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Australian golf star Minjee Lee has climbed to No.3 in the world following her US Women's Open victory at Pine Needles in North Carolina.

Minjee Lee has climbed to No.3 in the world following her US Women's Open victory in North Carolina, her highest ranking in almost three years.

The in-form Australian leapfrogged Lydia Ko into third spot in the new rankings released on Tuesday, with New Zealand's former world No.1 dropping to fourth.

Lee now holds two of women's golf's five major championship trophies, with three more opportunities to come in the next two months.

Jin Young Ko's world No.1 ranking is safe for now, but Lee could well claim it if she continues her hot run in 2022.

In addition to winning her past two stroke play tournaments and leading the LPGA Tour's scoring average, Lee has two other top-three results and three top 15s from her nine events this year.

The next major is the Women's PGA Championship at Congressional in Maryland from June 23-26, followed by Lee's defence of her Evian Championship in France from July 21-24.

The Women's British Open at Muirfield in Scotland rounds out the women's majors for this season from August 4-7.

Lee, who was No.2 in the world midway through 2019, was long considered the best women's player without a major. The 26-year-old vowed pre-season to start collecting more of golf's big trophies after finally breaking through in 2021.

"Having won Evian, I have a little bit more motivation to win every other major because my ultimate goal is to be in the Hall of Fame," she told AAP.

"It's really been on the back of my mind for quite a long time and just to be able to be called a major champion gives me a really great feeling.

"It really was a monkey off my back and it does let me play with a little bit more freedom because before I felt 'oh, am I ever going to win a major?'

"But then I won and it just gave me a little bit more of that reassurance that I could."