Open could be a scramble
No clear favorite; Lang hopes to repeat as winner
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — The U.S. Women’s Open has not had a repeat winner since Karrie Webb in 2001 and the chances of Brittany Lang doing it this year don’t seem good.
Lang, 31, has finished no better than 13th in 14 events on the LPGA Tour, and she missed the cut in the KPMG Women’s PGA two weeks ago.
So who is going to win the biggest event in women’s golf at Trump National Golf Club?
World No. 1 ranked So Yeon Ryu of South Korea is the only player on the tour to win more than once (5) in the 18 events played.
No. 2 ranked Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand has nine top-10 finishes in 16 events, including a win, three seconds and a third.
Lexi Thompson, the topranked player from the United States, has a win and four seconds, while No. 4 Lydia Ko of New Zealand has something to prove after blowing the lead in the final round a year ago.
One could keep going down the list and find players capable of winning, including 39-year-old Cristie Kerr and No. 5 ranked In Gee Chun of South Korea.
“I mean our tour has so much talent now,” said Kerr, who won the Open in 2007. “It’s really hard to answer that question. You feel like anybody could win on a given week.”
Even Lang believes she has a shot. She had not won last year when she took this event at CordeValle Golf Club in California.
“It has been a little bit of a disappointing year,” Lang said Wednesday. “I’ve been hitting the ball so, so well for the last few months and really haven’t had any great finishes. So it’s been a little frustrating. I’m going to try to stay patient.”
Lang has finished no worse than 22nd in the past five Opens and she has top15 finishes in three of the past four events.
“If you are hitting the ball really well, and I’m hitting it long right now, you should have a good chance at the U.S. Open,” she said.
Former Open winner Juli Inkster, who is now a golf television analyst and will captain the Solheim team later this year, said the 6,732yard course favors a player who can hit high, long irons.
“It’s not like you have to beat 156 of the best women golfers,” Inkster said. “It’s a great championship, but you have got a shorter field in who can win this championship. You have got to take it by the horns and go out there and get it done. It took me a little while to learn that, to say I don’t need to play my best golf. I just need to play good golf for four days.”
The 72-hole tournament, which is scheduled to finish on Sunday, has had to share the spotlight with President Donald Trump, who owns the course.
The USGA has been criticized for not changing the site of the tournament after comments made by the president about women were disclosed last year during the presidential campaign.
UltraViolet, a national women’s advocacy organization, announced plans on Wednesday to protest the Open. For months, the group has called on the USGA and LPGA to sever ties with Trump.