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Pebble Beach, Calif. – Alison Corpuz plays golf in every yogic expression of meditation. Her emotionless body language on Sunday in a major was indistinguishable from her appearance in a practice ride on Tuesday. Sometimes, it’s fair to wonder if she even has a pulse.
That behavior was evident Sunday at Pebble Beach – from her first putt to her final tee.
When Corpuz finally bowled the 18th, cementing her three-shot win at the 78th US Women’s Open, her tough exterior finally cracked. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she hugged the can and her fellow professionals doused her with water. As Corpuz zipped off the green, she grabbed a towel from her bag to dry her face.
“My mind is racing,” she said. “This is really a dream come true.”
With her win at Pebble, Corpuz, 25, became the first American to win the US Women’s Open since 2016 and the first American player in 20 years to win her first US Women’s Open title. The win moved her to the top of the LPGA’s all-time points race for the season and also makes her the first woman to win a major championship at Pebble Beach.
Sitting in the press tent with the Harry Semple trophy by her side, Corpuz gave a candid assessment of the biggest win of her young career:
“I never thought I’d get this far.”
Corpuz may not have anticipated this victory, but in fact she had been building towards a moment like this for most of her life.
When Corpuz began her golfing journey two decades ago on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, she couldn’t even get the ball to fly the bib up the front of the field.
“Honestly, it sucked,” she said. “I just wanted to get better.”
And with hard work, I did get better. Once I was able to clear the apron, I aimed the first flag. Then next. And the following. She quickly became one of the brightest young players in her state, and then the nation.
In 2008, at the age of 10, Corpuz became the youngest qualifier in the history of the US Women’s Amateur Public Links, breaking fellow Hawaiian Michelle Wei West’s record.
“She was a role model for me,” Corpuz said of Wee West, who competed in the last US Women’s Championship this week. “It was really cool to break my record in public links. But I never compared myself to her. I always wanted to make my own name. She was a really big inspiration.”
While Wie West turned professional in his teens, Corpuz took an alternative route. She remained an amateur until she was 22, after five years of running at USC. In 2021, she secured her Q-Series LPGA Tour card, and the following year she enjoyed a solid – if unremarkable – rookie season.
Corpuz’s sophomore campaign was a breakout year. She took the 54-hole lead at the Chevron Championship before finishing T4, then finished T15 at the KPMG Women’s PGA.
All that was missing was winning.
Corpuz made it to Pebble Beach at the US Women’s Open without much fanfare. Despite sitting seventh in the US Solheim Cup team standings, she was on a few shortlists to get a week off. Stars like Nelly Korda, Jin Young Ko, Mingyi Lee, and Rose Zhang stole the headlines.
But it wasn’t long before Corpuz could be ignored.
Her under-69 in the first round lifted her into the top ten, and she stayed there for the rest of the week. With scores of 70 and 71 in Rounds 2 and 3, Corpuz was in a solo runner-up, behind Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, as the sun set over the Monterey Peninsula on Saturday night.
“I don’t think I ever thought I’d be in this position,” Corpuz said. “Just really, really grateful to be here.”
In the final round, there was little doubt as to who was the best player on the golf course. Corpuz started the day by birdieing two of her first three holes to take the lead, and she never relinquished it. She added circles to her card on numbers 7, 10, 13 and 15, which at the end featured a very light fist pump.
“I think that was the moment when I kind of knew,” Corpuz said. Like, I just need to go home.
Corpuz had little problem with that task. She shot down a par-3 17th, but with jockeying 16th and 18th, she put the finishing touches to her first major championship—and an LPGA victory—and became the only player to score a career-best 15 finish in the top three of the class.
“The fact that it’s the US Open means a lot to me,” she said. “But knowing it’s in Pebble makes it even sweeter.”
Corpuz walked from the 18th green to applause. The stands were filled to the brim, with crowds lining the ropes five and six rows deep. Fans also lined the handrails of the stairs leading to the Pebble Club.
Among the crowd was Corpuz’s biggest supporter. her friends. her family. her college classmates. They all bounced beaming, some choking back tears.
“It’s very special that my parents are here this week,” Corpuz said. “It was really nice knowing we were at Pebble, such a historic place.”
Corpuz emerged from the winner’s press conference with a group of officials, photographers, reporters and agents following her. That’s one of the perks and troubles of winning a major tournament.
As Corpuz approached the 18th green, someone from her team called out for Corpuz’s mother, May, who had found her way through the crowd to her daughter. As they posed together for pictures with the trophy — Stillwater Cove shimmered in the background — May sobbed.
“It was something I dreamed about,” Corpuz said of her week.
But surely even her dreams weren’t that good.