The field for the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club is beginning to take shape.
We know the 100 players who are already exempt for the 75th Women’s Open; we know the big names who have their work — and a path — cut out for them during this global pandemic.
But most of all, we know the year’s final major will be another asterisk in a year filled with them.
For the first time since World War II, the USGA announced last week it will not have any qualifying for its 2020 championships. No way for one of those amazing stories of someone playing his/her way into the field then making the leader board and contending for — or hoisting — the trophy. No way, indeed, as the world continues to battle COVID 19.
Instead, like the U.S. Open, the Women’s Open will expand other avenues for qualifying for the 156-player field, which will be set Nov. 11 — a month before the event, which is Dec. 10-13.
Defending champion Jeongeun Lee6, 2019 champion Ariya Jutanugarn, world No. 1 Jin Young Ko, Lexi Thompson, Paula Creamer, Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson are among those exempt players.
Houston’s Stacy Lewis, a two-time major champion and former World No. 1, and two-time major champion and 20-time winner Cristie Kerr are the two biggest names who still need to play their way into the field. Lewis, who is coming back from injuries, is currently ranked 99th in the Rolex World rankings, while Kerr is ranked 102nd.
USGA Women’s Championship Director Shannon Rouillard said the decision to go with the all-exempt field wasn’t made lightly. But it hasn’t been the only change to this Open.
Because the event is being held in December with shorter daylight hours, the Open will be played on both the Cypress Creek and Jackrabbit courses at Champions on the first two days. The final two rounds will be on Cypress Creek.
“We just have a burning desire to conduct this championship for these players and have one be the winner in a milestone year – the 75th anniversary,’’ she said. “They’ve had so many events cut from their schedule. We know they’re chomping at the bit to get out there and start competing again because that’s what they love to do.’’
In addition to the customary U.S. Women’s Open exemptions like winners of official LPGA events since the 2019 Women’s Open, the past 10 U.S. Women’s Open champions, the past five winners of the women’s other four major championships and the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, the 2020 field will include the top-75-point leaders and ties from the Rolex Women’s World Ranking Golf Rankings, as of March 16, instead of the usual top 50. Players who finished in the top 30 on the 2019 LPGA Tour’s Race to the CME Globe Final Points Cup list will also be exempt.
Players who are not already exempt can earn an exemption by finishing in the top 10 on the LPGA Tour’s 2020 official money list or in the top five of the Symetra Tour’s official money list through Nov. 11. In addition, there are performance-based opportunities to qualify at the
Upcoming Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, Cambria Portland Classic, ShopRite Classic and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Amateurs have had an impact that the Women’s Open with Catherine Lacoste winning in 1967, Brittany Lang and Morgan Pressel sharing runner-up honors in 2005 and Jennifer Chuasiriporn finishing second in 1998. The top 20, not already exempt, in the World Amateur Golf ranking as of Nov. 4 will be added to the current amateur category exemptions.
With no international qualifying, the final rankings on the 2019 LET Order of Merit and the final money lists on the 2019 Japan LPGA Tour, Korean LPGA Tour and China LPGA Tour will be used to exempt additional players.
Rouillard admits one of the biggest questions is that the LPGA schedule isn’t set to resume play until the end of the month at the inaugural LPGA Drive On Championship in Toledo, Ohio, July 31-Aug. 2. Earlier this week, the LPGA announced that due to travel/border restrictions and government quarantine restrictions during the pandemic, the CP Women’s Open in September in Vancouver, British Columbia, had been cancelled.
“We’re all looking forward to (the restart of the LPGA schedule), but when it comes to traveling overseas and our current border restrictions that’s unknown,’’ Rouillard said. “We’re trying to provide an opportunity for these players to compete in the championship that every player wants to win.
“We’re trying to provide the opportunity for all the players. We just don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s the first time we’ve ever had to do this. It’s new territory.”
The LPGA schedule also faces two international travel challenges in the upcoming months – the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open and AIG Women’s British Open will be played on back-to-back weeks Aug. 13-16 and Aug. 20-23; then the tour has a four-tournament stretch in Asia beginning in mid-October. The TOTO Japan Classic Nov. 6-9 is the last tournament before the Nov. 11 deadline.
“We’ve given ourselves some cushion there,’’ Rouillard said of the month between the deadline and the event. “People need advance notice to plan their travel, so we chose a date to give them enough time so, if they need to travel from another country, they have time.”
The USGA will use the Rolex Rankings to form the alternate list to fill any spots in the 156-player field should an exempt player withdraw.
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