The US Women’s Open is upon us, and this year, it’s at Erin Hills in Wisconsin. To those who might have forgotten, Erin Hills hosted the 2017 US Open won by Brooks Koepka. It also hosted the 2011 US Amateur, where Kelly Kraft beat Patrick Cantlay in the final.

Erin Hills, built in the early 2000s and opened in 2011, looks like a traditional links-style course. It is pretty open, with the trees not being in play. A unique feature is the lack of water hazards or at least none in range during play. It’s rare for a course not to use water or trees to defend itself. What Erin Hills has an abundance of are its length, the wind, tall fescue, thick rough, deep bunkers, and rolling terrain. Even without obvious hazards, Erin Hills demands accuracy, needing to strategize angles and lines on tee shots and approaches. Fairways and closely mown areas around the greens require the proper lines, spin, and shot shapes to hold them. It’s not an impossible course to score well, but anything less than perfect and big numbers come into play.

At the US Women’s Open, distance will still matter — but not to the same extent as it does in the men’s game.

Accuracy and patience will surely be the keys to scoring well. I also imagine that like in most USGA events, par will be precious.

Unlike some tournaments where it can be a birdie-fest, US Opens tend to put a huge value on par, making short game and putting for the week even more important than usual.

Pinay Power!

Watching the women’s professional tour has been such a treat for us Filipinos in recent years. Local golf fans in the 90s and 2000s had very few to cheer for, and almost none at the major tournament level, or very rarely. I remember Jennifer Rosales being in contention in the British Open in 2002, I think. That was it.

Today, at Erin Hills, we have a few ladies to root for.

US Girls’ Junior Amateur and US Women’s Amateur Champion Rianne Malixi is in the field. The 2021 US Open champion and 2024 defending US Women’s Open Champion Yuka Saso, a Fil-Japanese is also playing.

Even the 2023 US Women’s Open Champion, Allisen Corpuz is also of Filipino heritage, an American with a Filipino dad and a Korean mom. Dottie Ardina is also set to compete at Erin Hills this week. From being glad to have Filipinas in the field, we now have defending champions and bright prospects playing majors!

Bianca Pagdanganan didn’t make the cut for this week’s major, but she’s been showing solid form lately — and a breakthrough win could be just around the corner. All in all, the Philippines is in a great place when it comes to our lady golfers. We’re at the best we’ve ever been and the popularity of golf locally has produced quite a number of potential Filipina juniors who can compete on the world stage.

While we also have talented male golfers, women’s golf is a space where focused support can pay off. In the women’s game, size isn’t as much of a disadvantage as it tends to be on the men’s tour, making it a more level playing field for Filipina golfers.

We’ve seen Rianne make her mark in USGA events, dominating both the junior and women’s amateur ranks.

The future looks bright for Philippine golf — especially on the women’s side. Let’s wish our girls the very best at Erin Hills!