1988 U.S. Women's Open Winner and Scores

The U.S. Women's Open was played for the 43rd time in 1988. But it was a first for Liselotte Neumann: Her very first win on the LPGA Tour.

Winner: Liselotte Neumann, 277

Where it was played: Baltimore Country Club (Five Farmes East Course) in Lutherville, Maryland

Tournament dates: July 21-24, 1988

Leader after first round: Liselotte Neumann, 67

Leaders after second round: Dottie Pepper, Juli Inkster, Liselotte Neumann, 139

Leader after third round: Liselotte Neumann, 208

What Happened in the 1988 U.S. Women's Open

This wasn't just Neumann's first LPGA victory, it was the very first time she made the cut in any of the women's professional majors. Neumann had multiple victories on the Ladies European Tour, but she was a rookie on the LPGA Tour.

And her win in the 1988 U.S. Women's Open included a couple scoring records. The 67 she recorded in Round 1 was the lowest first-round score in this major to date. And her 277 winning score was a new tournament record, breaking the previous mark of 279 set by Pat Bradley in 1981. Neumann's record stood until the 1996 U.S. Women's Open, when Annika Sorenstam lowered it.

Like Sorenstam, Neumann was from Sweden. She was the first Swedish winner on the LPGA Tour, and the first Swede (male or female) to win a major championship.

Neumann shared the second-round lead with Dottie Pepper and Juli Inkster. But Inkster had a 75 and Pepper a 76 in Round 3, and Inkster eventually tied for eighth place and Pepper tied for third (six behind Neumann).

Neumann shot 69 in the third round to lead by two over second-place Patty Sheehan. In the final round, Sheehan went into the solo lead when she birdied Hole 7 and Neumann double-bogeyed it. But Neumann went on a birdie tear on the back nine and Sheehan couldn't keep up: Neumann birdied Nos. 10, 11, 12, 15 and 17.

This was the second of three times Sheehan finished runner-up in the U.S. Women's Open, before she eventually won it twice in the 1990s. Neumann went on to win 13 times total on the LPGA Tour. She never won another major, but she contended frequently. She had five future runner-up finishes, and another four times finished third in majors.

Meg Mallon, who won this major in 1991 and 2004, made the cut for the first time in a U.S. Women's Open and tied for 44th place.

1988 U.S. Women's Open Final Scores

Liselotte Neumann67-72-69-69—277
Patty Sheehan70-72-68-70—280
Colleen Walker70-74-68-71—283
Dottie (Pepper) Mochrie70-69-76-68—283
Jan Stephenson72-72-71-69—284
Michele Berteotti75-71-68-71—285
Amy Benz70-72-71-72—285
Juli Inkster71-68-75-72—286
Kristi Albers73-70-72-71—286
Vicki Fergon70-71-75-71—287
Beth Daniel77-71-66-73—287
Ayako Okamoto75-73-71-69—288
Nancy Lopez72-74-71-71—288
Betsy King76-74-71-67—288
Kris Hanson73-72-73-70—288
Kay Cockerill73-70-72-74—289
JoAnne Carner69-73-76-71—289
Nancy Brown71-73-72-73—289
Rosie Jones74-70-74-72—290
Christa Johnson73-74-73-70—290
Tammie Green71-70-71-78—290
Marta Figueras-Dotti77-71-69-73—290
Mei-Chi Cheng74-76-70-70—290
Donna White72-70-73-76—291
Sally Quinlan69-75-74-73—291
Deedee Lasker73-71-74-73—291
Robin Hood77-72-71-71—291
Judy Dickinson71-76-71-73—291
Sherri Turner73-72-73-74—292
a-Carol Thompson79-71-70-72—292
Jody Rosenthal74-73-71-74—292
Kathy Guadagnino72-72-75-73—292
Patti Rizzo78-71-71-73—293
Alice Ritzman73-74-70-76—293
Debbie Massey74-73-73-73—293
Shelley Hamlin74-74-73-72—293
Shirley Furlong70-75-72-76—293
Cathy Morse73-74-73-74—294
Sally Little71-75-72-76—294
Janet Coles72-71-74-77—294
Jane Geddes74-76-73-72—295
Dale Eggeling76-72-72-75—295
Amy Alcott76-74-74-71—295
Meg Mallon78-71-75-72—296
Sue Ertl74-72-73-77—296
Dawn Coe74-72-74-76—296
a-Brandie Burton74-75-73-74—296
Valerie Skinner75-72-78-72—297
Heather Farr72-75-72-78—297
Robin Walton73-75-72-78—298
Laura Davies72-73-75-78—298
Hollis Stacy77-70-76-76—299
Kathy Postlewait74-72-74-79—299
Mary Zimmerman76-74-74-76—300
Tracy Kerdyk73-74-76-78—301
Mina Hardin75-74-81-71—301
Dorothy Germain75-72-78-76—301
Martha Foyer73-76-77-75—301
Terry-Jo Myers75-75-77-75—302
Kristin Lofye77-71-75-80—303
Carol French74-75-79-75—303
Cindy Figg-Currier78-72-77-76—303
Dale Reid73-76-75-80—304
Alison Nicholas76-73-77-79—305
Marlene Brodzik-Davis71-77-79-79—306
Jill Briles75-74-77-81—307
Jane Crafter74-71-85-80—310

Previous and next:
1987 U.S. Women's Open - 1989 U.S. Women's Open

Sources:
Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gazette. "Neumann rallies to win Women's Open," The Associated Press, July 25, 1988, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Sa5RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1G0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3340%2C6751036.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open Past Champion, 1988, via Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20100314144601/https://www.uswomensopen.com/history/pastchamps/1988.html.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open Records, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/media/online-media-center/usga-records/u-s--women-s-open-records.html.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open, Records & Results, 1988, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/history-timeline/scoring-and-stats/scoring.html#!&y=1988.

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