The US Women’s Open is regarded as the marquee Major in the women’s game, and the 2024 championship, which takes place at Lancaster Country Club, promises to be even more prestigious than usual helped by record prize money of $12m and the vast majority of the world’s best players in the field.
However, while the likes of defending champion Allisen Corpuz, World No.1 Nelly Korda and the soon-to-retire Lexi Thompson are in the field, several big names will not be competing.
Here are 10 of the highest-profile players missing from the US Women’s Open.
Lilia Vu
The American had a wonderful 2023, capped by Major victories in the Chevron Championship and AIG Women’s Open, but it has been a different story this year.
Vu withdrew from the HSBC Women’s World Championship and the Blue Bay LPGA through illness earlier in the year, and things got worse when back problems forced her withdrawal from the defence of her Chevron Championship title, and she also will not compete in the second Major of the year. Yealimi Noh will take her place.
Inbee Park
Inbee Park has two US Women’s Open titles among an overall haul of seven Major wins, but she won’t be adding to those at Lancaster Country Club.
The South Korean legend had her daughter in April 2023, and has not returned to action. Instead, in February, she was announced as one of 32 candidates for the International Olympics Committee’s Athletes Commission.
Jessica Korda
Like Park, Korda has also become a mother in recent months after she gave birth to her son in February.
That extends a spell away from the game for the American that began with an announcement that she was stepping back in May 2023 to try and resolve a back injury.
As yet, there is no confirmation on when Korda will return to action.
Michelle Wie-West
Michelle Wie-West is in her last exemption year for the US Women’s Open, having won the tournament at Pinehurst No.2 in 2014. However, she announced last May that her appearance at the 2023 edition would be “most likely a farewell."
Wie-West, who also has commitments with The R&A, announced her second pregnancy earlier in the month, so it seems unlikely she will return to action any time soon, if at all.
Angela Stanford
Stanford, who won the Evian Championship in 2018, had been on a remarkable run of successive Major appearances.
Agonisingly, though, after 99 in a row, she will not extend the run into triple figures after she was denied a special exemption and couldn’t book her place in a qualifier in April.
Amy Olson
Another player who has opted to bring her professional career to an end is Amy Olson. The 31-year-old finished runner-up at the 2020 US Women’s Open and 2018 Evian Championship, but those weeks were as close as she came to a Major win.
Olson’s most recent appearance came at the 2023 tournament when she was seven months pregnant. She then took maternity leave and has opted not to return to action, announcing in April that she is “turning the page to the next chapter in my life.”
Grace Kim
Kim had a hugely promising 2023, when she secured her maiden LPGA Tour win in the Lotte Championship months before finishing T13 at the US Women’s Open.
However, her hopes of building on that performance at Lancaster Country Club were dashed after just missing out on a spot in qualifying. Four places were up for grabs at the qualifier at Haworth Country Club in May, but Kim missed out by just one shot.
Pajaree Anannarukarn
Another player who had to rely on qualifying for her final chance to make the field for the US Women’s Open was Anannarukarn. It wasn’t to be for the Thai player, who counts the 2023 Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play among her eight professional wins.
She missed out by four shots to leave her needing to wait another year to see if she can improve on her best finish at the tournament of T20, which she achieved two years ago.
Sung Hyun Park
The South Korean is a two-time Major winner, one of which came at the US Women’s Open in 2017, but the former World No.1 most recently competed at the KLPGA Tour’s SK Shieldus - SK Telecom Championship in November, while she has not made an LPGA Tour start since finishing T16 at the BMW Ladies Championship a month earlier.
That absence continues this week, despite her eligibility thanks to her victory at the tournament seven years ago.
So Yeon Ryu
The 33-year-old has enjoyed a glittering career, including two Major titles among her 20 professional wins.
However, she is another talented LPGA star to retire in her thirties. She announced in March that her final professional appearance would come at the Chevron Championship the following month, which she described as “one of the most significant decisions” of her life.
She missed the cut at The Club at Carlton Woods Major and the reality of her decision hit home afterwards, saying: “I'm very numb now. I just cannot believe this is real.”
Mirim Lee
It’s only four years since the South Korean claimed her maiden Major title at the Chevron Championship, but that remains the most recent of her eight professional victories.
Lee’s latest performance came at the 2023 US Women’s Open, when she missed the cut, and there is no word on when - or if - she will return to action.
