USGA awards special exemption to Riviera for this 5-time major winner

The USGA didn't award one in 2024 and 2025.

Yani Tseng of Taiwan poses with the Player of the Year trophy at the LPGA Rolex Awards Reception at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress on November 17, 2011 in Orlando, Florida.

While Tseng never won a U.S. Women’s Open, she is a USGA champion, having defeated Wie West in the final match of the 2004 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. She played her first USWO the next year.

Tseng’s exemption into the first U.S. Women's Open ever staged at Riviera is a celebration of both old and new. She spent 109 consecutive weeks as No. 1 in the world from 2011 to 2013. A 15-time winner on the LPGA, she became the youngest player – male or female – to win five majors.

That was the old – before she fell into the abyss.

For the better part of a decade, Tseng has been trying to find the strong mind, body and technique that once made her among the best to ever play.

Her 2025 resurgence was made possible by an unusual move: She started putting left-handed.

It was the only thing Tseng found that could cure the yips, and it propelled her to victory on the Ladies European Tour last October at the weather-shortened Wistron Ladies Open, her first time in the winner’s circle since 2014.

Making the moment that much sweeter was the fact that she did it on home soil in Taiwan at Sunrise Golf and Country Club, a course she's played since she was a teenager.

“Yani Tseng’s career is defined by one of the most dominant stretches in the women’s game, and it has been inspirational to see her return and have success at a high level,” USGA Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer said in a release. “We are proud to welcome Yani back once again to the U.S. Women’s Open and add such an accomplished player to this year’s field.”

Tseng reports that she's feeling comfortable over the ball and that her confidence is rising. At last year’s AIG Women’s British Open, she made her first cut in an LPGA event since 2018. So far this season, she has made two cuts in three starts.

The USGA’s phone call came the day before she played Riviera for the first time alongside two-time Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso. She believes the historic course suits her game, though it’s all still settling in.

“I haven’t booked anything yet,” she said, with a laugh. “Is this real? I feel amazing.”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: USGA awards special exemption to Riviera for this 5-time major winner