The USGA confirmed this week that 1,897 players have entered the 81st U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California — tying for the third-largest field of entries in championship history. The June 4-7 event will be the first USGA women’s championship ever conducted at the historic Riviera, and it lands during the club’s 100th-anniversary year.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul leads the 25 top-ranked players already in the field, and defending champion Maja Stark returns to defend the Mickey Wright Medal after her two-shot win at Erin Hills last summer. Eleven past champions are entered overall, setting up one of the deepest women’s major fields of the year on a course better known for hosting the Genesis Invitational.
What Happened
The USGA wrapped its qualifying window on May 13 and released the official entries total this week. The 1,897 figure makes the 2026 championship the joint third-most-entered U.S. Women’s Open ever, behind only the post-pandemic spikes of 2021 and 2022. Qualifying spanned 26 sites across the United States, Canada, Japan and England between April 20 and May 13.
Riviera will host the championship for the first time, a milestone for both the club and the women’s game. The course has staged a U.S. Open (1948) and two PGA Championships (1983, 1995), but until now no USGA women’s title has been contested there. The Riviera setup will play to a par of 71 over roughly 6,650 yards — shorter than the men’s Genesis Invitational footprint, but with the same kikuyu fairways, slick poa-annua greens and tree-lined corridors that have made the George Thomas Jr. design a Hollywood-tested test of strategy and short-game touch.
The Field: Stark Defends, Thitikul Leads, A Generation Behind Them
Eleven past champions are entered, an unusually deep historic contingent. The marquee storyline is Maja Stark’s title defense. The 26-year-old Swede won her first major at Erin Hills in 2025 with a 7-under 281, finishing two shots clear of Nelly Korda and Rio Takeda. A repeat would make her the first back-to-back U.S. Women’s Open winner since Karrie Webb in 2000-01.
Behind Stark, the world’s top 25 are all entered. Jeeno Thitikul arrives at Riviera as world No. 1 after a hot start to 2026 that already includes the Mizuho Americas Open earlier this month. Nelly Korda, fresh off a five-shot Chevron Championship win and her third major title, will be chasing the second leg of a possible career Grand Slam — she still needs the U.S. Women’s Open and the AIG Women’s Open to complete the set.
The young-American depth is also notable. Yealimi Noh, Megha Ganne and a handful of Augusta National Women’s Amateur graduates are expected to round out the exempt-amateur category, which automatically rewards the winners of the 2026 Chevron Championship, Augusta National Women’s Amateur and NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Individual Championship, provided the amateur winners keep their status. Several exemption categories — including the top-75 Rolex Rankings cut on May 25 — remain open, so the fully exempt list will continue to grow.
Why Riviera Matters For The Women’s Game
Riviera’s selection is more than a centenary gesture. The USGA has steadily moved the U.S. Women’s Open toward venues that have hosted men’s majors — Pinehurst No. 2, Pebble Beach, Olympic Club, Lancaster, and now Riviera. That trajectory matters because it puts the championship in front of broadcast audiences who already know the course, and it gives the field a recognizable test rather than a one-off venue.
The timing also lines up with the LPGA’s transformational 2026 broadcast year. Every round of every LPGA event is now televised live for the first time, and the U.S. Women’s Open — broadcast by NBC and the USA Network — will benefit from the wider distribution window that has driven a documented uptick in viewership all season. The 2026 purse for the championship is expected to clear the $12 million mark, continuing the steady prize-money growth that has come with title sponsor Ally’s involvement since 2022.
How Riviera Will Play For The World’s Best Women
Anyone who has watched the Genesis Invitational knows Riviera defends itself with three weapons: the squat par-3 sixth with its bunker-in-the-green, the drivable par-4 10th, and a back nine that demands creative recovery shots off slope-driven lies. Set up at around 6,650 yards for the women, distance off the tee will matter less than ball-striking accuracy and putting on the championship’s notoriously bumpy poa-annua surfaces, which only get slicker into the late-afternoon sun.
The barranca that snakes through several holes will swallow misfired layups, especially on the par-5 1st and the par-4 8th. And the famous 18th — a long uphill par-4 with the iconic clubhouse looming behind the green — will test nerves on Sunday afternoon when the cut-line drama and major pressure meet.
Strategy hounds will recognize a course that punishes one-dimensional players. The driving-accuracy data from this season suggests Stark, Thitikul, Korda, Lydia Ko and Hyo Joo Kim will all find Riviera’s fairways friendlier than the bombers who rely on speed. As we saw at the ShopRite LPGA Classic preview this week, the early-summer schedule already rewards players who can manage their misses.
What This Means For You
If you’re a fan looking to plan your viewing week, the U.S. Women’s Open broadcast window runs Thursday June 4 through Sunday June 7. Early-round coverage is on Peacock and the USA Network, with weekend live coverage on NBC. Streaming is available on Peacock and the USGA’s app, and online fans can also follow the Live From The U.S. Women’s Open stream throughout the week.
If you’re a recreational golfer trying to learn from the championship, Riviera is one of the best classrooms in the game for short-game creativity. Watch how the field handles the 10th hole — it’s a clinic in risk-reward — and the 6th green’s interior bunker for examples of how the world’s best avoid catastrophic numbers without playing safe. The lessons in how to play a bump-and-run shot will be on display almost every hole.
And if you’re an aspiring junior golfer, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and U.S. Women’s Open Amateur Tracker pipelines that put Megha Ganne, Rose Zhang and Lottie Woad into the field over recent years are still very much alive. The amateur exemption path is broader than it has ever been, and tickets to the 81st U.S. Women’s Open are on sale at uswomensopen.com — a championship worth attending in person if you can make the trip to Los Angeles.
Key Takeaways
- When and where: June 4-7, 2026, at Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California.
- Field size: 1,897 entries — joint third-most in U.S. Women’s Open history. The cut is expected to be around the top 60 plus ties.
- Defending champion: Maja Stark, who won at Erin Hills in 2025 by two shots over Nelly Korda and Rio Takeda.
- Top-ranked names: Jeeno Thitikul (world No. 1), Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko, Lilia Vu, Hyo Joo Kim and Charley Hull headline.
- Historic milestone: First USGA women’s championship at Riviera, in the club’s 100th-anniversary year. Riviera previously hosted a U.S. Open (1948) and two PGA Championships (1983, 1995).
- Broadcast: Peacock, the USA Network and NBC will share live coverage, June 4-7. Streaming via Peacock and the USGA app.
- Purse: Expected to clear $12 million, with a winner’s share north of $2 million — the highest in women’s golf.
For more on the LPGA’s transformational 2026 season, see our breakdown of the broadcast changes reshaping women’s golf coverage and our preview of the ShopRite LPGA at Seaview, the final regular event before the championship.
