Esther Henseleit made a 40-footer on the last hole at Royal Lytham to force a playoff, then hit a course marshal to lose it. Golf owes her nothing, and Shiho Kuwaki has a major.
IN THIS ISSUE
Kuwaki Won the Women's Open in a Bush at Royal Lytham
Thorbjornsen Won the Last Rocket Classic Ever and Saved His Season Doing It
LIV Is Playing for $30M While Deleting the End of Its Own Season
A 7-Wood Built to Go Shorter, and a L.A.B. Putter That Finally Looks Normal (Still $650)
Cornelius Adds Another Nine, The Matchbox Opens 12 Holes, and Charlotte Wants 11 More
U.S. Kids Worlds Took Over the Sandhills and the Carolina Contingent Runs Deep at Wyndham
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LPGA TOUR . AIG WOMEN'S OPEN
Kuwaki Won the Women's Open in a Bush at Royal Lytham
Shiho Kuwaki closed with a 70 and then waited nearly 30 minutes in the scoring room, right up until Esther Henseleit holed a 40-footer on the 72nd hole to tie her at 5 under.
What followed is the kind of finish links golf hoards for itself. Both parred the first extra hole, Henseleit missing from 10 feet to win it outright. On the second, her tee shot caromed off a marshal's leg into a bush, she pitched out and made bogey, and Kuwaki two-putted for the title. Overnight leader Yealimi Noh started the day three clear, shot 74, and missed the playoff by one.
Only 11 of the 68 players who made the cut broke par for the week.
First LPGA win, first major, $1.5 million, and LPGA membership she didn't have Sunday morning.
PGA TOUR . ROCKET CLASSIC
Thorbjornsen Won the Last Rocket Classic Ever and Saved His Season Doing It
Michael Thorbjornsen rolled in a 26-footer on his last hole for a 63 and won the Rocket Classic by two at 18 under. First Tour win, and the eighth first-time winner this season, which tells you plenty about how open the field has been behind Scheffler.
The timing is the story. Thorbjornsen came into Detroit at No. 69 in the FedEx Cup standings, which is another way of saying one quiet month from being done. The win seals his playoff spot with the top 70 locking in after this week's Wyndham. Everyone else on that line now has to go earn it at Sedgefield.
LIV GOLF . BEDMINSTER
LIV Is Playing for $30M While Deleting the End of Its Own Season
LIV tees off at Trump National Bedminster on Thursday for $30 million, then goes to Chatham Hills in Indianapolis August 20-23. That Indy stop is now likely the last event of the season: the $40 million team championship in Michigan has seen no infrastructure buildout and the league won't deny it's dead.
So the league pays out north of $60 million in two weeks and hands out no season title, while hunting up to $350 million in new money before the PIF money stops. Prize money was never LIV's problem. Permanence is.
No buildout in Michigan. No denial from LIV. That's the announcement.
ALSO THIS WEEK
Korda's Slam Is Still on Hold A closing 68 got Nelly Korda to 2 under, but Saturday's double bogey on 18 is what kept her out of the fight for the one major she doesn't own.
LOOKING AHEAD
Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club
The regular season ends August 6-9 in Greensboro, and Sedgefield is the last chance for anyone outside the top 70 to save a season. Jordan Spieth committed late, and a deep group of Carolina players will be there working the bubble. Bermuda fairways, small greens, and a leaderboard that usually goes low.
A 7-Wood Designed to Go Shorter and Stop Faster
Callaway's Quantum Mini Spinner exists because an LPGA staffer told them her 7-wood wouldn't hold firm greens. So they built it upside down: steel crown, carbon sole, high center of gravity, deeper face, three-quarters of an inch shorter than the standard Quantum fairway. More spin, steeper descent, less run-out. GOLF.com's tester, who openly dislikes high-lofted fairway woods, benched a hybrid he'd gamed for five years after hitting it. $379.99 in 7W, 9W and 11W. If your long approach club lands and runs 15 yards through the back, this is the first club in a while built for your actual problem.
L.A.B.'s New Putter Looks Almost Conventional. It's Still About $650.
The VZN.1i is L.A.B.'s least strange-looking zero-torque putter yet, and Golfmagic's on-course review rates the alignment package (diamond shape plus the sole cutout) among the best it's tested. The catch is real, though: the head is enormous even by high-MOI standards, and the muted 303 stainless insert made lag putts hard to judge, with testers consistently blowing long ones past. At roughly $650 before you start customizing head weight and shaft lean, that's a lot to spend to fix your three-footers and break your 40-footers.
ALSO THIS WEEK
Ping S159 Wedges, Grind by Grind Club Junkie's take on the new B and H grinds is worth reading before your next wedge fitting, especially the note that the tiny grooves spin hard but are a pain to clean.
U.S. Kids Worlds Took Over the Sandhills
The U.S. Kids Golf World Championship wrapped Saturday across multiple courses in and around Pinehurst, with 5-to-12-year-olds playing in age and gender divisions rather than one overall leaderboard. Tee times started at 7:30 a.m. all three days, and champions were crowned Saturday. If you wondered why every room and restaurant table between Pinehurst, Southern Pines and Aberdeen was gone last week, that's your answer.
Another Nine Opens in Cornelius, Plans 11 More Around Charlotte
Another Nine opened its first location at 20700 Main St. in Cornelius: TrackMan bays, 350-plus courses on a 16-foot screen, open day or night, and no membership required to walk in and hit. CEO Ethan Grob says 11 more Charlotte-area spots are coming, timing unannounced. The indoor golf land grab has reached the I-77 corridor, and between this and Back Nine's league calendar up here, August heat is running out of excuses.
The Matchbox Opened Saturday: 12 Holes, 40 to 105 Yards
Tobacco Road's par-3 sibling is open in Sanford, built in six months on Strantz-era construction spoils near the 12th and 13th fairways of the big course. Twelve holes winding through the tree canopy and around a pond most Tobacco Road regulars never knew was back there. Hole 3 has an 80-yard blind tee shot. It's synthetic turf with no irrigation, so conditions hold up in August heat and December cold, and tee times are bookable now through December.
Wyndham Week: The Carolina Contingent Runs Deep
Sedgefield's field is stacked with local names, per Triad Golf's commitment rundown: Raleigh's Ryan Gerard at No. 15 in FedEx Cup points, Alex Smalley at 25, Chapel Hill's Ben Griffin at 36, and Webb Simpson at 192. Cameron Young defends from No. 3. Watch the bubble: Jackson Koivun (75), Michael Brennan (97), and Max Greyserman (102) all need a week to crack the top 70 and reach the playoffs.
ALSO THIS WEEK
Yes, There's a Tree in the Middle of a Green The News & Observer got video of the Matchbox's oddest feature, and it is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds.
Vote for the Best Course in the Wilmington Area The StarNews put 30-plus New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender County tracks on the ballot, from Landfall to Castle Bay, and voting runs through Aug. 9.
TWO WAYS TO KEEP THIS GOING
Show up to a new course already knowing the move.
The next time a buddy picks a Triangle course you have never played, you will know which tees to play, where the trouble is, and what the locals actually pay before you leave the parking lot. That is the Triangle Golf Guide: 23 courses deep, plus the curated sim spots and the membership math worth knowing. Less than a range bucket, at $5.99.
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