For the first time since 2001, qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open took place in a single sectional qualifying tournament stage, rather than in a two-stage process of local and sectional qualifying tournaments. Twenty separate sectional qualifying tournaments took place from May 2 through June 3 in 16 states across the United States.
Exempt from qualifying Players in eleven categories were exempt from qualifying. Players are listed
only once in the first category in which they qualify, with additional categories in parentheses ( ) next to their names. Golfers qualifying in Category 10 who qualify by more than one method are also denoted with the tour by which they qualified. '''1. Winners of the U.S. Women's Open for the last ten years (2000–2009)'''
Juli Inkster,
Eun-Hee Ji (6,7),
Cristie Kerr (3,6,7,8,9),
Birdie Kim,
Hilary Lunke,
Inbee Park (7,8),
Karrie Webb (5,7) (Eligible but not playing:
Annika Sörenstam1 and
Meg Mallon3) Kim and Lunke did not play. '''2. Winner and runner-up from the 2009 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship (must be an amateur)'''
Jennifer Johnson (The winner,
Jennifer Song, turned professional on June 17, 2010, and lost her exemption in this category. She remains exempt in Category 6 below.)
3. Winners of the LPGA Championship for the last five years Anna Nordqvist (7,9),
Se Ri Pak (7,9),
Suzann Pettersen (6,7,8,9),
Yani Tseng (5,7,8,9) '''4. Winners of the
Ricoh Women's British Open for the last five years'''
Jeong Jang,
Catriona Matthew (7,9,10–LET),
Jiyai Shin (6,7,8,9),
Sherri Steinhauer (Eligible but not playing:
Lorena Ochoa1 (5,7,8,9))
5. Winners of the Kraft Nabisco Championship for the last five years Brittany Lincicome (6,7),
Morgan Pressel (6,7) '''6. From the 2009 U.S. Women's Open Championship, the 15 lowest scores and anyone tying for 15th place'''
Sun Ju Ahn (10–Korea),
Kyeong Bae (7),
Na Yeon Choi (7,9),
Paula Creamer (7),
In-Kyung Kim (7),
Song-Hee Kim (7,8),
Candie Kung (7),
Ai Miyazato (7,8,9),
Hee Young Park (7),
Morgan Pressel (7),
Jennifer Song 7. From the 2009 final official LPGA money list, the top 50 money leaders Helen Alfredsson,
Meaghan Francella,
Sandra Gal,
Natalie Gulbis,
Sophie Gustafson (9,10–LET),
Hee-Won Han,
Maria Hjorth,
Katherine Hull,
M. J. Hur (9),
Pat Hurst,
Vicky Hurst,
Christina Kim,
Brittany Lang,
Jee Young Lee,
Meena Lee,
Seon Hwa Lee,
Stacy Lewis (8),
Mika Miyazato,
Ji Young Oh,
Michele Redman,
Angela Stanford,
Momoko Ueda,
Wendy Ward,
Michelle Wie (8,9),
Lindsey Wright,
Amy Yang,
Eunjung Yi,
Sun Young Yoo '
8. From the 2010 official LPGA money list, the top 10 money leaders through the close of entries on May 5 '''9. Winners of LPGA co-sponsored events, whose victories are considered official, from the conclusion of the 2009 U.S. Women's Open Championship to the initiation of the 2010 U.S. Women's Open Championship'''
Bo Bae Song2
10. Top five money leaders from the 2009 Japan LPGA Tour, Korea LPGA Tour, and Ladies European Tour Japan LPGA Tour: Sakura Yokomine,
Shinobu Moromizato,
Chie Arimura,
Mi-Jeong Jeon,
Yuko Mitsuka,
Korea LPGA Tour: Hee Kyung Seo,
So Yeon Ryu,
Bo-Mee Lee,
Jeong-Eun Lee Ladies European Tour: Becky Brewerton,
Tania Elósegui,
Marianne Skarpnord 11. Special exemptions selected by the USGA none offered 1Both Sörenstam and Ochoa have announced their retirement, but are officially listed by the LPGA as "inactive". 2Bo Bae Song was not an LPGA Tour member when she won the Mizuno Classic in 2009. This means that her victory and prize money are not included in LPGA career statistics. However, since the Mizuno Classic is sanctioned by the LPGA as an official money event, Song's victory is considered "official" for purposes of U.S. Women's Open entry. 3Mallon announced her retirement from competitive golf on July 7, 2010, and withdrew from the tournament. She was replaced by alternate Nicole Vandermade.
Qualifiers The following players qualified for the 2010 U.S. Women's Open through one of the sectional qualifying tournaments. At sites with multiple qualifiers, players are listed in order of qualifying scores, from lowest score to highest.
May 17 at
White Bear Yacht Club, White Bear Lake, Minnesota Martha Nause May 17 at
Shady Oaks Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas María Hernández,
Taylor Leon,
Heather Young May 19 at
Plantation Bay Country Club, Ormond Beach, Florida Alexis Thompson,
Yueer Feng,
Jaye Marie Green,
Shasta Averyhardt,
Sarah Kemp,
Veronica Felibert May 24 at
Pinnacle Peak Country Club, Scottsdale, Arizona Aiko Ueno,
Shi Hyun Ahn,
Paige Mackenzie,
Nicole Zhang,
Juliana Murcia Ortiz,
Esther Choe May 24 at
Corral de Tierra Country Club, Corral de Tierra, California Mina Harigae,
Tiffany Lim,
Sofie Andersson Sally Watson May 24 at
Mission Viejo Country Club, Mission Viejo, California Tiffany Joh,
Alison Lee,
Jenny Shin,
Gabriella Then May 24 at
The Oaks Club, Osprey, Florida Jessica Korda,
Samantha Richdale,
Jennifer Gleason,
Victoria Tanco,
Sandra Changkija May 24 at
Twin Orchard Country Club, Long Grove, Florida Libby Smith,
Nicole Jeray,
Laura Kueny,
Ashli Bunch May 24 at
Woodmont Country Club, Rockville, Maryland Chella Choi,
Karine Icher,
Pornanong Phatlum,
Hye Jung Choi,
Laura Diaz,
Meredith Duncan,
Alison Walshe,
Julieta Granada,
Alena Sharp,
Shanshan Feng,
Jung Yeon Lee,
Louise Friberg May 24 at
Persimmon Woods Golf Club, St. Louis, Missouri Kelli Shean,
Lucy Nunn May 24 at
Shadow Hawk Golf Club, Richmond, Texas Lisa McCloskey,
Christi Cano,
Janine Fellows May 25 at
Hawk Pointe Golf Club, Washington, New Jersey Amanda Blumenherst,
Azahara Muñoz,
Na On Min,
Jennifer Rosales May 26 at
White Columns Country Club, Milton, Georgia Allison Fouch,
Karen Stupples,
Irene Cho,
Stacy Prammanasudh,
Sarah Lynn Sargent May 26 at
Tumble Creek Club, Roslyn, Washington Christine Wong May 30 at
Hoakalei Country Club, Ewa Beach, Hawaii Sakurako Mori May 31 at
Broadmoor Golf Club, Colorado Springs, Colorado Kimberly Kim,
Jill McGill,
Mhairi McKay June 1 at
Industry Hills Golf Club, City of Industry, California Giulia Sergas,
Kaitlin Drolson,
Belen Mozo,
Stephanie Kono,
Sun Gyoung Park,
Ariya Jutanugarn,
Charlotte Mayorkas,
Tamie Durdin,
Danielle Kang,
Lizette Salas,
Anna Rawson June 1 at
Twin Hills Country Club, Longmeadow, Massachusetts Brittany Altomare,
Liz Janangelo June 2 at
Fox Chapel Golf Club, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Janice Moodie,
Jennifer Kirby,
Becky Morgan June 3 at
Carolina Trace (Lakes Course), Sanford, North Carolina Hsiao-Ching Lu,
Gwladys Nocera,
Joomi Kim Alternates •
Courtney Ellenbogen – the first alternate from the Sanford, North Carolina qualifier with a score of 77-68=145 was added to the field when the last three winners on the LPGA Tour—Meaghan Francella, Ai Miyazato and Cristie Kerr—already had qualified for the tournament, opening up additional spots. •
Nicole Vandermade – replaced Meg Mallon who announced her retirement from golf and withdrew from the tournament on July 7. Vandermade was the first alternate from the Richmond, Texas qualifier with a score of 74-71=145. •
Sara-Maude Juneau – replaced
Chie Arimura. Juneau was the first alternate from the St. Louis qualifier with a score of 75-71=146. ==Course layout==