The 1997 U.S. Women's Open was the 52nd

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open is one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, ...

, held July 10–13 at the Witch Hollow course of

Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club is a championship golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike ...

near North Plains,

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, northwest of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Alison Nicholas Alison Nicholas (born 6 March 1962) is an English professional golfer, who won the 1997 U.S. Women's Open. Amateur career Nicholas was born in Gibraltar. She was educated at the School of St Mary and St Anne (now Abbots Bromley School for Gi ...

entered the final round with a three stroke lead and shot an even-par 71 to win her only

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

title, one stroke ahead of runner-up

Nancy Lopez Nancy Marie Lopez (born January 6, 1957) is an American former professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 LPGA Tour, 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events, including three women's major golf championships, major championships. ...

. In the final pairing, Lopez slid a downhill birdie putt past the 72nd hole while Nicholas sank a three-footer (0.9 m) for par to win at 274 (−10). Lopez, age 40 and in search of the title that eluded her, was the first-ever player to shoot four rounds in the 60s in the U.S. Women's Open. Two-time defending champion

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 96 international p ...

's attempt for an unprecedented third straight title came up short. Five-over-par after her first nine holes on Thursday, she carded 77-73 for 150 (+8) and missed the 36-hole cut by three strokes, fourteen strokes behind the lead. Through

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, no one has won three consecutive U.S. Women's Opens. The final round attendance on Sunday was a record 31,700 and the seven-day total was 123,850. This was the first U.S. Women's Open at Pumpkin Ridge; the championship returned just six years later in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. It previously hosted the

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

in 1996, the third straight victory by 20-year-old

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

in his final competition as an

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Round summaries

First round

''Thursday, July 10, 1997'' Source:

Second round

''Friday, July 11, 1997'' Source:

Third round

''Saturday, July 12, 1997'' Source:

Final round

''Sunday, July 13, 1997'' Source:

References

External links

U.S. Women's Open
- past champions - 1997 Golf Observer final leaderboardU.S. Women's Open Golf Championship
-> {{coord, 45.614, -123.002, type:event, display=title U.S. Women's Open Golf tournaments in Oregon Women's sports in Oregon