So, here we are, headed into the second women’s major of the year, the 80th U.S Women’s Open, to be held at Erin Hills in Wisconsin from Thursday night (AEST).
There are six Australian chances lining up for a tilt at the second major of the year – Hannah Green, Minjee Lee, Stephanie Kyriacou, Gabi Ruffels, Grace Kim and Jen Elliott.
MINJEE LEE has experienced both highlight and heartbreak in this championship. She has played in 11 U.S Women’s Opens, achieving a childhood dream by winning in 2022. In 2024, she had a real chance to make it a pair of U.S Women’s Open trophies but ultimately finished T9.
Lee has a score to settle within herself after a very disappointing final round last year. After starting in a three-way share of the lead, she birdied the first hole and after seven holes held a three-shot lead. But three bogeys and two double bogeys in a seven-hole stretch from the 9th took her to a shocking eight-over 78 as Japan’s Yuka Saso produced a late birdie run to win by three at Lancaster Country Club.
Lee’s highest world ranking is #2, achieved firstly in 2019 and then again in 2022 after winning the U.S Women’s Open and three weeks later finishing second in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She is currently ranked 22nd, and she’s too good for that mark.
A poor 2024 led to the drop in world ranking and also to a significant equipment change. Earlier this year she changed to a long putter and has considerably improved her stats with it, shaving over a stroke from her putts per GIR average and improving over 100 places on that ranking. Importantly, not only is Lee putting better with the longer putter this year, she looks more confident each week with it. In the year’s first major, the Chevron, she nailed some great putts in a sturdy confidence-building performance, tying 14th. The West Australian also produced a solid finish in her most recent LPGA Tour outing, finishing in a tie for 15th at the Mizuho Americas Open in New York.
Lee is a straight driver, a good bunker player, makes a lot of eagles and, importantly, is an excellent iron player, particularly with a wedge in hand. But it is when the putter is behaving that we see her at her brilliant best.
Minjee in full flight is a beautiful sight and we would love to see her with a bounce back win in 2025.
Despite missing her third consecutive cut at the new Chevron Championship venue, HANNAH GREEN goes into this major with a solid chance. In fact, had she performed well at the Chevron, she would have been one of the favourites. But she did not, posting on Instagram after the cut: Carlton Woods 3, Hannah 0, with a disappointed emoji.
However, there is nothing if not a lot of fight in Hannah. “People don’t release how tough she is,” says her coach Ritchie Smith. The number of times Green has staged late surges to contend and the number of pressure putts she has holed to win attest to that.
In early 2024 Green changed driver and moved over to a Scotty Cameron centre-shafted putter. The result: three wins for the season with a close second behind Nelly Korda that denied her a fourth.
She also committed herself to a focus on majors, to add to her 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Her best results in majors were in 2022 when she had two top-10s but her record in the U.S Women’s Open is strong, making the cut in all six appearances and placing T13 and T16 the last two years.
Green has followed on from 2024 with a steady start to 2025, the Chevron missed cut the only blip of her first seven starts of the season. Her game adapts well to any course and tee to green she’s as good as anyone. Getting off to a good solid start so she’s within striking distance for one of those trademark surges is key for Green and if she does, look out.
The dark horse of the Aussie contingent is STEPH KYRIACOU. Kyriacou has played reasonably steadily in the first half of 2025, making all cuts and posting a T5 in the T-Mobile Matchplay, losing in the quarter finals to runner-up Lauren Coughlin, as well as two other top-20s. The Sydneysider topped off her major preparation with another impressive T5 at the Mizuho Americas Open two weeks ago.
Coming into the U.S Women’s Open, she has little transferable form at all, having played this championship just once, in 2024, and missing the cut. However, we can forgive her that inglorious debut as she will have gained a lot of insight into how the USGA sets up courses for its Opens.
More positively, majors seem to agree with her, since she has only missed two cuts in 15 overall appearances. Along with that, she made every other cut in majors in 2024, including finishing second in the Evian. In other majors, she has a T10 in the KPMG Women’s PGA in 2022 and a T7 in the women’s Open at Muirfield that same year after being in contention deep into the last round.
Kyriacou hails from St Michael’s Golf Club in Sydney, the coastal conditions of which should arm her well if the wind gets up at Erin Hills.
She makes her fair share of eagles and she’s a good bunker player, which will be an advantage here. If she gets the feel of the greens at Erin Hills early and the rest of her game in sync, she could put herself in contention.
It will be a big week for JEN ELLIOTT (née Herbst), who earned herself one of the final spots in the field at Erin Hills and is on major championship debut.
The former WA rep has been consistent on the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour this season and showed all of her class at her Texas qualifying event with an eight-under finish.
If the former Sam Houston State University Colligate player can carry that kind of form into Erin Hills and play with the freedom of a player with nothing to lose, you never know. It is exciting to see another Australian ascending through the pro ranks and get a chance on the biggest stage.
GRACE KIM has the tools to succeed at major championship level. She is just a winner and has been throughout her junior, amateur and professional career.
A stat that jumps off the page and is exciting for the tenacious challenge a U.S Open layout will provide is the driving accuracy numbers the Sydneysider is banging out.
Kim is ranked eighth on tour in drive accuracy percentage (79.76%). Playing from the short grass will be crucial in Wisconsin. Erin Hills is a stern test.
As established, Kim is a winner and already has one win on the LPGA Tour. Her current form is steady, just solid finishes—an outright 9th at the Black Desert Championship at the start of May, her best of the season.
And then there’s GABI RUFFELS.
In her rookie year, 2024, Ruffels made 20 of 25 cuts and posted four top-10s. It was an auspicious start. She’s had solid start this year with her best finish T21 in the Mexico Riviera Maya Open last week.
Her win in the 2019 U.S Women’s Amateur (the first Australian champion) gave her exemptions into major championships including the 2020 U.S Women’s Open, where she tied for 13th as an amateur. Her other three U.S Open appearances have not been as happy a result, though she has made two cuts.
Ruffels’ overall record of 14 majors includes 12 cuts and six top-25s, so she clearly has a liking for big time events.
Only seven women have won both the US Women’s Amateur and the U.S Women’s Open: Patty Berg, Betty Jameson, Babe Zaharias, Louise Suggs, Catherine Lacoste, JoAnne Gunderson Carner and Juli Inkster. To join them is not beyond Ruffels, at least not in the mind of two-time champion Karrie Webb. This year marks 25 years since the first of her back-to-back U.S Women’s Open wins and earlier this year, Webb said of Ruffels: “I think Gabi has the game to win a major as she grows and develops.”
Whether that is this year, just her second year on the LPGA Tour, seems not out of the question but perhaps unlikely. But we’d be very happy to be wrong.
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