Posted: March 6, 2015 1:12 am
The United States Golf Association will hold 25 sectional qualifiers in May and June for the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open, which is slated for July 9-12 at Lancaster Country Club.
The 36-hole qualifiers will be held at 21 national sites — including Butler Country Club in western Pennsylvania and Galloway National Golf Club in New Jersey — and four international sites.
The championship is open to female professionals and female amateur golfers with a handicap index not exceeding 2.4.
Player applications are available at https://champs.usga.org/index.html. The entry deadline is 5 p.m. on May 6.
Last year, the USGA accepted a record 1,702 entries for the championship at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2 in North Carolina. The previous record was 1,420 for the 2013 championship at Sebonack Golf Club, in Southampton, N.Y.
For the second year in a row, sectional qualifying will be conducted in China, England, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Two U.S. Women’s Open champions have reached the championship through the stroke-play qualifying process: Hilary Lunke (2003) and Birdie Kim (2005).
Lunke won after advancing through local and sectional qualifying, while Kim competed in the sectional stage.
Considered the world’s premier women’s golf championship, the U.S. Women’s Open is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the USGA.
The championship was first conducted in 1946 and its winners include notable players such as Rawls, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Mickey Wright, Hollis Stacy, Amy Alcott, Meg Mallon, Annika Sorenstam, Se Ri Pak, Juli Inkster, Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer, Inbee Park and reigning champion Michelle Wie.
Tickets for the July championship at Lancaster Country Club are currently unavailable for purchase, but organizers anticipate that ticket packages will be released again in upcoming weeks. For more information and to get on the waiting list, go online to www.2015uswomensopen.com.
Here is the full list of sectional qualifiers
May 9
Ka’anapali Golf Resort (Royal Course), Lahaina, Hawaii
May 13
CGA Nanshan International Training Center (Garden Course), Shandong, China
May 18
Serrano Country Club, El Dorado Hills, Calif.
Bradenton (Fla.) Country Club
Druid Hills Golf Club, Atlanta, Ga.
Westmoreland Country Club, Wilmette, Ill.
Windsong Farm Golf Club, Independence, Minn.
Butler (Pa.) Country Club
Hermitage Country Club, Manakin-Sabot, Va.
Woo Jeong Hills Country Club, Chungnam, Korea
May 19
Superstition Mountain (Ariz.) Golf & Country Club
Goose Creek Golf Club, Mira Loma, Calif.
May 22
Fountains Country Club (North Course), Lake Worth, Fla.
May 25
Buckinghamshire Golf Club, Buckinghamshire, England
May 26
Industry Hills Golf Club, City of Industry, Calif.
May 27
Riverdale Golf Course, Brighton, Colo.
Governors Club, Chapel Hill, N.C.
May 29
Sugar Mill Country Club (White/Red Course), New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
June 1
Galloway National Golf Club, Galloway, N.J.
June 2
Ferncroft Country Club, Middleton, Mass.
St. Clair Country Club, Belleville, Ill.
OGA Golf Course, Woodburn, Ore.
The Woodlands (Texas) Country Club (Player Course)
June 4
Lakewood Country Club, Dallas, Texas
June 15
Arima Royal Golf Club, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan