Saigo Slams Her Way to Top of U.S. Women’s Open Leader Board

Mao Saigo leapfrogged over the logjam that cluttered the top of the leader board after the first round of the 80th U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally with a near-immaculate 6-under-par 66 at Erin Hills on Friday.

That left the 23-year-old from Japan entering the weekend at 8-under-par 136, three strokes ahead of six players, including 2020 champion A Lim Kim.

For much of the day, Saigo had a three-stroke lead over Rolex No. 1 Nelly Korda as both played in the morning wave.

They might have finished early, but they were some late stragglers who wanted to join the party. Before the thunderstorms arrived to delay play for 54 minutes, several brilliant blasts of golf jarred Erin Hills.

Hinako Shibuno, of Japan, a major champion who was the runner-up a year ago to countrywoman Yuka Saso, made three birdies in a row; Arizona native Sarah Schmelzel made five birdies in six holes; and Maja Stark, of Sweden, made three birdies in five holes on the closing nine to once again clutter the leader board.  At one point, Shibuno, Schmelzel, Stark, Kim and Jinhee Im, of the Republic of Korea, all got to 6 under par.

When the dust settled – and the rains came and exited – Korda (67), Shibuno (69), Kim (71), Schmelzel (68), Stark (69) and Californian Yealimi Noh (71) were tied for third at 5-under 139, with qualifiers Jing Yan and Chiara Tamburlini, and Jinhee Im and Linn Grant sitting at 140.

Play was suspended for the day due to darkness at 8:25 p.m. CDT with 12 golfers still on the course. When those competitors finished on Saturday morning, exactly 60 players (54 professionals and six amateurs) made the cut, which came officially at 1-over 145, just one off the record set in 1999 and 2015.

The six-way tie after the first round was a record for Round 1 at a U.S. Women’s Open, breaking the mark set at Oakmont Country Club in 1992 when five posted 69s to share the 18-hole lead. Friday began with 58 players within four strokes of the lead, but when thunderstorms approached the Wisconsin heartland at 6:32 p.m. CDT, no more than a dozen were within four strokes of Saigo, who survived a five-woman playoff earlier this year to win the Chevron Championship, the first major of 2025.

By dusk, 16 players were within five strokes of the lead.

“Today's condition was better than yesterday,” said Saigo about her four-stroke improvement from the opening round. “That's why I made a lot better shots and a lot better putts than yesterday, and that brought me a better score and results.”

While it is way too early to talk about a Saigo Slam, the 2024 LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year is the only woman with a chance to win all five majors this year. At the Chevron Championship in suburban Houston, she birdied the 72nd hole and then the first hole of the playoff to beat, among others, 2018 U.S. Women’s Open champion Ariya Jutanugarn. But Saigo has never been in this position at the oldest women’s major championship; her best result in three previous starts being T-33 at Pebble Beach Golf Links two yeas ago.

The U.S. Women’s Open has not been kind to Korda, either. The lanky Floridian is looking to place this championship trophy alongside that of the majors she won at the 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA and the 2024 Chevron Championship as well as Olympic gold, which she captured in Tokyo in 2021 after the event was pushed back a year due to COVID-19. In fact, she’s missed the cut in three of the last five U.S. Women’s Opens, including last year at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club when her championship run was derailed with a disastrous 10 on her third hole of the week.

But her 67 on Friday was her lowest ever in a U.S. Women’s Open, a span covering 35 rounds dating back to when she first played as an amateur in 2013.

“Yeah, definitely felt a little bit more confident on the putting green today,” said Korda, who made three birdies in a four-hole stretch beginning on No. 4 – her 13th hole of the day – in a closing 33.

“Honestly, I was hitting really good putts yesterday. I was hitting it exactly where I wanted to and they just weren't falling. My distance control has been really good on the putting green, so hopefully I can keep trending in the right direction heading into the weekend.”

When the second round concludes Saturday morning and the cut is made to the low 60 scorers and ties, Saigo will sit alone atop the leader board through 36 holes. But she can’t get too comfortable with the number of formidable faces peering over her shoulder.

If the quality of play the first two days is an accurate barometer, some hot golf is awaiting golf fans.

Notable

• Jing Yan was 3 over par on her round through seven holes on Friday when she came to life, making birdies on Nos. 8 and 12, followed by four in a row beginning on No. 14 for a 69 that put her at 4-under-par 140 after 36 holes.
  
  
• Yuka Saso, who was trying to become the first player since Karrie Webb in 2001 to successfully defend the U.S. Women’s Open and also join Babe Zaharias, Susie Berning, Hollis Stacy and Annika Sorenstam as three-time winners of the championship, likely will miss the cut. It would be the second time she has failed to play the weekend as the defending champion. She missed in 2022 at Pine Needles.
  
  
• Also failing to play the weekend was 16-year-old amateur Asterisk Talley, a member of the U.S. National Junior Team who shared low-amateur honors last year with Catherine Park and 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Megan Schofill. She finished at 2 over par with five-time major champion Yani Tseng, and two-time USGA champion Rose Zhang. Others not playing the weekend included fan favorite Lexi Thompson (playing in her 19th consecutive U.S. Women’s Open), world No. 3 Jeeno Thitikul, 2019 champion Jeongeun Lee6, and reigning U.S. Senior Women’s Open champion Leta Lindley, who celebrates her 53rd birthday on Sunday.
  
  
• Amy Yang, 35, is playing in her 19th consecutive U.S. Women’s Open to match Lexi Thompson. From 2010 through 2017, affable Korean finished in the top 10 seven times in eight years, including second in 2012 and 2015. She’s missed the cut in five of her last seven starts in the championship, but the reigning KPMG Women’s PGA champion will be competing this weekend after posting a 69 on Friday for a 36-hole total of 143.
  
  
• A total of 16 competitors who qualified for this year’s championship made the cut. That included a quartet of amateurs: University of Oregon All-American and 2023 U.S. Girls' Junior champion Kiara Romero, University of Texas All-American Farah O’Keefe, 16-year-old Rayee Feng, of Short Hills, N.J., and Wake Forest standout Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, of Spain.
  
  
• Amari Avery, a member of the victorious 2022 USA Curtis Cup Team, was another qualifier who made the cut. But she did so with borrowed clubs. When her boyfriend, Gavin Aurilia, son of ex-big-leaguer Rich Aurilia, left Milwaukee on Thursday night to compete in another professional event, he did so with Amari's clubs. Both have similar travel bags. Avery was able to borrow clubs from fellow competitor Gabriela Ruffels, a fellow ex-USC star who uses the same make and model. Ruffels played in the morning wave, so she could hand off her set to Avery, who carded a 1-over 73 in the afternoon wave for a 36-hole total of even-par 144. Her regular clubs were due back in Wisconsin for Saturday's third round.

Quotable

“Oh, it’s always a dream. It's just a great tournament to play and such a big stage. All the courses are extremely challenging, things that you don't get to play in every day. It's very special whenever you get to play in one.” – Jing Yan after shooting 69 on Friday.

“I don't think I'm going to try to be aggressive at all. I mean, playing U.S. Opens before, just looking at what the weekend, looks like it looks tougher and tougher each day. I'm going to keep that in mind and just play a little bit more conservative.” –  Linn Grant

“I put myself in this position at Chevron. I did last year at KPMG, as well. I think overall between last year and this year I've just been playing really solid golf. I've been really [goal] oriented in the last year and a half, and I'm trying to come into golf tournaments not expecting to play well or expecting to play poorly. I'm just really trying to hold myself to a standard of sticking to a process, and it's led to some really solid golf this year.” – Sarah Schmelzel

Ron Sirak is an award-winning Massachusetts-based golf writer whose work has appeared on USGA websites and publications.