Posted: March 12, 2015 11:58 pm

The Unites States Golf Association exempts golfers from qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open based on the following criteria:

1. Winners of the last 10 U.S. Women’s Opens: 2005 – Birdie Kim; 2006 – Annika Sorenstam; 2007 – Cristie Kerr; 2008 – Inbee Park; 2009 – Eun-Hee Ji; 2010 – Paula Creamer; 2011 – So Yeon Ryu; 2012 – Na Yeon Choi; 2013 – Inbee Park; 2014 – Michelle Wie.

2. Winner and runner-up of 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur: Kristen Gillman.

3. Winners of 2014 and ’15 Women’s British Amateur: 2014: Emily Kristine Pedersen; 2015: ?

4. 2014 leader of World Women’s Amateur Ranking: vacant.

5. Winners of the last five LPGA Championships: 2011 – Yani Tseng; 2012 – Shanshan Feng; 2013 – Inbee Park; 2014 – Inbee Park.

6. Winners of the last five Women’s British Opens: 2010 – Yani Tseng; 2011 – Yani Tseng; 2012 – Jiyai Shin; 2013 – Stacy Lewis; 2014 – Mo Martin.

7. Winners of the last five Kraft Nabisco (ANA Inspiration) championships: 2011 – Stacy Lewis; 2012 – Sun Young Yoo; 2013 – Inbee Park; 2014 – Lexi Thompson; 2015 – ?

8. Winners of the 2013 and 2014 Evian Championships: 2013 – Suzann Pettersen; 2014 – Hyo Joo Kim.

9. Top 10 finishers plus ties from the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open: Brooke MacKenzie Henderson; Meena Lee; Stacy Lewis; Catriona Matthew; Stephanie Meadow; Pornanong Phatlum; So Yeon Ryu; Jenny Shin; Lexi Thompson; Michelle Wie; Amy Yang; Sakura Yokomine.

10. Top 75 on final 2014 LPGA money list.

11. Top 10 of 2015 LPGA money list as of May 6.

12. Winners of official LPGA tour events played between last year’s U.S. Open and this year’s.

13. Top five money leaders from the 2014 Japan LPGA Tour, Korea LPGA Tour and Ladies’ European Tour.

14. Top three money leaders from the 2014 China LPGA Tour.

15. Top 50 point leaders from the Rolex world rankings as of May 6.

16. Top 50 point leaders from Rolex World Rankings as of July 5.

Notes: A few exempt players are unlikely to play. 2006 U.S. Open champ Annika Sorenstam, for example, is retired.  … The U.S.G.A. also may give special exemptions/invitations, which usually go to Hall of Fame-level players with name recognition who are not otherwise exempt, although it did not give any for the Women’s Open last year. … Exemptions for amateurs (Nos. 2, 3 and 4 above) only apply if the affected player is still an amateur. Minjee Lee, the world’s top-ranked amateur in 2014 (see exemption No. 4), turned pro in September. … The number of spots available to non-exempt players will be known once entries close on May 6. A list of the 25 sectional qualifying sites and dates is here and an overview of the field and qualifying on wikipedia is here.