Brooke HendersonReuters
The United States Golf Association says it received a record number of entries for the 2014 U.S. Women's Open to be played in June at Pinehurst's No. 2 course.
Two-time winner and defending champion Inbee Park is one of 80 players among the 1,702 entries submitted before the April 30th deadline who are exempt into the championship, the second women's golf major of the season.
For the first time ever, the tournament is being staged a week after the men's U.S. Open and on the same course.
Canada's top ranked amateur, Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., will be looking to qualify for her second successive U.S. Open through one of the 36-hole sectional qualifiers being held in May.
Last year, the 16-year-old finished in a tie for 59th. Earlier this year, she finished in a tie for 26th at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA's first major of the season.
Canada's four full-time LPGA members – Lorie Kane of Charlottetown, Alena sharp of Hamilton, Jennifer Kirby of Paris, Ont. and Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Toronto – will join Henderson at the May 19th qualifier at Hermitage Country Club in Virginia.
For the first time in championship history, international qualifying will be conducted at sites in China, England, Japan and South Korea on May 19.
Nine-year-old Alexa Pano, who finished third in her age group at the 2014 Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, will be the youngest player attempting to qualify this year while 63-year-old Bobbi Lancaster is the oldest entrant for the second consecutive year.