Lang needs better to defend her title in U.S. Women’s Open

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.

The 31-year-old Lang 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 more than once 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 top-ranked 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, who won this event in 2015 in her first USGA event.

“I mean our tour has so much talent now,” said Kerr, who won 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 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 last five Opens and she has top-15 finishes in three of the last four events.