Challenging Conditions at Erin Hills Prove Too Much for Many Top Players

Maja Stark, a 25-year-old golfer from Sweden, emerged as the leader of the US Women’s Open after a grueling third round at Erin Hills. Stark shot a 2-under 70 to take a one-shot advantage heading into the final round on Sunday, with a total score of 7-under 209.

The challenging conditions at Erin Hills proved to be too much for many of the top contenders, including top-ranked Nelly Korda, who struggled with a 73. The Japanese trio of Rio Takeda, Hinako Shibuno, and second-round leader Mao Saigo, also faltered, with Saigo taking a three-shot lead into the day but falling two shots back after a 75.

Julia López Ramirez of Spain made a surprising surge, finishing second with a 68, the best score of the day. López Ramirez, a 22-year-old rookie, was the Southeastern Conference player of the year in 2023 and 2024 at Mississippi State, but had not finished higher than a tie for 29th in any of her seven LPGA Tour appearances this season.

The struggles of the field were largely due to the speedier greens and trickier pin placements, which led to numerous double bogeys and triple bogeys. Stark attributed the difficulties to the pin placements, saying, “It’s so hard because they tend to put holes that are right on the edges of the slopes, so you can see going into the grain and up until the hole, and then after the hole you just see that the grain is going the other way.”

López Ramirez also acknowledged the challenges of the course, saying, “I do believe that obviously when you’re in college and you’re about to win an event you have the same nerves. That’s the most you care in that moment. You just want to win that tournament.”

A Lim Kim, who entered the day in a six-way tie for second place, birdied the first hole to get to 6 under, but then went 7 over for the next four holes, ultimately finishing with a 77. Jinhee Im and Noh also struggled, with Im triple-bogeying the fourth hole and Noh double-bogeying the third, both ultimately finishing with high scores.

Korda, who had a 40 on the front nine with four bogeys and no birdies, managed to rally with three birdies on her last five holes, but still finished 4 under. “It’s just a golf course where you may not hit it in the right spot and it’ll go down 40 feet and instead of being almost tap-in range, now you have a 40-foot chip where it’s running off the back, as well,” Korda said. “You just know that your mentality is that you’re going to make mistakes, but you can also bounce back here.”

Saigo, who was tied for the lead after the second round, said that the pin placements caused her the biggest problems on Saturday. “The first thing is I’d like to rest well and then tomorrow (come out) refreshed and I’d like to start from zero,” Saigo said through an interpreter.

Stark expressed her intention to play freely in the final round, saying, “I think I’m just going to try to play freely. I think that no one has ever played well when they’ve been playing scared, and I think that’s been my habit before, to just kind of try to hang on to it.”

The final round of the US Women’s Open is set to take place on Sunday, with Stark looking to capitalize on her one-shot lead and take home the $2.4 million prize.