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 Neumann | 67-72-69-69—277 |
| Patty Sheehan | 70-72-68-70—280 |
| Colleen Walker | 70-74-68-71—283 |
| Dottie (Pepper) Mochrie | 70-69-76-68—283 |
| Jan Stephenson | 72-72-71-69—284 |
| Michele Berteotti | 75-71-68-71—285 |
| Amy Benz | 70-72-71-72—285 |
| Juli Inkster | 71-68-75-72—286 |
| Kristi Albers | 73-70-72-71—286 |
| Vicki Fergon | 70-71-75-71—287 |
| Beth Daniel | 77-71-66-73—287 |
| Ayako Okamoto | 75-73-71-69—288 |
| Nancy Lopez | 72-74-71-71—288 |
| Betsy King | 76-74-71-67—288 |
| Kris Hanson | 73-72-73-70—288 |
| Kay Cockerill | 73-70-72-74—289 |
| JoAnne Carner | 69-73-76-71—289 |
| Nancy Brown | 71-73-72-73—289 |
| Rosie Jones | 74-70-74-72—290 |
| Christa Johnson | 73-74-73-70—290 |
| Tammie Green | 71-70-71-78—290 |
| Marta Figueras-Dotti | 77-71-69-73—290 |
| Mei-Chi Cheng | 74-76-70-70—290 |
| Donna White | 72-70-73-76—291 |
| Sally Quinlan | 69-75-74-73—291 |
| Deedee Lasker | 73-71-74-73—291 |
| Robin Hood | 77-72-71-71—291 |
| Judy Dickinson | 71-76-71-73—291 |
| Sherri Turner | 73-72-73-74—292 |
| a-Carol Thompson | 79-71-70-72—292 |
| Jody Rosenthal | 74-73-71-74—292 |
| Kathy Guadagnino | 72-72-75-73—292 |
| Patti Rizzo | 78-71-71-73—293 |
| Alice Ritzman | 73-74-70-76—293 |
| Debbie Massey | 74-73-73-73—293 |
| Shelley Hamlin | 74-74-73-72—293 |
| Shirley Furlong | 70-75-72-76—293 |
| Cathy Morse | 73-74-73-74—294 |
| Sally Little | 71-75-72-76—294 |
| Janet Coles | 72-71-74-77—294 |
| Jane Geddes | 74-76-73-72—295 |
| Dale Eggeling | 76-72-72-75—295 |
| Amy Alcott | 76-74-74-71—295 |
| Meg Mallon | 78-71-75-72—296 |
| Sue Ertl | 74-72-73-77—296 |
| Dawn Coe | 74-72-74-76—296 |
| a-Brandie Burton | 74-75-73-74—296 |
| Valerie Skinner | 75-72-78-72—297 |
| Heather Farr | 72-75-72-78—297 |
| Robin Walton | 73-75-72-78—298 |
| Laura Davies | 72-73-75-78—298 |
| Hollis Stacy | 77-70-76-76—299 |
| Kathy Postlewait | 74-72-74-79—299 |
| Mary Zimmerman | 76-74-74-76—300 |
| Tracy Kerdyk | 73-74-76-78—301 |
| Mina Hardin | 75-74-81-71—301 |
| Dorothy Germain | 75-72-78-76—301 |
| Martha Foyer | 73-76-77-75—301 |
| Terry-Jo Myers | 75-75-77-75—302 |
| Kristin Lofye | 77-71-75-80—303 |
| Carol French | 74-75-79-75—303 |
| Cindy Figg-Currier | 78-72-77-76—303 |
| Dale Reid | 73-76-75-80—304 |
| Alison Nicholas | 76-73-77-79—305 |
| Marlene Brodzik-Davis | 71-77-79-79—306 |
| Jill Briles | 75-74-77-81—307 |
| Jane Crafter | 74-71-85-80—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.