The U.S. Women's Open returns to Minnesota and Interlachen Country Club in 2030, 22 years after it was last played there in 2008.
Interlachen, site of prominent golf history, is awarded the 2030 U.S. Women's Open
The country club was where Inbee Park announced her arrival, where Annika Sorenstam made a loud departure and where Bobby Jones added the men's Open to his Grand Slam season.
January 8, 2022 at 6:12AM
It also will be the 100th anniversary of Bobby Jones' historic U.S. Open victory at the Edina private club. It came during his unmatched 1930 Grand Slam season, when he also won the U.S. Amateur, British Open and British Amateur four years before a little tournament now called the Masters was first played.
The United States Golf Association on Friday added Interlachen to a list of historic courses and former or future men's U.S. Open sites that now are on the Women's Open rotation. Last year's Women's Open was played at Olympic Club near San Francisco, famed Pebble Beach will host in 2023, and the USGA also announced Inverness Club near Toledo, Oakland Hills near Detroit, Pinehurst in North Carolina and Riviera in Los Angeles as future sites.
"Golf is built on history," five-time LPGA Tour and two-time USGA champion Danielle Kang said in a video call from New York City.
The U.S. Women's Open at Interlachen will be played a year after the PGA of America's 2029 Ryder Cup is due back at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska. The USGA is also bringing its men's U.S. Amateur back to Hazeltine National in 2024.
It has booked the U.S. Women's Open out as far as the 2046 championship at Merion near Philadelphia.
"Everybody was doing the math, like, 'How old are you going to be in 2046?' " Interlachen CEO/GM Joel Livingood said. "It seems like a long time, but 2030 will be here in the blink of an eye."
The USGA also announced it is doubling the championship's purse from $5 million to $10 million. The winner will receive $1.8 million. Jon Rahm earned $2.25 million for winning the 2021 men's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, where the total prize money was $12.5 million.
USGA President Mike Whan called the increases "monster." Livingood called it "game-changing" for women's golf and for his club, now included alongside prestigious major championship venues.
"It has been our vision the last five, six years to celebrate that 100th anniversary with another major event," said Livingood, one of three club representatives who attended Friday's announcement. "We're elated that it's the U.S. Women's Open and that we'll be part of a celebration that is so historically significant for golf."
Whan also announced the USGA is adding a presenting partner — ProMedica, a nonprofit health care system — to one of its events for the first time.
When the U.S. Women's Open came to Interlachen nearly 80 years after Jones won there, the great Annika Sorenstam said goodbye in her final Women's Open. She did so by holing a 199-yard shot over water for an eagle 3 that drew a thunderous roar from the crowd.
Sorenstam finished 24th. South Korea's Inbee Park won by four strokes for her first LPGA and major titles.
"It's an iconic venue," said two-time U.S. Women's Open champion Juli Inkster, who played for the winning U.S. team in the 2002 Solheim Cup and missed the cut at that 2008 Open. "It's a great golf course. It's old-school."
Maryland-based course architect Andrew Green has restored vintage Donald Ross courses at Congressional, Oak Hill and Inverness Club. He will do the same at Interlachen, where Green will direct a complete course restoration that will recapture original bunker and green shapes starting in midsummer 2023.
Frankie Capan III, who will be playing on the PGA Tour next year, finished at 13 under par at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship.
