Becky Morgan of Wales shot rounds of 72-71 to take medalist honors at U.S. Women’s Open Sectional qualifying held today at Rainier Golf & Country Club in Seattle, Wash. She was the only player in the field of 49 to break par on the par-72 layout.
Along with Morgan, the only other player to advance from this qualifier was Sophie Hausmann of Germany, who shot rounds of 69-75 to finish at even-par, one shot back of Morgan.
Both Morgan and Hausmann will now advance to play in the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open, which will be held May 31-June 3 at Shoal Creek in Alabama.
Sarah Rhee of Seattle and Alivia Brown of Gig Harbor, Wash. went to a playoff to determine the two Alternate spots from this qualifier, with Rhee ultimately claiming the First Alternate and Brown being the Second Alternate. Both players are amateurs, with Rhee being a junior at the University of Washington and Brown a senior at Washington State University.
Morgan has had a long career on both the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the LPGA Tour. She played collegiately at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, where she would win 10 individual NCAA titles. She also was selected to play on two Curtis Cup teams for Great Britain & Ireland (1998, 2000).
Morgan turned professional in 2000, and competed in the 2006 U.S. Women’s Open.
Hausmann is just finishing her junior year at the University of Idaho, where she was named the 2018 Big Sky Conference Women’s Golfer of the Year, after winning the Big Sky Conference individual title (for the second time in three years). She has been named to the All-Big Sky First Team for the third consecutive year. She is ranked No. 56 in the world by the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
For hole-by-hole final scoring of this Sectional qualifier, click here.
The Washington State Golf Association (WSGA) is the local representative of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and conducted this Sectional qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Open Championship.
The USGA accepted a total of 1,592 entries for the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open Championship. The entries came from golfers in 46 states, as well as the District of Columbia and 54 foreign countries.
To be eligible, golfers must either be a professional, or be an amateur with a Handicap Index of 2.4 or less.
Sectional qualifying is being contested over 36 holes at 21 sites in the U.S. and four international sites: one each in England, Japan, China and South Korea.
Founded in 1922, the WSGA is a 501c4 non-profit, amateur golf association governed by men and women volunteers. Serving over 68,000 individual members at more than 550 member golf clubs and 270 golf courses throughout the state of Washington and Northern Idaho, the WSGA works to continually expand the game of golf to people of all backgrounds.
The WSGA also serves as a statewide representative of the USGA and works closely with a number of allied associations within the golf industry for the betterment of the game.
