19th Hole
‘Absolutely disgusting’ – LPGA pro blasts Augusta National for its role in major venue change
Sunday evening saw the final round of the Chevron Championship, the first major of the LPGA season.
Nothing much in that, except it is the last time that the Mission Hills course will have held the event after a 51-year run.
On Friday, Danielle Kang spoke up about the increased sponsorship and the impending move to Houston, admitting that, “Traditions are tradition, but for me, like there is nothing permanent than change.”
However, in an interview with The Desert Sun, three-time Solheim Cup player Christina Kim has much stronger words for the golf hierarchy and, in particular, Augusta National.
After missing the cut at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course, the 38-year-old lamented, “It’s very bittersweet. This tournament’s been very important to me over the years for a lot of reasons, and I’m really sad to be leaving.”. She continued, “I wish that there was more willingness from all parties including the people (making decisions) here to have found a way to make it work so that we could’ve stayed here.”
Having held a major since 1983, it is no surprise that many LPGA players are feeling bittersweet about the move, but Kim makes pointed suggestions that accuse Augusta National of mistreating the event, including moving the ANWA to a competitive slot on the third day (Saturday) of the major.
“Truth be told, I’m not gonna lie. I’m really upset with Augusta National. Because there’s no reason why we couldn’t continue to have this tournament be the first major in professional golf,” Kim told the publication. “And I think it’s absolutely disgusting what they’re doing and I have no problem saying that. It’s bull hockey what they’re doing.”
Never one to hide her opinion, Kim is also unhappy about the way the Augusta National Women’s Amateur is being run.
“It barely qualifies as the bare minimum of allowing those girls one practice round and giving them a playoff to see who’s going to make the cut into the final round at that place.”
Very few, including Kim, have an issue with the increased funds coming into the LPGA, but she suggests that tradition could have prompted a more concerted effort to keep the event at the course.
“I know there were attempts made to try and see if the date could change because Augusta was doing what Augusta does,” she said. “But it did not work for the region here either, so unfortunately, it would be easy to say there’s no one to blame other than Augusta National, but that’s neither here nor there. Everyone could have worked… I’m sure everyone did everything they think that they could’ve done to keep the tournament here. But the reality is we’re not coming back…….for now at least.”
“Maybe a big corporation will step up and see — like the American Express did for the men — that the women belong here in the desert,” Kim said. “The golf here is incredible, the people here are amazing, the culture here is fun, it’s artsy, it’s inclusive, it’s diverse, and it fits right in with the ethos of the LPGA so there’s no reason why they shouldn’t have a tournament here. It’s just very bittersweet.”
With two-top 10 finishes and a couple of top-20s in 17 starts in the event, Kim still keeps some desire that there will be a turnaround.
“The foundation has already been established. The people. The ones that really matter. The heart and soul of the LPGA coming to the desert are the fans. One can always hope that something can come out of this.”
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish
An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
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