Five Qualifying Storylines to Watch for 81st U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally

Tickets | Players Currently in Field

For all but 92 competitors – and that number could change in the coming weeks – the road to the 81st U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally at The Riviera Country Club, in Pacific Palisades, Calif., begins with 36 holes of qualifying at 26 sites.

That process to complete the 156-player field commences on April 20 and continues over the next four weeks. These one-day marathons are filled with tension and suspense with the hope of garnering a precious Golden Ticket to compete against the world’s best golfers.

Where else can a prominent LPGA Tour star share the same fairway with an up-and-coming teenager. These events are pure meritocracies – the lowest score, or scorers, advance.

Here are five storylines to watch as the process begins:

Coming Up Rose(s)

Few players in recent memory enjoyed the amateur success of Rose Zhang. She joined an illustrious group of nine to have captured both the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur, but the first to begin the feat by winning the Women’s Amateur, doing so in 2020 before claiming the U.S. Girls’ Junior a year later. Coincidentally, both triumphs came in Maryland. She also represented the USA on a pair of victorious Curtis Cup Teams (2021, 2022) and a Women’s World Amateur Team (2022) that finished second in France. She also won a pair of NCAA Division I titles in her two seasons at Stanford as well as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2023.

She held the No. 1 spot in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking® for 141 weeks, the most by any female golfer in the fledgling history of the WAGR.

Then she went out and won her first LPGA Tour start as a professional, and then another in 2024.

But the road has been a little bumpy since. Because she took time away from the LPGA Tour to focus on getting her degree from Stanford University, Zhang, who turns 23 on May 23, saw her spot in the Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings dip just outside the top 75 on March 16, the cutoff to earn an exemption into the U.S. Women’s Open.

Zhang, who has since moved to 66th in the latest ranking, can still become fully exempt by being among the top 75 in the Rolex Rankings on May 25, or by winning an LPGA Tour event between now and the U.S. Women’s Open. Nevertheless, she still had to sign up for a qualifier by the entry deadline on April 1. That means Zhang might be spotted at Essex County Country Club, in West Orange, N.J., on May 11.

Remember Me?

It’s been 12 years since a precocious 11-year-old dressed in a red, white and blue skirt enjoying an ice cream bar dazzled the world with her talent by qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2. She surpassed Lexi Thompson as the youngest qualifier in Women’s Open history.

Who could forget Lucy Li impressing everyone by shooting a pair of 78s and then smiling on the podium holding a kid’s treat in her hand.

Such a feat was nothing new at the time for Li, who at 10 years, 8 months and 16 days became the youngest match-play qualifier in the history of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. Then a few months prior to her U.S. Women’s Open debut, she won her age-division (Girls 10-11) at the inaugural Drive, Chip & Putt Championship.

Li turned professional not long after representing the USA on the victorious 2018 Curtis Cup Team, but she’s still seeking her first LPGA Tour title after winning twice on the Epson Tour in 2022. She’s qualified for three U.S. Women’s Opens as a professional with a tie for 16th in 2021 at The Olympic Club being her best result.

Currently 94th in the Rolex Rankings, the now-23-year-old Li will look to qualify for this year’s championship at Bermuda Dunes (Calif.) Country Club on May 13.

Li isn’t the only former wunderkind trying to qualify. Twenty years ago at the age of 14, Hawaiian Kimberly Kim became the youngest champion in U.S. Women’s Amateur history. She also was a finalist in the 2006 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, 2009 WAPL and 2009 U.S. Girls’ Junior as well as competed on two USA Curtis Cup Teams (2008 and 2010) and a Women’s World Amateur Team in 2006. But her professional career never matched her amateur success.

Now living on the Big Island of Hawaii full time, Kim, the mother of a 5-year-old daughter, works full-time at Nanea Golf Club while occasionally teeing it up. Last year, she caddied for fellow Nanea looper Channing Tam in the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

On May 8 at Honolulu Country Club, the 34-year-old will look to qualify for her first U.S. Women’s Open since 2010. Kim played in five consecutive Women’s Opens from 2006, making one cut (T-66 in 2010 at Oakmont C.C. as a 14-year-old).

The Next Generation

The U.S. National Development Program, which was started in 2024 to identify and nurture up-and-coming talent, has been an overwhelming success for the USGA. The U.S. National Junior Team sits at the pinnacle of the program, and all 12 members of the 2026 team have entered qualifying.

The headliner is Asterisk Talley, the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion (with Sarah Lim) who also finished runner-up in the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur that same year. Talley also shared low-amateur honors in that year’s U.S. Women’s Open and defeated then-world-No. 1 amateur Lottie Woad in a Sunday singles match at the 2024 Curtis Cup. Last year, Talley finished second in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and nearly won this year’s event before struggling like so many others have on the infamous 12th hole.

The 17-year-old from Chowchilla, Calif., will seek a third consecutive U.S. Women’s Open start at Richmond (Calif.) Country Club on May 11. Floridian Amelie Zalsman, who qualified for the 2024 championship at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club, will attempt to qualify at Meadowbrook C.C., in St. Louis, Mo., on April 28. Two other USNJT members are headed to St. Louis, Zoe Cusack and Emerie Schartz.

Californians Eliana Saga and Jude Lee have signed up for the Bermuda Dunes C.C. qualifier on May 13. Two more Californians, Nikki Oh and Anna Fang, will tee it up at Rancho Santa Fe Country Club on May 11. Oh’s father, Ted, qualified for the 1993 U.S. Open at Baltusrol Golf Club as a 16-year-old.

Floridian Grace Carter, a semifinalist in the 2025 U.S. Girls’ Junior, is heading to Steamsong Resort’s Black Course on May 11. Another Californian, Mia Clausen, will compete at Essex County Country Club on May 11. Angela Zhang, of Bellevue, Wash., will make the short trip to Rainier Golf & Country Club on April 28. She qualified for the 2023 championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links. And Indiana native Mia Hammond will compete at Shannopin Country Club, in Pittsburgh, Pa., on May 5.

Age Just a Number

Two years ago at the age of 46, Texan and major champion Angela Stanford hoped to extend her consecutive-majors-played streak to 99, but after being denied a special exemption into the U.S. Women’s Open field, the 2026 U.S. Solheim Cup captain failed to advance from her qualifier. Stanford, a former standout at Texas Christian University and member of the 2000 USA Curtis Cup Team, will look to play in her 25th Women’s Open. The 2003 runner-up – she was in a three-way, 18-hole playoff with eventual winner Hilary Lunke and Kelly Robbins at Pumpkin Ridge – will tee it up at Cross Timbers Golf Course, in Azle, Texas, on May 13.

There are two other notables in their 40s trying to qualify: 2024 and 2026 USA Curtis Cup captain Meghan Stasi, 47, at Wilderness Country Club, in Naples, Fla., on May 6, and retired LPGA Tour player Natalie Gulbis, 43, at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve, in Westminster, Colo., on May 12.

And 31-year-old Lexi Thompson, who recently got married, will look to extend her consecutive U.S. Women’s Open streak to 20 when she tees it up at Wilderness C.C. on May 6. Thompson has played in every championship since first qualifying as a 12-year-old at Pine Needles in 2007.

At the other end of the spectrum, Floridian Cheetah Baez, who turned 10 on April 17, will try to pass Lucy Li as the youngest-ever qualifier when she tees it up at Streamsong on May 11.

Double Duty?

Three years ago at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Emilia (Migliaccio) Doran was more than just a competitor in the first U.S. Women’s Open ever contested on the famous layout. When she got done playing, Doran picked up a microphone and provided Featured Group coverage for the online streaming. A former Wake Forest All-American who represented the USA on two victorious Curtis Cup Teams, Doran eschewed a career in professional golf to get into broadcasting for Golf Channel, NBC and Sirius/XM Radio.

But Doran has not put her clubs into hibernation. Last year, she competed in the U.S. Women’s Amateur and worked the event for Golf Channel. And she advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.

Doran will now look to qualify for her fourth U.S. Women’s Open, teeing it up at Rolling Hills Country Club, in Monroe, N.C., on April 28.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer for the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.