2024 U.S. Women’s Open: Top 5 Biggest Heartbreaking Moments, Ranked

Although every golfer tries their best to shoot their golf balls right into the holes and have an astonishing finishing score, they often do not reach their ultimate goals. There have been several instances where the golf community was devastated after deserving golfers did not obtain their due rewards. Whether you would call it fate or not, let us look into five of the most gut-wrenching moments in the history of the US Women’s Open over the years.

5. Nancy Lopez could not change her preordained rank four times

The American former professional golfer, Nancy Lopez, has been a sensation in the women’s golf community for decades. With 48 LPGA Tour wins, she has an outstanding record, which includes three major wins at the Women’s PGA Championship back in 1978, 1985, and 1989. However, Lopez could not go past her runner-up title in the US Women’s Open four times. Once, as an amateur, she took part in the 1975 US Women’s Open held at the Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield, New Jersey. With a final score of 11-over, she was tied for the T2 position with JoAnne Carner and Canadian golfer Sandra Post, while Sandra Palmer won with a score of 4-over.

Two years later, the year when Lopex finally turned pro, she was again deemed to have won the runner-up title after Hollis Stacy had won with a two-stroke lead. More than a decade later, in July 1989, Nancy Lopez failed to win the US Women’s Open title and had to settle for a runner-up tag. This time she was 4 strokes behind Betsy King; the latter had acquired as many as 6 majors in her career. For Lopez, the reality of not attaining the winning title was retained even in 1997. With a difference of two strokes, Nancy Lopez was entitled to the position of second runner-up, tied with several other golfers; her rank was T6. At the age of 40, she had only one win in four years, and even though the US Women’s Open title would have left her ample opportunities, she lost it with a 15-footer miss in the final round.

4. Pat Bradley’s missed a golden opportunity ’86

With 36 professional wins, Pat Bradley had managed to be acclaimed as one of the seven women in golf history who were able to achieve a career grand slam. Under her belt were the Chevron Championship, Women’s PGA Championship, U.S. Women’s Open, and 3 du Maurier Classic titles. Although she had won the US Women’s Open in 1981, her 1986 defeat had cost her a great deal.

1986 was when Pat Bradley won against Japanese golfer Ayako Okamoto in a sudden-death playoff. She had won the title with a birdie on the first extra hole at the Board of Trade Country Club in the 14th edition of the du Maurier Classic. Earlier that year, she also won the 1986 Nabisco Dinah Shore, or the Chevron Championship, making her the winner of two majors in one calendar year. If only she could keep on the streak in her US Women’s Open, she would have won all the majors in the same season and could have earned the Grand Slam title along with her career Grand Slam title.

3. Lexi Thompson could not make the playoffs

In 2021, it seemed that Lexi Thompson would have an easy win at the US Women’s Open. With a massive 5-shot lead, Thompson was confident. However, she was soon brought down into a crushing reality once she started aiming for the last few holes. According to the Golf Channel analyst, “Her putt on the first hole, she missed the center of the putter by a half an inch.” And down went the 15-time LPGA Tour winner after she shot a five-over par 41 on the back nine. This eventually led to a missed opportunity for the playoff by a single stroke. She has yet to win a US Women’s Open or any major since her 2014 win at Chevron Championship.

2. Jackie Pung’s horrendous disqualification

It was 1957, and Jackie Pung was disqualified from the twelfth U.S. Women’s Open. Although Pung had scored 6-over par 298, Betsy Rawls, with 7-over par 299, took the trophy home. Betty Jameson, the winner of the 1947 US Women’s Open Championship, had made a grave error. On the par-5 4th, Pung and Jameson both made 6, but each woman, keeping the other’s score, wrote down “5” on their cards. Pung had signed the faulty scorecard, which later was the sole reason for her disqualification.

1. A two-stroke penalty that had cost Anna Nordqvist the 2016 US Women’s Open title

Anna Nordqvist underwent a massive setback in the 2016 US Women’s Open. In July of the same year, Dustin Johnson won despite a one-shot penalty at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont in the 2016 US Open. The reason was declared to be his ball, which moved while he addressed it on the fifth green. He still won with the final score of 4-under final. However, when it came to the US Women’s Open that year, Anna Nordqvist ended up having a two-stroke penalty, which cost her the winning title.

It was reported that on the second hole during the play-off, Nordqvist’s 5-iron brushed against the sand while hitting the ball in a fairway bunker. This earned her a two-stroke penalty. According to Sky Sports, “The trophy was ultimately lifted by Brittany Lang, who made pars on each of the three play-off holes, while Nordqvist suffered a bogey on 18, which added to her penalty misfortune, meaning she lost the play-off by three shots.”

Which among these do you consider the most gut-wrenching situation in the history of the US Women’s Open? This year’s tournament begins on May 30 at Lancaster CC. Stay tuned for all the action!