The five most important things to watch at the U.S. Women’s Open

PINE NEEDLES, North Carolina — The U.S. Girls’s Open is again on the Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Membership in Southern Pines for a document fourth time with a handbag of $10 million — greater than double final yr’s purse of $4.8 million — and loads of storylines.

Between Michelle Wie West’s impending retirement, the return of three-time champion Annika Sorenstam, and the crop of younger gamers on the prime of the sport, listed here are 5 issues to keep watch over this week:

Michelle Wie West’s final dance (kind of)

As one USGA staffer quipped on Monday afternoon, when Wie West arrives at a match, there is a palpable buzz. On Monday it wasn’t there. Wie was presupposed to play a observe spherical however could not make it on time, so on Tuesday, as she stalked putts on the observe inexperienced and cycled via totally different putters, followers crowded round and watched as she ready for her final match of the yr.

Wie West introduced final week that she could be stepping again from the LPGA Tour after this U.S. Open. She plans to play the 2023 match at Pebble Seashore. In her Tuesday information convention at Pine Needles, she mentioned the choice was “bittersweet,” however one thing she had been enthusiastic about for some time.

“I might say I’ve zero regrets in my profession,” Wie West mentioned. “There’s all the time that inkling of wishing I had completed extra. However I really feel like it doesn’t matter what, nobody’s ever going to be 100% glad. And I’ve positively had an up-and-down profession. However I am extraordinarily pleased with the resiliency I’ve proven.”

The previous U.S. Open champion, who gained this match again in 2015 when it was held at close by Pinehurst, mentioned she’s managing expectations partially as a result of she hasn’t had the observe routine she usually has main right into a U.S. Open, however “clearly the aggressive facet desires to win.” As she famous, if she hadn’t gained the 2014 U.S. Open, she wouldn’t be stepping away and would nonetheless be chasing that title.

How will Nelly Korda fare in her first match again?

To listen to Korda inform the story, she did not wish to have the U.S. Open be her return to aggressive golf after undergoing surgery for a blood clot within the subclavian vein in her left arm. However there she was Tuesday, sporting a compression sleeve on that left arm and speaking about how she’s doubtless going to put on a sleeve on her proper to keep away from getting a foul tan.

“As soon as I used to be 100%, I used to be going to set eyes on what occasion I wished to return again at,” Korda mentioned. After this week, she’s defending victories on the Meijer LPGA Basic and the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship. Regardless of lacking the previous few months, Korda continues to be the second-ranked participant on the planet.

“I am not anticipating an excessive amount of,” she mentioned. “Women are already in the course of their season, they’ve lots of rounds below their belts.”

Korda detailed her rehab, which occurred in California and concerned a lot of shoulder and again workout routines. She was finally allowed to swing at about 60 % capability earlier than getting cleared to take full swings. The time away from competitors was troublesome, Korda mentioned, and it made it laborious to look at a lot golf. She caught solely the final spherical on the Chevron Championship.

“I simply missed it a lot,” Korda mentioned. “As I received nearer to this week, I began hitting it somewhat longer. I believe the juices began flowing somewhat bit extra, however I am so completely satisfied to be out right here towards everybody.”

Annika Sorenstam is again within the sport

No person is aware of Pine Needles like Sorenstam is aware of Pine Needles. She’s the one participant who has performed this course as a U.S. Open venue three totally different instances, together with in 1996, when she gained the entire thing. The 51-year-old retired in 2008 however made a comeback on the senior tour as soon as she turned 50. Her 8-shot victory on the Senior U.S. Open final August earned her a spot on this week’s discipline. Since then, she has been making an attempt to stability her household life and off-course endeavors with practising for this match.

“She was practising a lot final yr, I used to be like, ‘Uh-oh guys, watch out, the GOAT is developing,'” mentioned world No. 3 Lydia Ko, who practices on the identical facility in Orlando, Florida.

As Sorenstam famous, there’s graduates from Sorenstam’s personal academy within the discipline this week. A kind of is 24-year-old Megan Khang, who performed alongside Sorenstam in Tuesday’s observe spherical.

“I hit a shot [on the 15th hole] and it felt good, however I felt my physique beginning to stiffen up,” Sorenstam mentioned. “Then Megan hit a shot, she ripped it and he or she goes, ‘Lastly, I am getting unfastened.’ I simply informed [husband and caddie Mike McGee], ‘I am stiffening up and he or she’s getting unfastened.'”

Sorenstam mentioned that approaching the inexperienced and dealing round will probably be the keys this weekend. And whereas she acknowledged she will be able to’t go for robust pin areas the identical manner she did earlier in her profession, she did say her chipping sport might be nearly as good because it has ever been.

“I do know to play nicely right here I received to max out my sport,” she mentioned. “I am the place I may be and we’ll see the place that takes me.”

After dropping a 5-stroke lead within the ultimate spherical of final yr’s U.S. Open, Thompson comes into Pine Needles with additional motivation and perspective. The 27-year-old mentioned Tuesday she’s taken the time over the past yr to give attention to her positivity, together with viewing final yr’s loss as a studying expertise, not a failure.

“I am simply having fun with life extra, realizing that golf is not life or demise,” mentioned the sixth-ranked participant on the planet, who has been taking part in professionally since she was 15. “I believe that is extra vital than typically grinding on observe amenities. It is extra useful simply to get your thoughts to chill out and your physique somewhat break day.”

Thompson, who hasn’t gained on the LPGA tour since 2019, mentioned she is now not working with a psychological coach. She did credit score her teacher, Martin Corridor, for serving to her get via the ups and downs of the previous yr and protecting her constructive. He additionally helped her via some swing adjustments.

So far as her method for this week, Thompson mentioned the course, and particularly the greens, name for being conservative and taking lengthy putts as a substitute of getting the ball run off the inexperienced after chasing a pin.

Rose Zhang leads the newbie discipline

Following her crew and particular person victories on the NCAA championships, golf’s rising star is having to spend her week on the U.S. Open ending up essays and initiatives for her freshman yr at Stanford. Zhang’s previous couple of months have been a whirlwind, however she retains successful. Simply final week, as she turned 19, she obtained the Annika Award, given to the highest feminine U.S. collegiate golfer.

“It has been loopy,” Zhang mentioned after a spread session Monday. “I needed to transfer out of my dorm. … I am nonetheless in school, however [the school year] is mainly over and I am at one other occasion, so I really feel prefer it’s been hectic.”

Zhang has additionally been busy off the course, signing identify, picture and likeness offers with Callaway, and most lately this week with Adidas. She is the corporate’s first NIL student-athlete.

“It is simply one other step to the actual world the place you are capable of sort of get used to having brokers, having contracts,” Zhang mentioned. “It reveals me somewhat little bit of the actual world.”

The U.S. Girls’s Open presents Zhang together with her hardest problem but. Gamers of all ages and ranges have identified the robust greens which have lots of runoff, and Zhang emphasised the significance of her brief sport as nicely.

Zhang’s group is a captivating one given it consists of two different youngsters. She shall be taking part in alongside Lucy Li, who can be 19 and as soon as performed this match at 11, in addition to 16-year-old Anna Davis, who gained the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Newbie Championship. There are a complete of 30 amateurs within the discipline.