12 Big Names And Notables Missing The AIG Women’s Open

Two weeks after the men’s Major season concluded with Scottie Scheffler’s win at The Open, the fifth and final women’s Major of the year, the AIG Women’s Open, comes from Royal Porthcawl in Wales, the first time it has ever hosted the tournament.

As usual, some of the world’s biggest names will be involved, including defending champion Lydia Ko, World No.1 Nelly Korda and the players who won the previous four women’s Majors this season; Mao Saigo, Minjee Lee, Maja Stark and Grace Kim.

New World No.24 Lottie Woad is the favorite in the AIG Women's Open betting odds after winning the Irish and Scottish Opens this month, sandwiching her T3 at the Evian Championship.

A host of former AIG Women’s Open champions will also appear, including Lilia Vu, who won in 2023, 2022 winner Ashleigh Buhai and Anna Nordqvist, who lifted the trophy four years ago.

While there will be no shortage of the game’s superstars teeing it up in the tournament, some notable names will not be taking their place in the field.

Here are some of the big names and notables missing this week's championship:

Lexi Thompson

Despite announcing her retirement from full-time professional golf over a year ago, Thompson has played in her fair share of tournaments in 2025, including three of the previous four Majors.

The one she didn’t play in was the Amundi Evian Championship, which she skipped for the fifth year running. Despite being eligible for the AIG Women's Open courtesy of her world ranking, she won’t be heading to Wales either.

After losing in a playoff at the Dow Championship in June, Thompson as good has confirmed she wouldn’t be appearing.

She said: “I'm not playing for about five weeks. I will be taking personal time off at home and kind of playing once we get back to the states, kind of taking it tournament by tournament.”

That means it will be the first time in seven years Thompson will not tee it up at the Major.

Alison Lee

Lee, who has two LET wins and has represented the US twice in the Solheim Cup, has appeared in the AIG Women’s Open for the last five years. She has made her last three consecutive cuts in the Major with a best result of T11 in 2023.

That run ends this year after she gave birth to her first child in April and means she has missed all five Majors in 2025.

Danielle Kang

Another USA Solheim Cup star to miss out this week is Danielle Kang, who finished three back of the qualification spots at Final Qualifying this week.

The 2017 KPMG Women's PGA Championship winner has only made one Major appearance this year after struggling with injury and form.

Kang has dropped outside of the world's top 500 and is without a top-10 on tour in more than two years.

Xiyu Lin

Last year's Olympic bronze medallist Xiyu Lin will miss her first AIG Women’s Open since 2021.

At the start of the year, she was ranked 22nd in the world, and only needed to be in the world’s top 50 in the week commencing Monday June 30th to guarantee her place.

However, she hasn’t played since May’s LPGA Black Desert Championship, and slipped out of the top 50 in early June, meaning she won’t be in the field this year.

Nicole Broch Estrup

The LET winner, who has appeared in the AIG Women’s Open nine times, had qualified for this year’s tournament as a top 15 LET player in the 2024 Order of Merit Points List.

Despite that, she won’t be appearing at Royal Porthcawl after giving birth to her son in June.

Ally Ewing

Only two years ago, at the Walton Heath tournament, Ally Ewing produced one of the best Major performances of her career, finishing T6.

That was the catalyst for a brilliant run in the big events in 2024, when she placed in the top five of the US Women’s Open and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, before a T10 result at the Amundi Evian Championship.

Despite finding some of the best form of her career, though, she decided enough was enough at the end of the 2024 when she retired from the game.

Emily Pedersen

The Dane has played for Team Europe four times in the Solheim Cup and has five LET titles.

However, one accolade missing from her resume is a Major title, and she won’t be claiming one this year with her absence from the AIG Women’s Open due to her world ranking being too low. Pedersen attempted to qualify at Pyle and Kenfig but failed to return a score.

The 29-year-old achieved her joint best Major finish at the 2020 event, where she finished T11.

Ryann O’Toole

LPGA Tour winner O’Toole has appeared in the AIG Women’s Open 10 times, but she will miss out for just the fourth time since 2012.

She is enduring a challenging season, and is yet to place in the top 10, meaning her world ranking isn’t high enough to qualify.

As a result, for another year at least, her T21 at Walton Heath in 2023 will remain her best placing at the tournament.

Youmin Hwang

LPGA of Korea Tour pro Hwang played in three of the year’s four Majors, including an impressive T19 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

However, she’s not in the field for the AIG Women’s Open despite being in the world’s top 50 at the June 30th cut-off.

Ranked 44th in the world, she is one of the best players not in the field this week.

Anne van Dam

The five-time LET winner placed T17 at the 2017 tournament at the Old Course, St Andrews, her best performance in a Major.

However, she finished 49 places below the threshold needed to qualify via the 2024 LET Order of Merit Points List and is over 100 places beneath the world ranking she’d need to book her place. Like Emily Pedersen, she missed out at final qualifying earlier this week.

That means she will end her season without a Major appearance this year.

Ye Won Lee

At the age of 22, Lee has already racked up an incredible nine LPGA of Korea Tour wins. As a result, she’s comfortably inside the top 50 needed to qualify for this week's championship at Royal Porthcawl - ranking 34th.

However, she’s not in the field for the event, meaning she won’t be adding to her one previous Major appearance, the 2024 Amundi Evian Championship.

Jodi Ewart Shadoff

The English star has played in the last nine editions of the AIG Women’s Open, including finishing runner-up in 2017, but she won’t make that 10 appearances in a row after failing to make it through qualifying.

The LPGA winner and European Solheim Cupper carded a 75 (+4) to miss out by five strokes.