One-hundred and fifty six players are slated to play in the 81st U.S. Women’s Open this week at Riviera Country Club — the second major of the season.
U.S. Opens are notoriously tricky, but there is a clear No. 1 here. In fact, she’s the No. 1 player in the world right now: Nelly Korda.
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Korda won The Chevron Championship — the first major of the season — back in April. It was her second Chevron title and third major overall.
Just a week after her win at Memorial Park, Korda won again at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba. Her only other start since then was at the Kroger Queen City Championship in mid-May, where she finished T-8.
Prior to that T-8, Korda hadn’t finished lower than second all season, through six starts.
Missing from Korda’s resume is this tournament, with her best finish at the U.S. Women’s Open being T-2 in 2025.
Despite the season-low finish at Queen City, Korda is still the overwhelming favorite here. She is undeniably the best women’s player in the world right now.
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Here’s my full ranking of the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open field:
1. Nelly Korda: Korda really needs no introduction (although she got a lengthy one above). No. 1 in the world. Won the first major of the year. On an absolute tear this season. Easy favorite.
2. Jeeno Thitikul: The current world No. 2 was passed by Korda after the latter won the Chevron, but make no mistake: Thitikul is still playing stellar golf — and on the hunt for her first major title. She won the Mizuho Americas Open in May and the Honda LPGA Thailand in February.
3. Ruoning Yin: Yin is winless this season, but after missing the cut at the JM Eagle LA in mid-April, the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA champion has been playing her best golf of the season, including a T-2 at the Chevron, second at Mizuho and fourth at Queen City.
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4. Hyo-joo Kim: The world No. 3 won back-to-back titles at the Fortinet Founders Cup and Ford Championship in March but hasn’t played on tour since finishing sixth at the Chevron in late April. She’s going on a 12-year major drought, with her one and only being the 2014 Evian.
5. Hannah Green: Green has also won two tournaments this season, cementing herself as one of the hottest players in the game right now. She won the HSBC and JM Eagle LA and finished T-7 at the Chevron. She last played at Mizuho, finishing T-14.
6. Lydia Ko: The world No. 10 is winless this season, but Ko knows how to win majors. That being said, the U.S. Women’s Open has eluded her. A win here would earn Ko what the LPGA considers the career grand slam since she would have won four of the five majors. She’s coming off a T-8 at Queen City.
7. Jin-young Ko: She hasn’t been her sharpest this season, but the 2019 Chevron champion is coming off a T-5 at Queen City.
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8. Yuka Saso: This is a wild card, seeing as Saso has missed the cut in six of her 11 starts this season, but Saso knows how to win U.S. Opens — she has two (2021, 2024) to back that up. U.S. Opens are notoriously tricky, so I’m not counting out anyone who has two to their name.
9. Celine Boutier: Boutier is peaking at the right time, being the most recent winner on tour after winning the ShopRite LPGA last weekend. The 2023 Evian champion jumped almost 10 spots to No. 20 in the world ranking thanks to her win.
10. Minjee Lee: A three-time major winner, Lee won her sole U.S. Open title in 2022. She started the season with two top fives but hasn’t played on tour since April, when she finished T-49 at the Chevron.
11. Miyu Yamashita: The reigning Women’s Open champion. No wins this season, but she’s coming off her best finish of 2026: third at Queen City.
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12. Patty Tavatanakit: The 2021 Chevron champion nearly won at Memorial Park in April, finishing T-2 behind Korda. She’s made five of eight cuts this season, not finishing lower than T-27 when she has advanced to the weekend.
13. Ariya Jutanugarn: It has been eight years since Jutanugarn won her U.S. Open title. She’s also the 2016 Women’s Open champion. This could be an opportunity to turn things around after missing four of seven cuts this season so far.
14. Lottie Woad: In just her second year on tour, Woad won her second LPGA title at Queen City last month. Her best finish at this tournament was T-31 in 2025.
15. Charley Hull: It becomes increasingly baffling every year that Hull has never won a major title. This is one of the tournaments where she has finished runner-up, doing so in 2023. She missed the cut last week at ShopRite and hasn’t finished better than T-10 on tour all season.
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16. Maja Stark: The defending U.S. Women’s Open champion has been transparent about her struggles after winning her first major title last year. Following that win, she missed the cut at five of seven tournaments. But Stark has prioritized strengthening the team around her and is currently playing her best golf this season, most recently finishing T-16 at Queen City.
17. Sei-young Kim: The 2020 Women’s PGA champion, Kim has a few top 10s this season. She missed the cut at the Chevron.
18. A-lim Kim: The 2020 winner of this tournament, Kim has missed three of five cuts on tour this season, dating back to late March. She was most recently T-30 at Queen City.
19. Mao Saigo: The 2025 Chevron champion, Saigo hasn’t fared as well this season, with no top 10s so far. She was T-59 at the Chevron and was most recently T-30 at Queen City.
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20. Jennifer Kupcho: The 2022 Chevron champion, Kupcho missed the cut at ShopRite last week, but prior to that, she had four consecutive tourneys where she didn’t finish lower than T-13.
21. Lauren Coughlin
22. Grace Kim
23. Allisen Corpuz
24. Brooke Henderson
25. Nasa Hataoka
26. Angel Yin
27. Hye-jin Choi
28. Gaby Lopez
29. Aki Iwai
30. Rio Takeda
31. Chizzy Iwai
32. In-gee Chun
33. Sung-hyun Park
34. Lilia Vu
35. Hinako Shibuno
36. Auston Kim
37. Andrea Lee
38. Danielle Kang
39. Anna Nordqvist
40. Jeongeun Lee6
41. Minami Katsu
42. Carlota Ciganda
43. Rose Zhang
44. Ayaka Furue
45. Linn Grant
46. Jin-hee Im
47. Esther Henseleit
48. Leona Maguire
49. Ingrid Lindblad
50. Mi-hyang Lee
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51. Youmin Hwang
52. Casandra Alexander
53. Shuri Sakuma
54. Megan Kang
55. Lindy Duncan
56. Ina Yoon
57. Hyunjo Yoo
58. Minsol Kim
59. Stephanie Kyriacou
60. Amy Yang
61. Yui Kawamoto
62. So-mi Lee
63. Ashleigh Buhai
64. Alison Lee
65. Sakura Koiwai
66. Brittany Lang
67. Michelle Wie West
68. Yealimi Noh
69. Nanna Koerstz Madsen
70. Jasmine Suwannapura
71. Bianca Pagdanganan
72. Madelene Sagstrom
73. Yani Tseng
74. Xiyu Janet Lin
75. Jaravee Boonchant
76. Muni He
77. Gurleen Kaur
78. Peiyun Chien
79. Bronte Law
80. Fuka Suga
81. Chiara Tamburlini
82. Chanettee Wannasaen
83. Paula Reto
84. Jiyai Shin
85. Lucy Li
86. Mimi Rhodes
87. Napat Lertsadwattana
88. Kaleiya Romero
89. Kaylyn Noh
90. Gina Kim
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91. Megha Ganne
92. Yuri Yoshida
93. Jungmin Hong
94. Natsumi Hayakawa
95. Minji Kang
96. Amiyu Ozeki
97. Ally Ewing
98. Catherine Park
99. Shiho Kuwaki
100. Sayaka Takahashi
101. Ai Suzuki
102. Becky Morgan
103. Johanna Sjursen
104. Olivia Mehaffey
105. Zoe Cusack (a)
106. Asterisk Talley (a)
107. Aphrodite Deng (a)
108. Weiwei Zhang
109. Yue Zhang
110. Miranda Wang
111. Lois Lau
112. Sora Kamiya
113. Chia-yen Wu
114. Jiwon Ko
115. Julia Lopez Ramirez
116. Yuna Araki
117. Jie-en Lin (a)
118. Addie Dobson (a)
119. Sarah Hammett (a)
120. Veronika Kedronova (a)
121. Paula Francisco (a)
122. Anna Huang
123. Nataliya Guseva
124. Lauren Kim (a)
125. Amy Seung Hyun Lee (a)
126. Anita Lumpongpoung (a)
127. Melanie Green
128. Brianna Do
129. Karis Davidson
130. Hailee Cooper
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131. Da-yeon Lee
132. Paula Martin Sampedro (a)
133. Maria Jose Marin (a)
134. Soomin Oh (a)
135. Nellie Ong (a)
136. Meja Ortengren (a)
137. Katherine Muzi
138. Laney Frye
139. Jenny Bae
140. Carla Bernat Escuder
141. Paulina del Rosario
142. Dewi Weber
143. Liqi Zeng
144. Athena Singh (a)
145. Pajaree Anannarukarn
146. Yan Liu
147. Siuue Wu
148. Miyuu Goto
149. Ana Belac
150. Farah O’Keefe (a)
151. Ina Kim-Schaad (a)
152. Chloe Kovelesky (a)
153. Thanana Kotchasanmanee (a)
154. Kiara Romero (a)
155. Sofia Rivera (a)
156. Katelyn Kong (a)
