1985 U.S. Women's Open Winner and Scores
The 1985 U.S. Women's Open was the 40th time this major championship took place. The champ was a first-time winner as a pro.
Winner: Kathy Baker, 280
Where it was played: Baltusrol Golf Club (Upper Course) in Springfield, New Jersey
Tournament dates: July 11-14, 1985
Leaders after first round: Kathy Baker, Nancy Lopez, Janet Anderson, 70
Leader after second round: Nancy Lopez, 140
Leader after third round: Kathy Baker, 210
What Happened in the 1985 U.S. Women's Open
Kathy Baker won the 1985 U.S. Women's Open by three strokes, and it was also her inaugural win as a professional golfer.Baker (later known as Kathy Guadagnino) was one of first-round leaders, and so was Nancy Lopez. Lopez had the outright lead following the second round. Baker was back on top after a 68 in Round 3. Her lead was one stroke over Lopez and Judy Clark (later known as Judy Dickinson), whose third-round 65 tied the 18-hole U.S. Women's Open scoring record at the time. Clark was just the second golfer ever to make that score in any USWO round, and that 65 remained the lowest third-round score in USWO history until 2015.
Lopez, an LPGA legend but one who never won the U.S. Women's Open, shot herself out of it early in the fourth round with three bogeys in her first four holes. She scored 77 and fell to a tie for fourth place, eight off the winning score.
Baker's lead over Clark was two with nine holes to play, and remained so with three holes left. But the 16th hole decided the outcome: Clark made bogey, Baker scored birdie. That gave Baker a 4-shot cushion. She wound up scoring 70 for the round and a 280 total, giving her the 3-stroke victory over runner-up Clark.
Baker had been low amateur in the U.S. Women's Open in both 1981 and 1982, as well as the 1982 NCAA champ. She had been an LPGA Tour member since 1983. She won only once more on the tour after this, in 1988.
One of the golfers in the field was Laurie Rinker, who missed the cut. But one of her brothers, Lee Rinker, played in the 1985 U.S. Open. The Rinkers thus became the first siblings to play in the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open in the same year.
1985 U.S. Women's Open Final Scores
| Kathy Baker | 70-72-68-70—280 |
| Judy Clark | 71-75-65-72—283 |
| Vicki Alvarez | 72-69-71-75—287 |
| Nancy Lopez | 70-70-71-77—288 |
| Janet Coles | 72-69-71-76—288 |
| Penny Pulz | 75-74-70-70—289 |
| Sally Little | 73-70-74-72—289 |
| Ayako OKamoto | 72-74-73-71—290 |
| Betsy King | 71-73-71-75—290 |
| Jane Geddes | 74-75-69-72—290 |
| Amy Alcott | 72-72-74-74—292 |
| Jan Stephenson | 71-74-73-75—293 |
| Patty Sheehan | 73-73-74-73—293 |
| Cathy Morse | 73-74-69-77—293 |
| Alice Miller | 75-75-71-73—293 |
| Chris Johnson | 77-73-73-70—293 |
| Pat Bradley | 74-75-71-73—293 |
| Muffin Spencer-Devlin | 73-72-75-74—294 |
| Barb Bunkowski | 76-73-73-73—295 |
| Cathy Marino | 75-70-74-77—296 |
| Lori Garbacz | 71-76-76-73—296 |
| Marlene Floyd | 76-70-76-74—296 |
| Stephanie Farwig | 78-71-74-73—296 |
| Silvia Bertolaccini | 76-72-74-74—296 |
| Janet Anderson | 70-73-75-78—296 |
| Valerie Skinner | 73-74-73-77—297 |
| a-Kathleen McCarthy | 71-79-73-74—297 |
| Vicki Fergon | 75-75-73-74—297 |
| a-Danielle Ammaccapane | 74-71-73-79—297 |
| Kathy Whitworth | 76-73-73-76—298 |
| Kathy Postlewait | 73-77-71-77—298 |
| Pat Meyers | 75-72-77-74—298 |
| Dawn Coe | 72-77-73-76—298 |
| LeAnn Cassaday | 76-73-71-78—298 |
| Jane Blalock | 74-76-71-77—298 |
| Susie Berning | 80-71-72-75—298 |
| Becky Pearson | 75-75-76-73—299 |
| Jerilyn Britz | 78-73-69-79—299 |
| Sherri Turner | 72-72-82-74—300 |
| Sandra Palmer | 77-74-73-76—300 |
| DeeDee Lasker | 73-78-75-74—300 |
| Cynthia Hill | 74-75-71-80—300 |
| Dale Eggeling | 77-73-74-76—300 |
| Donna Caponi | 75-73-72-80—300 |
| Marci Bozarth | 74-76-74-76—300 |
| Myra Blackwelder | 75-75-76-74—300 |
| Jackie Bertsch | 71-76-76-77—300 |
| Heather Farr | 75-73-76-77—301 |
| JoAnne Carner | 77-73-75-76—301 |
| Barb Thomas | 72-77-76-77—302 |
| Jody Rosenthal | 76-75-76-75—302 |
| Lenore Muraoka | 76-73-76-77—302 |
| Rosie Jones | 76-75-76-76—303 |
| Sherrin Galbraith | 76-71-76-81—304 |
| a-Dottie Pepper | 71-76-80-78—305 |
| Debbie Meisterlin | 77-73-75-80—305 |
| Charlotte Montgomery | 75-75-79-77—306 |
| Cathy Reynolds | 75-76-77-79—307 |
| Julie Cole | 76-75-80-76—307 |
| a-Pearl Sinn | 80-71-80-78—309 |
| M.J. Smith | 73-73-78-86—310 |
| Diane Lang | 73-77-78-82—310 |
Sources:
Eugene (Or.) Register-Guard. "Newcomers atop Open's leader board," Associated Press, July 14, 1985.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open Past Champion, 1985, via Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20100314144601/https://www.uswomensopen.com/history/pastchamps/1985.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, 1985, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/history-timeline/scoring-and-stats/scoring.html#!&y=1985.