2003 U.S. Women's Open Winner and Scores
The 2003 U.S. Women's Open was the 58th time this major championship was played. The winner, after a 3-way, 18-hole playoff, was one of the unlikeliest major championship winners of all-time.
Winner: Hilary Lunke, 283
Where it was played: Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club (Witch Hollow Course) in North Plains, Oregon
Tournament dates: July 3-7, 2003
Leader after first round: Mhairi McKay, 66
Leader after second round: Mhairi McKay, 136
Leader after third round: Hilary Lunke, 208
What Happened in the 2003 U.S. Women's Open
Hilary Lunke won exactly one time on the LPGA Tour, and it was the 2003 U.S. Women's Open. In fact, Lunke never finished in the Top 10 in any other tournament on the LPGA Tour.With a final-round 69, Kelly Robbins took the clubhouse lead at 1-under 283. Annika Sorenstam was at 1-under with one hole to play, but bogeyed No. 18. Angela Stanford birdied the 18th to tie Robbins.
Lunke reached the 18th also at 1-under, needing a birdie to win. She made a par, forging a three-way tied at 283 and forcing an 18-hole playoff the following day.
Lunke had the early lead in that playoff as both Robbins and Stanford stumbled out of the gate. Lunke led by four after six holes. But her two early birdies were matched by two later bogeys, and after the 12th hole her lead over both Robbins and Stanford was down to just one. When Stanford birdied the 14th, she tied Lunke (Robbins fell off the pace with a double bogey on the 13th).
Stanford and Lunke remained tied through the 16th hole, then Stanford bogeyed No. 17. But on the 18th hole, Stanford "made a bomb," in Lunke's words, rolling in a long putt for birdie. But Lunke then stepped up to her own putt and sank it, a 15-foot birdie for the win. Lunke finished the playoff at 70, Stanford at 71 and Robbins at 73.
Stanford went on to win a major at the 2018 Evian Championship. Robbins, already a major winner at the 1995 LPGA Championship, won nine times on the LPGA Tour but none after 1999. And Lunke retired from the LPGA Tour in 2008, during which she served as president of the tour but also missed the cut in all five of her tour starts. She made 17 starts in LPGA majors after this, making only four cuts.
The victory made Lunke the first golfer to win a U.S. Women's Open after going through local and sectional qualifying.
The low amateur was 17-year-old Aree Song, who tied for fifth place. Thirteen-year-old amateur Michelle Wie tied for 39th place in her USWO debut. She went on to win the 2014 U.S. Women's Open. Another 17-year-old amateur, Paula Creamer, winner of 2010 U.S. Women's Open, missed the cut in her major championship debut.
2003 U.S. Women's Open Final Scores
| p-Hilary Lunke | 71-69-68-75—283 (70) |
| Kelly Robbins | 74-69-71-69—283 (71) |
| Angela Stanford | 70-70-69-74—283 (73) |
| Annika Sorenstam | 72-72-67-73—284 |
| a-Aree Song | 70-73-68-74—285 |
| Jeong Jang | 73-69-69-75—286 |
| Mhairi McKay | 66-70-75-75—286 |
| Juli Inkster | 69-71-74-73—287 |
| Rosie Jones | 70-72-73-73—288 |
| Grace Park | 72-76-73-68—289 |
| Suzann Pettersen | 76-69-69-75—289 |
| Donna Andrews | 69-72-72-77—290 |
| Jennifer Rosales | 74-69-76-73—292 |
| Lorena Ochoa | 71-75-72-74—292 |
| Cristie Kerr | 72-73-73-74—292 |
| Rachel Hetherington | 71-73-72-76—292 |
| Patricia Meunier-Lebouc | 73-69-74-76—292 |
| Laura Diaz | 71-71-74-76—292 |
| Natalie Gulbis | 73-69-72-78—292 |
| Yuri Fudoh | 74-72-75-72—293 |
| Beth Daniel | 73-69-77-74—293 |
| Lorie Kane | 73-75-73-73—294 |
| Christina Kim | 74-74-72-74—294 |
| Catriona Matthew | 74-70-76-74—294 |
| Leta Lindley | 73-69-77-75—294 |
| Dorothy Delasin | 79-70-76-70—295 |
| Paula Marti | 71-76-76-72—295 |
| Danielle Ammaccapane | 74-74-73-74—295 |
| Kelli Kuehne | 72-74-75-74—295 |
| a-Jane Park | 76-73-74-73—296 |
| Annette DeLuca | 71-73-78-74—296 |
| a-Elizabeth Caron | 75-73-73-75—296 |
| Ashli Bunch | 71-73-77-75—296 |
| Mi Hyun Kim | 73-73-73-77—296 |
| Giulia Sergas | 70-74-79-74—297 |
| Stephanie Louden | 71-74-77-75—297 |
| Kirsty Taylor | 71-75-73-78—297 |
| Candy Hannemann | 75-69-73-80—297 |
| a-Michelle Wie | 73-73-76-76—298 |
| Michele Redman | 71-74-74-79—298 |
| Heather Bowie Young | 76-71-72-80—299 |
| Karen Stupples | 71-75-72-81—299 |
| Karen Weiss | 74-74-78-74—300 |
| Becky Morgan | 72-77-75-76—300 |
| Beth Bauer | 75-73-76-76—300 |
| Jamie Hullett | 71-76-77-76—300 |
| Hee-Won Han | 79-69-74-78—300 |
| Emilee Klein | 73-75-74-78—300 |
| Sherri Turner | 73-75-72-81—301 |
| Se Ri Pak | 77-72-71-82—302 |
| a-Leigh Hardin | 75-68-86-74—303 |
| a-Morgan Pressel | 70-78-78-78—304 |
| Suzanne Strudwick | 72-73-83-77—305 |
| Michele Vinieratos | 75-74-76-80—305 |
| Alison Nicholas | 75-67-83-80—305 |
| Yu Ping Lin | 73-75-76-82—306 |
| a-Mollie Fankhauser | 77-72-80-78—307 |
| a-Irene Coe | 71-75-75-87—308 |
| Mardi Lunn | 74-72-82-81—309 |
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