With a final-round 71, Minjee Lee cruised to a four-shot victory at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open, finishing with a record score of 13-under 271. It was the 26-year-old Aussie’s second career major championship title.
Lee becomes the third Australian to win the U.S. Women’s Open, joining Jan Stephenson (1983) and Karrie Webb (2000, 2001).
With the victory, Lee earned a record $1,800,000 payout, the largest in the history of women’s golf.
“This is pretty special,” said Lee, who now owns eight LPGA Tour wins, including two majors.
“This is the one I’ve always wanted to win since I was a little kid, so it just feels pretty amazing to be able to get it done today. I just can’t believe it.”
Lee started the day with a three-stroke lead over Mina Harigae and quickly extended the lead with birdies on her first two holes to pull five clear of the field.
She dropped shots on Nos. 5 and 7 but was never truly threatened, maintaining a three-shot minimum advantage throughout.
“Even with a three-shot lead I never felt comfortable today. I felt like I still needed to play well. I still needed to hold my ground. That’s pretty much what I did,” said Lee, the seventh player in history to win both the U.S. Women’s Open and the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship.
“To start aggressively, I think it was the right move, and then after that I had quite a big shot lead, so I was able to just play my game just to finish.”
Mina Harigae finished 9 under, good for solo second and a $1 million-plus check, by far the largest single pay day of her 13-year LPGA Tour career.
“I wanted to hang in there. It’s a major championship, and anything can happen coming down, but she was just way too solid today,” said Harigae.
“She didn’t miss many shots or putts. I think I was just really concentrating on solid contact and hitting fairways and greens and giving myself a shot at second.”
Hye-Jin Choi shot a final-round 70 and moved into solo third at 7 under. World No. 1 Jin Young Ko was next at -6, with former No. 1 Lydia Ko rounding out the top-5 finishers at 5 under.
Leaderboard: U.S. Women’s Open
Top-10 Finishers
Pos-Player-To Par (Rd 4 Score)
1. Minjee Lee -13 (E)
2. Mina Harigae -9 (+1)
3. Hye-Jin Choi -7 (-1)
4. Jin Young Ko -6 (E)
5. Lydia Ko -5 (+1)
6. Anna Nordqvist -4 (+2)
6. Bronte Law -4 (+3)
8. Nelly Korda -2 (+2)
8. Megan Khang -2 (+3)
8. Leona Maguire -2 (+3)
Top-5 Check Cashers
1. Minjee Lee – $1.8m
2. Mina Harigae – $1.08m
3. Hye-Jin Choi – $685k
4. Jin Young Ko – $480.2k
5. Lydia Ko – $399.9k
