1990 U.S. Women's Open: Betsy King wins at Atlanta Athletic Club (Riverside Course)
Betsy King won the 1990 U.S. Women's Open at Atlanta Athletic Club (Riverside Course), Duluth, Georgia, United States with 284 (−4), by 1 stroke over Patty Sheehan.
Updated October 23, 2026
Every year is on the U.S. Women's Open winners list.
- Dates
- July 12, 1990 to July 15, 1990
- Course
- Atlanta Athletic Club (Riverside Course), Duluth, Georgia, United States
- Edition
- 45th edition
- Counted as a major
- yes
- Format
- stroke play, 4 rounds
- Par
- 72 · 6,298 yards
- Entries
- 785
- Field
- 156
- Made the cut
- 63 (cut at 149)
- Purse
- $500,000 · winner's share $85,000
- Champion
- Betsy King · age 34 · United States · born Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
- Champion's title
- 2nd title at this event · 4th major
- Winning score
- 72-71-71-70 = 284 (−4) · won by 1 stroke
- Runner-up
- Patty Sheehan (285)
- 54-hole leader
- Patty Sheehan · Betsy King was 5 strokes back
- Low amateur
- Vicki Goetze (300)
- Run by
- United States Golf Association
Winner and runner-up
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Betsy King | 72 | 71 | 71 | 70 | 284 | −4 |
| 2 | Patty Sheehan | 66 | 68 | 75 | 76 | 285 | −3 |
What happened at the 1990 U.S. Women's Open
Patty Sheehan set a 36-hole championship record of 134 and led after each of the first three rounds before rain forced a 36-hole Sunday finish.
Sheehan double-bogeyed No. 18 in the third round and bogeyed No. 17 in the fourth, closing 75-76, as Betsy King came from five strokes back with a 70 to win by one.
How this was built
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's U.S. Women's Open data. A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the organizer's own record is used.
Data: womens-golf-majors_dataset_2026-10-20.json (GNN's women's majors research set, "master" row for this year, research dated October 20, 2026).
Also from GNN's U.S. Women's Open set (entries, runners-up round by round, values the majors set does not hold).
Sources
- usga.org: 26USWomensOpen
- Wikipedia: 1990 U.S. Women's Open
- mediacenter.usga.org: 2026 U.S. Women's Open Fact Sheet V2
- Wikipedia: Women's major golf championships
- Wikipedia: U.S. Women's Open
- aigwomensopen.com: betsy king
- Wikipedia: Betsy King
- golfcompendium.com: 1990 us womens open
- golfcompendium.com: low amateurs us womens open
- where2golf.com: betsy king
- washingtonpost.com: winning really isnt everything for sheehan