1982 U.S. Women's Open Winner and Scores
The 1982 U.S. Women's Open was the 37th time this major championship was played. The winner had never won before on the LPGA Tour ... and never won again afterward.
Winner: Janet Alex, 283
Where it was played: Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento, California
Tournament dates: July 22-25, 1982
Leader after first round: JoAnne Carner, 69
Leader after second round: JoAnne Carner, 139
Leader after third round: Beth Daniel, 213
What Happened in the 1982 U.S. Women's Open
Janet Alex (who played under her maiden name, Janet Anderson, most of her career) won the 1982 U.S. Women's Open for her first LPGA Tour victory, and what turned out to be her only LPGA win. Alex was the only golfer to finish under par at 5-under 283, and she won by six strokes.Four golfers tied for second place, Donna White plus three future Hall of Famers: JoAnne Carner, Sandra Haynie and Beth Daniel. It was the first time in USWO history there was a four-way tie for second. It was the third of five times Carner finished runner-up in a U.S. Women's Open, and the third of three times Haynie did. Both of them won this major, too, but the other two runners-up, White and Daniel, did not. (Haynie also finished second in the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 1982, and won the du Maurier Classic that year.)
Carner, who won the U.S. Women's Amateur title on the same golf course in 1957 (as did White in 1976), led the first two rounds. But she slipped to second after a third-round 75, with Daniel taking a 1-stroke lead. Alex was two behind Carner in third place.
Alex began the final round with birdies on the first and third holes. Carner, Daniel and Alex traded the lead a couple times over the first seven holes. But on the eighth hole, Alex birdied while Carner had a 3-putt bogey and Daniel made bogey after calling a penalty on herself. Alex was in the lead from that point on.
The 68 that Alex scored in the final round was the lowest score of the tournament.
1982 U.S. Women's Open Final Scores
| Janet Alex | 70-73-72-68—283 |
| Donna White | 70-74-73-72—289 |
| Sandra Haynie | 70-74-74-71—289 |
| Beth Daniel | 71-71-71-76—289 |
| JoAnne Carner | 69-70-75-75—289 |
| Susie McAllister | 77-70-75-71—293 |
| Vicki Tabor | 70-76-75-73—294 |
| Nancy Lopez | 78-73-74-69—294 |
| Carole Jo Callison | 76-69-72-77—294 |
| Muffin Spencer-Devlin | 76-71-76-72—295 |
| Stephanie Farwig | 75-76-72-72—295 |
| Beverley Cooper | 73-72-76-74—295 |
| Alexandra Reinhardt | 73-75-71-77—296 |
| Sally Little | 71-77-75-73—296 |
| Dale Eggeling | 72-74-76-74—296 |
| a-Kathy Baker | 75-70-72-79—296 |
| Amy Alcott | 75-74-71-76—296 |
| Sandra Palmer | 78-71-75-73—297 |
| a-Amy Benz | 79-70-72-76—297 |
| Lynn Adams | 71-76-77-73—297 |
| Jeannette Kerr | 74-77-71-76—298 |
| Janet Coles | 77-77-74-70—298 |
| Donna Caponi | 73-76-78-71—298 |
| Pat Bradley | 77-74-72-75—298 |
| Kathy Postlewait | 76-73-75-75—299 |
| Yuko Moriguchi | 73-74-77-75—299 |
| Betsy King | 75-77-76-71—299 |
| Jane Blalock | 77-77-72-73—299 |
| Kathy Whitworth | 74-75-75-76—300 |
| Patty Sheehan | 78-75-76-71—300 |
| a-Carol Semple | 76-72-74-78—300 |
| Nancy Rubin | 74-78-76-72—300 |
| Terri Moody | 73-79-72-76—300 |
| Bonnie Lauer | 73-71-78-78—300 |
| a-Juli Inkster | 75-77-77-71—300 |
| a-Mary Zimmerman | 72-74-77-78—301 |
| Penny Pulz | 78-75-76-72—301 |
| Ayako Okamoto | 74-76-74-78—302 |
| Jerilyn Britz | 74-79-74-75—302 |
| a-Anne Sander | 77-76-75-75—303 |
| Alice Ritzman | 74-77-74-78—303 |
| Barbara Moxness | 76-78-77-72—303 |
| Cathy Morse | 76-75-78-74—303 |
| Chris Johnson | 74-76-79-75—304 |
| Valerie Skinner | 75-73-79-78—305 |
| a-Cindy Pieger | 78-74-75-78—305 |
| a-Dana Howe | 71-77-82-75—305 |
| a-Caroline Gowan | 77-74-78-76—305 |
| Myra Van Hoose | 74-78-78-76—306 |
| Hollis Stacy | 78-73-79-76—306 |
| JoAnn Washam | 74-76-78-79—307 |
| Lauri Peterson | 81-70-78-78—307 |
| a-Deb Richard | 75-76-76-81—308 |
| Lenore Muraoka | 76-74-76-82—308 |
| Cindy Flom | 79-74-78-77—308 |
| Patti Rizzo | 75-78-76-80—309 |
| Kelly Fuiks | 80-74-75-80—309 |
| Jackie Bertsch | 77-77-83-72—309 |
| Barbara Mizrahie | 76-76-80-79—311 |
| Kathryn Young | 78-76-79-79—312 |
| Gail Hirata< | 75-78-84-76—313 |
| Cathy Reynolds | 78-76-80-80—314 |
| Cathy Mant | 79-75-80-80—314 |
| Margaret Kirsch | 79-74-82-83—318 |
| a-Carole Slane | 78-75-86-81—320 |
| a-Denise Hermida | 76-77-83-87—323 |
| Betsy Barrett | 80-74-91-78—323 |
Sources:
The Mississippi Press. "The Fine Print," U.S. Women's Open Scores, July 25, 1982.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Women's Open Past Champion, 1982, via Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20100314144601/https://www.uswomensopen.com/history/pastchamps/1982.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, 1982, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/history-timeline/scoring-and-stats/scoring.html#!&y=1982.
Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator. "Carner Has 3-Shot Lead," Associated Press, July 24, 1982, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7B9AAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZVgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1122%2C2335201.