289 | +5 | 87,202 |
| T10 | Yani Tseng | 73-76-73-68=290 | +6 | 72,131 |
| T10 | Sakura Yokomine | 71-71-76-72=290 | +6 | 72,131 |
| T10 | Lexi Thompson | 73-74-70-73=290 | +6 | 72,131 |
Source:

#### Scorecard

Final round
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Creamer | −1 | −1 | −1 | E | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −3 |
| Choi | +6 | +6 | +6 | +5 | +5 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 |
| Pettersen | +3 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +1 |
| Kim | +4 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +5 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +2 |
| Shin | +7 | +7 | +6 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +6 | +6 | +6 | +6 | +6 | +6 | +6 | +5 | +5 | +4 | +3 |
| Lang | +5 | +5 | +4 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 |
| Yang | +3 | +5 | +4 | +3 | +5 | +5 | +6 | +6 | +5 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +2 | +3 |
| Ward | +5 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +6 | +6 | +8 |
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
    Eagle Birdie Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+
Source: