MAtt Cooper is opposing the favourite Nelly Korda in his preview of the US Women's Open at the The Riviera Country Club in California.
- World No. 1 Nelly Korda the clear favourite
- Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles hosts
- Two Koreans and an Aussie have excellent state form
- Lottie Woad chasing Riviera-Augusta double
Golf betting tips: US Women’s Open
2pts e.w. Hannah Green at 18/1 (BetVictor, BOYLE Sports 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)
1pt e.w. Lottie Woad at 35/1 (bet365 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)
1pt e.w. Jin Hee Im at 70/1 (SpreadEx, Sporting Index 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)
2pts Jiyai Shin for a top-10 finish at 12/1 (Sky Bet)
This year, for the first time since 2006, there will be no Lexi Thompson at the US Women’s Open ending a run of 19 consecutive starts that would, in normal circumstances, indicate that the tournament has bid farewell to a veteran.
But not in this case because Thompson is 31-years-old.
It’s an absolutely remarkable state of affairs, the consequence of her first qualifying to play the women’s game’s premier championship in 2007 when just 12 years of age.
Two decades on she is retired from the game, as is another child star, Michelle Wie, but the latter is back in action this week – as a one off – for the first time since 2023.
Both Thompson and Wie were once thought of as the future of American women’s golf yet both struggled to match the lofty expectations. For much of her career Nelly Korda has been in a similarly difficult spot but her performances in 2026 have suggested that we are witnessing a breakthrough season that promises to vault her towards a place among the greats of the game.
Ahead of April’s Chevron Championship these pages noted that she had two wins in 47 major championship career starts, numbers that didn’t fare well when placed alongside Inbee Park and Karrie Webb (who won their seven major titles in their first 40 starts) or Annika Sorenstam (who landed her 10th in her 48th appearance).
It put us off backing Korda at 11/2 for all that she had been mightily impressive throughout the year and she duly thumped the field by five strokes and won again a week later by four.
She was tied eighth last time out, two weeks ago, which was, ridiculously, a flop in a year that has otherwise delivered nothing but wins (three of them) or runner-up finishes (three of those, too).
Up until last year her US Open results had been a little shaky: 10 starts, just two top 30 finishes, a best of tied eighth. But she was second last year and that, combined with the 2026 form, will tempt many to side with her despite the short odds (9/2).
We’ll take her on. Not because she has not chance because of course she’s got a great chance, but because to back her would pretty much require going all in and there are golfers who can take her on.
The host course will be known to many of us, if not all – the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles.
We know the elevated first tee and the ironing board fairway below. We know the fiendish short par-4 10th. We know the amphitheatre that surrounds the final green. We know that the test is said to favour faders of the ball. And we know the putting surfaces have tufty Poa Annua.
We don’t know quite how the course will transfer to the women’s game, but there’s the fun.
We’ll kick off the plan with a golfer who has more wins than Korda this year – the Aussie HANNAH GREEN.
The 29-year-old’s first victory came in the HSBC Women’s World Championship, she followed it with an LET-sanctioned double header on home soil (the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship), before adding the LA Championship in April.
She did miss the cut in one of her other four starts this year (at the start of April) but she has also notched two T7s and a T14 (when she was T4 with 18 holes to play). So we can conclude she’s in good nick.
She also loves playing in California. Her last 14 starts in the state have reaped nine top 10 finishes including two victories, a T2 and T3 at Wilshire, a T3 at Lake Merced, that win in April at El Caballero, and T5 at Palos Verdes.
The first and third of those courses are in LA, the first three are decent visual pointers for this week, and all but El Caballero have Poa on the greens.
Green was T7 in the year’s first major and has finished top 20 in the last three US Women’s Open. This is a great opportunity for her to add to the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship she won in 2019.
Ruoning Yin was among those considered, with another fine record in California, good form and an excellent approach game, but she’s shorter than Green so we’ll stick with the Aussie.
There have been mixed fortunes for LOTTIE WOAD since her remarkable 2025 midsummer, but she’s never actually been poor and she was typically straightforward when winning the Kroger Queen City Championship.
What’s striking is that her last three major championship starts read: T3 and one shot outside a play off in last year’s Evian Championship, T8 in the AIG Women’s Open, and T7 in this year’s Chevron Championship.
The Englishwoman has limited experience of California but she was T14 at Sharon Heights in San Francisco at the Founders Cup when she ranked second for Greens in Regulation and T36 at El Caballero in April’s LA Championship when she carded a third round 65.
It’s not a decisive factor, but it helps that many male golfers have won at both Riviera and Augusta National. Woad, winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, has a chance to join that elite group (Jennifer Kupcho and Rose Zhang do, too).
In just five starts in California, Korea’s JIN HEE IM has certainly taken to the conditions. She was T27 at Palos Verdes, T4 at Wilshire, T3 at Sharon Heights, and T11 and T2 (after extra holes) this year at El Caballero.
The 28-year-old’s record in his championship is also a little better than it appear on first glance. She was T12 on debut in 2024 when T5 at halfway and T6 after 54 holes. She was then T51 last year when the first round co-leader and still T8 at halfway.
She also spent much of April’s Chevron Championship, the first major of the year, in the top 10.
We’ll conclude with JIYAI SHIN who has done us well in the past when playing traditional courses, in the majors, while playing most of the time in Japan.
Six of the Korean’s eight starts this year in Japan have been top 20s including a second in March, T8 three starts ago and T7 last week with a penultimate round of 65.
The 38-year-old was second at Walton Heath in the 2024 AIG Women’s Open and second at Pebble Beach in the previous year’s US Women’s Open.
The latter is part of a very strong Californian record book that includes seven top five finishes in 17 completed starts and the last two have been the one mentioned above at Pebble and T5 at Palos Verdes, both on Poa.
She’s as big as 160/1 in places but we’ll take the 12/1 for a top 10.
Posted at 12:00 BST on 02/06/26
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