1,236 enter U.S. Women's Open
FAR HILLS, N.J. - The United States Golf Association has accepted 1,236 entries for the 2008 U.S. Women's Open, which will be played June 26-29 at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn.It is the fifth consecutive year the number of entries for the championship has surpassed 1,000. The record of 1,251 entries was set in 2007.
The first to file an entry was Katie Sylvan of San Diego, Calif., who was one of 33 people to enter on March 3, the first day online applications were available. The last to file was Sarah Neville of Austin, Texas, who submitted her entry online at 4:46:31 p.m. on April 30, 14 minutes before the official deadline. More than 87 percent of the total entries were received online, including 63 on the last day (April 30) applications were accepted.
The youngest entrant is 11-year-old Samantha Wagner of Easton, Pa., with a birth date of Oct. 6, 1996. For the second consecutive year, the oldest player who listed her date of birth on her entry form is Barbara Israel of New York, N.Y., at age 62.
Entries were received from 45 states (all except Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Mississippi and Wyoming). In addition to the USA, entries were received from 37 other countries: Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Uruguay, Venezuela and Wales.
Sixty golfers are currently fully exempt from having to qualify for the upcoming championship. Defending champion Cristie Kerr leads the list of nine past winners who are fully exempt. Kerr is joined by: Laura Davies (1987); Juli Inkster (1999, 2002); Birdie Kim (2005); Hilary Lunke (2003); Meg Mallon (1991, 2004); Se Ri Pak (1998); Annika Sorenstam (1995, 1996, 2006); and Karrie Webb (2000, 2001). One other past champion, 1988 winner Liselotte Neumann, has entered to go through qualifying.
The number of fully exempt golfers will increase with the inclusion of top 35 money leaders on the official 2008 LPGA Tour money list as of June 1. Spots are also reserved for anyone who wins an official LPGA Tour event through the weekend prior to the start of the 2008 Women's Open who is not already fully exempt.
Local qualifying at 16 sites begins May 9 and runs through May 19. Sectional qualifying will be conducted at seven sites on June 9.
The following 60 golfers are currently fully exempt into the championship:
Shi Hyun Ahn
Sun Ju Ahn
Kyeong Bae
*Amanda Blumenherst
Nicole Castrale
Paula Creamer
Laura Davies
Laura Diaz
Meaghan Francella
Louise Friberg
Julieta Granada
Natalie Gulbis
Sophie Gustafson
Bettina Hauert
Rachel Hetherington
Maria Hjorth
Amy Hung
Pat Hurst
Juli Inkster
Jeong Jang
Mi Jeong Jeon
Eun Hee Ji
Jimin Kang
Cristie Kerr
Birdie Kim
Christina Kim
In-Kyung Kim
*Kimberly Kim
Mi Hyun Kim
Young Kim
Brittany Lang
Jee Young Lee
Sarah Lee
Seon Hwa Lee
Brittany Lincicome
Hilary Lunke
Meg Mallon
Catriona Matthew
Na On Min
Ai Miyazato
Gwladys Nocera
Lorena Ochoa
Se Ri Pak
Angela Park
Grace Park
In-Bee Park
Suzann Pettersen
Stacy Prammanasudh
Morgan Pressel
Reilley Rankin
Ji-Yai Shin
Annika Sorenstam
Angela Stanford
Sherri Steinhauer
Karen Stupples
Momoko Ueda
*Maria Jose Uribe
Karrie Webb
Lindsey Wright
Sakura Yokomine
* = amateur
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