The USGA made the announcement Feb. 27, sharing this will be the record fourth US Women’s Open at the property and the first since Peggy Kirk Bell, the resort’s original owner and an LPGA charter member, died in 2016. Pine Needles last hosted the US Women’s Open in 2007, when Cristie Kerr won the first of her two majors with a two-stroke victory over Lorena Ochoa and Angela Park.
The two other US Women’s Opens at Pine Needles were won by Karrie Webb in 2001 and Annika Sorenstam in 1996. The club has also hosted the 1989 US Girls Junior and 1991 US Senior Women’s Amateur championships.
Designed by Donald Ross and opened in 1928, Pine Needles was renovated before the last US Women’s Open in 2004 by John Fought. Most recently, Kyle Franz performed a renovation focused on green resizing and bunker reconstruction, completed in 2016.