It’s the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open week! Fans of Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, and other LPGA Tour stars will be eagerly waiting for them to step onto the Erin Hills Golf Course for some nail-biting and intense action. Defending champion Yuka Saso and returning star Rose Zhang will also have plenty of eyes on them in the second major of the LPGA Tour season. And while everyone anticipates excellence in strokeplay, there have been times when the U.S. Women’s Open has been packed with controversies.

We’re here to look at 5 of the most shocking incidents that took the limelight away from the leaderboard.

Charley Hull lights it up on the course

No, we’re not talking about Charley Hull‘s outstanding strokeplay that stole the show. Although that would be a shocker, considering the form the English star has been in recently. Instead, she was seen doing something highly controversial on the course that is generally frowned upon. Attending to her beloved fans looking for autographs, the fashionista was seen lipping a cigarette. Once it lit up the headlines, Hull made a statement that “Everyone smokes in England, probably on the golf course in the casual game, but not in the U.S. Open. But it was pretty made, really, how it all kind of took off. I was just minding my own business.” While it may be a norm in the U.K., Charley Hull presented herself as a bad role model for her young followers. That didn’t sit very well with anyone associated with the sport.

All eyes on the 45th POTUS

The 2017 U.S. Women’s Open was held at one of Donald Trump’s iconic courses, the Trump National First Course in Florida. Having been appointed as the 45th President earlier that year, he had a lot of eyes on him as he moved the needle in the United States. Unfortunately, that also meant that his possible attendance in the LPGA Tour would have taken the attention away from the stars on the course. Before the event began, many had requested that the 45th POTUS skip the event. Sadly, Donald Trump chose to go against their advice and was seen watching the action behind the glass windows on one of the holes. As expected, that made the headlines as Golf.com shared a glimpse of the scene from the Trump National Golf Club.

Did Natthakritta Vongtaveelap deserve to get disqualified?

At only 20 years of age, Natthakritta Vongtaveelap was playing in her first U.S. Women’s Open in 2023. Eager to compete in the major, she started off with a bogey in the par-4 10th hole. But Vongtaveelap leveled to par immediately on the 11th after she scored an excellent tap-in birdie from an outstanding approach shot. She was able to maintain par for her first 5 holes in the major before the rules official approached her. To her disappointment, she was told that she had been disqualified from the event through no fault of her own. Turns out, her caddie, Jinsup Kim, was seen using a range finder, which was an illegal device in the tournament. That ended the dream of Natthakritta Vongtaveelap to leave an impact in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open during her rookie season. Truly heartbreaking!

Jackie Pung goes from champion to disqualification

The first time the U.S. Women’s Open was played was way back in 1946. Only 11 years later, it was packed with a controversial incident involving one of the potential winners, Jackie Pung. Pung led the field with a 6-over par after 72 holes. She was set to be crowned the 1957 U.S. Women’s Open champion after she beat the field by one stroke. The only issue was, she had submitted a card that showed her score to be 5-over par 297. Unfortunately, it was not she who made the error on the scorecard. Her playing partner, Betty Jameson, put the wrong score of a par on the fourth hole when Pung had actually scored a bogey. Interestingly, the 5-time LPGA Tour winner had also signed Jameson’s card wrong, which ended up getting the latter disqualified as well. Now that’s what you call tit for tat.

Anna Nordqvist late judgement

In the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open, Anna Nordqvist and Brittany Lang were tied after 72 holes. They took the major to the playoffs, where both ended the first of three holes on par. However, on the second hole, everyone around the world saw Nordqvist move an obstruction using her wedge in the second playoff hole. However, the USGA officials took some time to tell the Swede of the error and the resulting penalty. Particularly, they waited till after her approach shot on the third hole to penalize her with 2 strokes. Still under the assumption that she and Lang were tied, the 37-year-old hit a safe shot that would have resulted in another par. Interestingly, her American rival still had her approach shot to play. Planning to play aggressively, once Lang learned that she had an advantage, she immediately resorted to a safer shot. A couple of strokes later, Brittany Lang won, and Anna Nordqvist felt betrayed by the USGA. Speaking of the delayed ruling and her possible approach on the fairway, she said, “I don’t know if it would have changed the outcome, but it certainly would have changed my aggressiveness into the 18th pin.”