The 77th U.S. Women’s Open heads to the second round Friday at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina, which last hosted the event in 2007.
World No. 1 Jin Young Ko is playing this week alongside Lexi Thompson, who lost last year’s event in heartbreaking fashion at The Olympic Club, and Jennifer Kupcho, who won the first major of the year at the Chevron Championship.
Annika Sorenstam won at Pine Needles in 1996 and returns to Southern Pines to compete in her first major championship in 13 years. She’s playing the first two rounds with fellow U.S. Women’s Open champ So Yeon Ryu up-and-coming Swede Ingrid Lindblad of LSU. Sorenstam opened with a 74, while Lindblad shot a 65, a record low score for an amateur at the USWO.
