Minjee Lee ran away with the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles, becoming the first Australian to win the major championship since her mentor and LPGA Hall of Famer, Karrie Webb, did so 21 years ago at the same course.

Led by Lee’s historic feat, here are five takeaways from the second major tournament of the LPGA season.

1. Minjee Lee’s major run

Last Monday, Minjee Lee joked with her caddie that there would be plenty of room to practice with the various stations on the Pine Needles’ driving range. On Sunday, she was one of the last players off the range ahead of the final tee time of the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open.

Lee protected her three-shot lead to win by four strokes, shooting an even-par 71 on a course that gave up only two under-par rounds Sunday. Outlasting second-place finisher Mina Harigae, Lee set the 72-hole scoring record while accomplishing a lifelong goal.

“It’s been my dream since I was a little girl,” Lee said. “This is the one I always wanted to win.”

Whatever nerves she was feeling subsided on the first holes, as Lee started birdie-birdie to extend her lead to five strokes. She all but solidified her victory on the 12th hole when she landed her approach shot 6 feet from the hole and made the putt for birdie. She joins Australian legends Jan Stephenson (1986) and Webb (2000, 2001) as U.S. Women’s Open champions from the country.

“I think this will be huge for all the little girls, and even the boys and the children watching,” Lee said. “I know there’s been a really big boom in [Western Australia]. The girls have been a lot more interested in playing, so hopefully they watch me on TV and I can be a good role model to them and they’ll start getting more involved.”

The winning putt. 🏆

Your 2022 #USWomensOpen Champion, @minjeegolf! pic.twitter.com/LX3OYPksbS

— LPGA (@LPGA) June 5, 2022

Lee has now won two of the last four LPGA majors (2021 Amundi Evian Championship, 2022 U.S. Women’s Open), a feat last achieved by World No. 1 Jin Young Ko at the ANA Inspiration (now the Chevron Championship) and Evian Championship in 2019.

2. Lydia Ko builds toward third major championship

When a player relinquishes the No. 1 spot in the Rolex World Rankings, they can end up in a battle for survival. Yani Tseng, for example, dropped off in 2012 and never recovered.

The last world No. 1 before Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko, Sung Hyun Park, displayed her talent over the first 36-holes at Pine Needles this week, sitting at four-under par and T-9 after two rounds. The 2016 U.S. Women’s Open champion then faltered down the stretch, ending up at five-over par for the week and T-28, and still in search of her first top-10 finish since the 2019 AIG Women’s Open.

Lydia Ko last held the World No. 1 ranking in 2017 and has recorded only one victory from 2017-20, at the 2018 Mediheal Championship in San Francisco.

The 17-time LPGA winner fell as far as 55th in the world rankings in 2020. Now, the World No. 4 as of Monday, Ko has displayed remarkable consistency in her last 13 events, finishing inside the top 25 of every tournament since last September. Ko won twice at the 2021 LOTTE Championship and 2022 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio. Her caddie, Derek Kistler, credits her recent success to her ability around the greens.

“She’s got the best short game in golf, pretty much when you talk about chipping and putting,” Kistler said. “She still can get loose with her driver a little bit, but it’s improving. I don’t think it’s anything crazy. She’s just consistent.”

Lydia Ko is quietly creeping her way up the leaderboard.

This birdie putt moves her inside the top ten at -5. #USWomensOpen

📺 : @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/u3wonmV4ac

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 4, 2022

Even when Kistler felt Ko didn’t have her best driver game at the Founder’s Cup in May, she still posted 24 birdies for a T-12 finish. This week, Ko posted her third top-10 finish in her last seven major starts. The Kiwi finished runner-up at the 2021 ANA Inspiration, T-6 at the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship and in fifth place at the U.S. Open on Sunday.

Firmly back in the hunt, the 25-year-old is aiming for her third major title and first one in six years.

“I think we all try and peak at the majors,” Ko said. “You’re just trying to play the best golf you can and, at the same time, not think of it any more differently than any other event. But to play solid, I think it just shows what point my game is at, and I know there are things to improve, but there’s still a lot of good from there.”

3. LPGA’s parity era continues

From 2002-16, a player won multiple times on the LPGA Tour by the 10th tournament of the year. In four of the last six seasons, it’s taken more than 10 tournaments for the first multi-time champion to emerge, showcasing the increasing depth of the field.

Minjee Lee’s wins in 2022 came in the 11th and 13th events on the tournament calendar. In 2017, it took until the 17th event for So Yeon Ryu to become the first player to win multiple tournaments. In 2018, Ariya Jutaugarn did it in the 14th event, and in 2021, Nelly Korda got there by the 14th event, too.

This weekend at the U.S. Open, runner-up Mina Harigae finished four strokes off the mark in her first top-10 in 46 career major starts over her 11-year career.

“I’m not going to lie, my stomach hurt the last couple holes coming down,” Harigae said. “I was really stressed out, but I was really just focusing on one shot at a time, making solid contact and just hitting good putts.”

4. Michelle Wie West and Annika Sorenstam exit the stage

There are few sports where a 51-year-old could return to the major stage for the first time in 14 years and still be expected to perform. Annika Sorenstam, 72-time LPGA winner and three-time U.S. Women’s Open Champion, faced just that in her return to Pine Needles, where she won the championship in 1996.

“The curiosity for me isn’t how she’s going to make the cut this week, because she is going to make the cut,” former Golf Channel commentator Jerry Foltz said leading up to the tournament. “She doesn’t know how not to. Unlike my playing career, Annika doesn’t make plane reservations on Saturday morning in advance.”

Paired with 2011 U.S. Women’s Open winner So Yeon Ryu and amateur Ingrid Lindblad (who won low Am honors this week), Sorenstam felt she had to score under par Friday after an opening-round 74 to advance to the weekend. Instead, Sorenstam posted a 10-over par 81, including a seven-over 43 on the back nine, to finish outside the cut — her 12th missed cut in 310 career starts.

“It was a disappointing final round, actually final nine,” she said. “But it’s been great to be here. You know what Pine Needles means to me and my family and everybody. We made a lot of different memories in different ways.”

Michelle Wie West, meanwhile, exited Pine Needles with a smile after almost making a long bomb from the front fringe on her 36th hole to get to three-over par and a possible spot in the weekend’s competition.

The 32-year-old ended up finishing at five-over par through two rounds, missing the cut and officially moving on to her next adventures around golf. The 2014 U.S. Women’s Open champion didn’t disclose those plans specifically, but she did share earlier in the week that LA Golf — a golf equipment company for which she leads the women’s partnership initiative — is providing full healthcare for sponsored athletes, featuring mental health days and paid maternity leave.

“This is just the beginning,” Wie West wrote in an Instagram post. “We are excited to create a dialogue.”

The Stanford graduate plans to let her clubs gather some dust before preparing for her final start on the LPGA Tour, the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.

5. The gold standard

Harigae’s agent, Alex Guerrero, may have put it best Saturday afternoon on how much this week has done for his client, a 13-year LPGA veteran.

The $10 million purse and first-place check of $1.8 million, introduced this year at the U.S. Open, are new records in the women’s game. Harigae earned the first runner-up check worth over a million dollars in women’s golf history (her biggest payday previously was $268,657 for a T-3 finish at the 2021 CME Group Tour Championship). NBC also featured seven hours of live coverage of the tournaments on its national network, a marked increase from past years.

“My player is in the final group back-to-back days,” Guerrero said of Harigae. “That’s more national TV exposure than she’s gotten over her whole career.”

The USGA aims to expand the purse to $12 million over the next five years and continue to hold the major championship at some of the sport’s most iconic venues. Pebble Beach, one of the most historic courses in the country, will host the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open.

Behind Heather Daly-Donofrio, the LPGA’s former Chief Operations Officer (and former LPGA player) hired in April as the USGA’s Managing Director of the Athlete Development Program, will lead a $50 million initiative to grow the talent pool and lower barriers to access in women’s golf.

“USGA can assist families who have children with the talent to continue,” Whan told The Pilot. “Mexico does it, Canada does it, other countries do it. We are going to do it.”

Kent Paisley is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering golf and the LPGA. He also contributes to Golf Digest. Follow him on Twitter @KentPaisley.

Baseball dreams became a reality last Thursday, as the Women's Professional Baseball League (WPBL) held its first-ever draft ahead of four-team league's 2026 inaugural season.

WPBL side San Francisco selected pitcher and outfielder Kelsie Whitmore first overall, with the 27-year-old officially becoming the first member of a US women's professional baseball league since the legendary World War II-era AAGPBL folded in 1954.

No stranger to making baseball history, Whitmore has primarily played on men's pro teams throughout her career, becoming the first women to start and to pitch in the MLB partner Atlantic League in 2022 before also breaking multiple glass ceilings in the Pioneer League in 2024.

"I truly didn't know if this moment would come, to be able to have a women's professional baseball league while I'm still in the prime of my career," said Whitmore.

WPBL teams select international stars for debut rosters

While the Savannah Bananas alum is the first member of San Francisco's roster, Los Angeles used its No. 2 pick to snag five-time World Cup winner Ayami Sato — a 35-year-old pitcher from Japan — while New York took former University of Washington softball infielder Kylee Lahners at No. 3 and Boston began its lineup by picking South Korean star catcher Hyeonah Kim at No. 4.

Notably, 24-year-old center fielder Mo'Ne Davis also earned a Top-10 overall selection, with LA tapping the former 2014 Little League World Series pitching star for its debut roster.

Now at 30 players each, the four debut WPBL teams will next whittle their lineups down to 15 players before the inaugural 2026 season.

With five countries — Japan, South Korea, Canada, the Dominican Republic, and the US — represented in the first nine picks in Thursday's WPBL Draft, the sport's global best will be heading to Illinois to kick off baseball's newest era in August.

"[The WPBL is] not just for me, but for a lot of young girls. They now have a platform to look up to," noted Whitmore. "Maybe my daughter one day will be able to play in the league."

The New York Liberty reportedly landed a boss, with multiple sources linking longtime Golden State Warriors assistant coach Chris DeMarco to the 2024 WNBA champions' head coaching vacancy late last week.

After first joining the Warriors as an intern in 2012, the 40-year-old worked through the Golden State ranks to serve in both an assistant and player development capacity for the NBA side.

Exiting as as front-of-bench assistant, DeMarco aided the team to an impressive four NBA championships (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022) during his tenure.

DeMarco also has experience on the international sideline, leading the Bahama men's national team from June 2019 until August 2025.

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Recent WNBA hiring trends have favored NBA vets, with Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Alex Sarama recently named head coach of 2026 expansion side Portland while Seattle tapped former Memphis Grizzlies assistant Sonia Raman as the Storm's new sideline leader.

According to ESPN, additional top candidates for the New York Liberty opening vacated by now-Toronto Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello included Toronto Raptors assistant Jama Mahlalela, ex-Brooklyn Nets and current Charlotte Hornets assistant Will Weaver, and former assistant to the NBA's Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks Kristi Toliver, the current associate head coach for the Phoenix Mercury.

As all but two Liberty players enter free agency, New York is aiming to keep stars like Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Sabrina Ionescu on its roster — with the hiring of DeMarco potentially playing game-changer in some of those contract negotiations.

ESPN reported that Bay Area product Ionescu apparently reached out to Golden State Warriors icon Steph Curry to ask about DeMarco as part of the hiring process.

Dallas has once again jumped to the front of the line, as the Wings locked down the No. 1 overall pick at the 2026 WNBA Draft, scoring the top draft selection for the second straight year at Sunday's lottery.

The Wings selected UConn star guard Paige Bueckers with last year's No. 1 pick, with the NCAA champion going on to win 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year.

"We've got an exciting young group, and we really bond together," said Dallas Wings forward and 2023's overall No. 3 draftee Maddy Siegrist. "I'm excited to bring someone else in."

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In the rest of Sunday night's 2026 lottery results, the league's rich got richer, with 2025 WNBA playoff contenders the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm claiming the No. 2 and No. 3 picks, respectively, after both teams gained draft assets via trades.

The Washington Mystics will boost their already impressive young roster with the fourth draft pick in April, while the Chicago Sky snagged the fifth and final lottery spot on Sunday.

With 2026 WNBA season expanding to 15 teams, the league's two incoming expansion sides — the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire — will select in the Nos. 6 and 7 spots.

As for the 2026 class, top NCAA prospects including UConn guard Azzi Fudd, UCLA center Lauren Betts, and TCU guard Olivia Miles — as well as international star Awa Fam from Spain — are likely to earn early selections in April's WNBA Draft.

The first Top 10 classic of the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season delivered on Friday, as No. 1 UConn survived No. 6 Michigan 72-69 — just barely keeping their unbeaten streak alive.

Guards on both sides stood out, with Husky senior Azzi Fudd scoring a game-high 31 points while Wolverine sophomore Syla Swords put UConn on notice with 29 points of her own.

"Those are two of the best shooters in the country playing tonight against each other," Huskies boss Geno Auriemma said postgame. "They both put on quite a show."

UConn started strong in the first half, but a dominant third quarter from the Wolverines saw the Huskies' 17-point lead dwindle before Fudd got hot from behind the arc.

"I was proud how we stuck together, and we figured it out in the end," Fudd said afterwards.

While defending national champ UConn remains on top of the early 2025/26 NCAA field, the star is rising for Michigan and their 5-1 record, as the Wolverines jumped eight spots in last week's AP Poll — with another leap possible when the rankings update on Monday afternoon.

Elsewhere, the weekend's lineup featured a few other successful upset bids, with No. 24 Notre Dame taking down No. 11 USC 61-59 behind a gritty 22-point performance from Irish star guard Hannah Hidalgo on Friday and unranked mid-major Rhode Island stunning No. 16 NC State with a 68-63 Wolfpack loss on Sunday.