Lydia Ko prepares for Erin Hills watching YouTube as rookie Australian prepares for first tour start at US Open

A baptism of fire awaits a rookie Australian pro at the US Open on a course that few of the field have ever laid eyes on other than through videos.

Newly married Jennifer Elliott will play her first LPGA Tour event in this week’s US Open as one of six Australians teeing off at the “big” Erin Hills layout set to demand more of all players in pursuit of the biggest winner’s cheque in women’s golf.

Elliott, from Perth, will tee it up at the 6200m monster that future Hall of Famer Lydia Ko called “difficult but fun”, having just one start on the secondary Epson Tour under her belt after finishing at Sam Houston State University in Texas.

She earnt her way into the event through local qualifying in Texas, as did compatriot Grace Kim, who with 2022 US Open winner Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Gabi Ruffels and Steph Kyriacou rounds out the Australian contingent in pursuit of the $3.6m winner’s cheque.

Wake up, Wisconsin! ☀️

📸 @uswomensopenpic.twitter.com/rubhtlzt0r

— LPGA (@LPGA) May 27, 2025

Elliot is joining the big time at the right time, with purses hitting record levels. There’s more than $200m in prizemoney available on the LPGA Tour in 2025, and so far, through the opening 12 events, there’s yet to be an Australian winner.

Things don’t get easier in Wisconsin on the brutish Erin Hills layout that Ko, who could get a step closer to a career major grand slam with a US Open title, learnt by watching YouTube videos.

Not videos of Brooks Koepka’s win in the men’s US Open at the same venue in 2017 but instead a video of the Bryan brothers, Wesley and George, trying to break par.

“It’s probably not the preparation that many of the other players did, but it was just a good way for me to kind of see the golf course,” she said.

Lee, who made the move to a long putter after a back-nine capitulation while leading in the final round of the US Open last year, enters the tournament ranked 22, the lowest she has been on the rankings since 2015, having spent the bulk of the past decade in the top 20 and top 10.

Minjee Lee is now using a long putter. Picture: Sarah Stier/Getty Images

The former world No.2 hasn’t won since anywhere since 2023 but is a proven major performer, having only missed the cut seven times in 55 major appearances and only once, in 2015, from 11 US Open appearances.

But she told the Golf Channel ahead of the tournament that the confidence after such a big change was starting to arrive.

“You have to be open-minded to try this. The first few events were a bit of a trial for me,” Lee said. “It got easier and easier as I was playing in tournaments and got a little more confidence in it.

“I don’t think I took to it straight away, but it’s getting easier and easier to get the speed on more the long putts.

“The shorter putts are definitely easier.”

Green, Australia’s highest-ranked player, male or female, at No.8, has also made the cut in all six US Open starts, but is yet to record a top-10 finish.

US Women’s Open

Erin Hills, Erin, Wisconsin

Past Aussie winners: Jan Stephenson (1983), Karrie Webb (2000, 2001), Minjee Lee (2022)

Prize money: $18.6m

AUSSIES IN THE FIELD

Hannah Green

Career LPGA wins: 6

Major wins: 1

Grace Kim

Career LPGA wins: 1

Major wins: 0

Stephanie Kyriacou

Career LPGA wins: 0

Major wins: 0

Minjee Lee

Career LPGA wins: 10

Major wins: 2

Gabriela Ruffels

Career LPGA wins: 0

Major wins: 0

Jennifer Elliott

Career LPGA wins: 0

Major wins: 0

Previous appearances: 0