Refer hed here
Rankings vital in piecing together the women’s field
USGA puts protocols in place to fill U.S. Women’s Open field.
The USGA is leaning more on the world ranking for pros and amateurs, along with current money lists on American tours, to create a U.S. Women’s Open field that will not have qualifying due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The exemption categories announced Wednesday were designed to reflect a typical U.S. Women’s Open field, and 100 women already are exempt for the 156-player field Dec. 10-13 at Champions Golf Club in Houston.
Missing from the list are former Women’s Open champion Cristie Kerr and twotime major champion Stacy Lewis, though both have opportunities through the LPGA Tour money list and four other tournaments when the tour resumes.
The exemption categories are similar to how the USGA created a 144-man field for the U.S. Open in September.
The USGA expanded the women’s world ranking from the top 50 to the top 75, using the March 16 ranking, the last one available before the pandemic shut down golf worldwide.
The LPGA Tour is not expected to resume until the end of July at Inverness in Ohio. The Korean LPGA Tour began a few weeks ago, while the Ladies European Tour is due to resume in the middle of August.
By expanding to the top 75, former NCAA champion and Augusta National Women’s Amateur winner Jennifer Kupcho secured a spot in the field at No. 51.
The top 30 on the LPGA Tour’s Race to CME Globe from last year are exempt. New for this Open are spots for the leading 10 players from this year’s LPGA money list who are not already exempt on Nov. 11. Currently, Kerr would be second on that list. It also will take the top five players from the Symetra Tour money list on Nov. 11.
The USGA is providing as many as nine spots from four LPGA tournaments. The USGA will also take the top 20 from the world amateur ranking on Nov. 4, provided they are among the top 100.
The USGA took the leading players from last year’s money lists on the Ladies European Tour, Japan LPGA, Korea LPGA and the China LPGA.
Owning the restart
Three tournaments is hardly a reasonable sample size. Even so, the numbers have been jarring since the PGA Tour returned. Mackenzie Hughes opened with a 60 at the Travelers Championship. Rory McIlory has twice posted rounds of 63, and he still hasn’t cracked the top 10 in the three tournaments he has played since the restart. Those are among 56 rounds of 64 or better over the past three weeks. Fourteen players in the last three weeks alone have set or tied their career low scores on the PGA Tour.
Gordon flashes
Will Gordon had the best week of anyone not named Dustin Johnson at the Travelers Championship. His tie for third was worth the equivalent of enough FedEx Cup points that he earned special temporary membership on the PGA Tour, meaning he gets unlimited sponsor exemptions for the final five tournaments of the year. He also earned $436,600.