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Tour Rundown: LA Open has star sighting confirmed by Nasa

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3 years ago

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The final Sunday in April of 2022 saw five winners confirmed and crowned across the golf-tour globe. No win was more dominant than the LPGA, and no event was more of a nail-biter than the PGA Tour Champions. The PGA Tour celebrated its only, annual team event in New Orleans, and tournaments in Brazil and Spain rounded out the week’s slate. The northeast may finally have bid farewell to the snows of winter, so put on your flip-flops and help us run down this week’s tour events.

LPGA: LA Open has star sighting confirmed by Nasa

Glorious Wilshire country club made the LPGA the place to watch this week. The late finish on the American west coast gave golf viewers a chance to see the course in all its golden-age glory. Combined with Nasa Hataoka’s new-age wizardry, the best golf viewing this week came from La-La Land. Hataoka stood one back of Alison Lee after round one, but when the young American went away, Nasa took center stage and never gave up the spotligh.

The Japanese star won her sixth tour title, and first of 2022, by five shots over Australia’s Hannah Green. After Jin-young Ko imploded late Saturday with an eight, no one ever got close to the sublime Hataoka. Only ten bogeys crossed her path all week, and they were more than offset by 23 birdies and one eagle. After making bogey at the par-five fifteenth each of the first two days, Nasa turned the tables on the tricky, three-shot hole with birdie and eagle the last two days.

The tour moves to Torrance this week, about 25 miles down the California coast. It will celebrate the inaugural playing of the Palos Verdes Championship, before crossing the country to reconvene mid-May in New Jersey.

PGA Tour: Zurich Classic to Ice and X

Foursomes golf, also known as alternate shot, is not as easy as Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele made it look on Friday. The pair had 68, which would win most Ryder and Presidents Cup matches, under that format. Sunday was more like a typical foursomes tally. The leading pair ground out an even-par 72, which allowed them to hold on to their three-day lead and claim the tour’s only partner event by two shots over Sam Burns and Billy Horschel.

Patty Ice and the X Man were untouchable in four ball play this week. Also known as better ball, the pair had 59 on Thursday and 60 on Saturday. Those are some big-boy scorecards. It wasn’t until the 17th hole on Sunday, when Burns-Horschel dunked their tee shot on the par-three 17th, that Cantlay and Schauffele could finally breathe. Armed with a two-shot advantage on the watery closer, the pair played left the entire way around the right-side pond. After reaching the green in four, each took one putt to close the door and win by two shots.

DP World Tour: Handa Championship in Spain in hometown hands

Pablo Larrazábal didn’t have to journey much from his hometown this week. The 38-year old from Barcelona earned his seventh DP World Tour title, and second of 2022, with a one-shot win over countryman Adrián Otaegui. Larrazábal  began day four a trio of shots behind the Basque Otaegui, but made a sizable move around the turn to the back nine. Larrazábal posted consecutive birdies at holes nine through thirteen, to move to the top of the leader board. Otaegui posted a fourth-consecutive round in the 60s, but his 66 on this day was not enough to overcome the Cantabrian’s marvelous 62.

Larrazábal made his only bogey of the day at the 15th hole, but posted birdie at 16 and 18, forcing Otaegui to achieve heroics to forge a tie. Despite not making a bogey on the day, Otaegui’s run of 12 consecutive pars was his undoing. His birdie at the last was good enough to elevate him from a tie for second to solo runner-up, but left him one shy of a playoff with Larrazábal. Looking back on the conclusion, the bomb that the winner made on the 16th was the stroke that gave him confidence to close the door on win number seven.

PGA Tour Champions: ClubCorp Classic

If someone had said that Steven Alker, the third-round leader, would toss seven birdies on day three at Irving, and not win outright, folks would have lined up to take that fellow’s money. And yet, that’s what happened. Alker’s two-shot, 36-hole advantage over his closest pursuer (Lee Janzen) was one shot by day’s end on Sunday. The problem for the Kiwi was, Gene Sauers posted 63 to tie him, and Scott Parel had a 65 of his own, to also reach 11-under par. The trio headed off to the 18th tee, where the par-five closer would decide matters after one go-round.

How did we get here? After making just three bogeys over the first 36 holes, Alker scribbled a double bogey on hole 37, and another bogey on hole 40. Sandwiching those numbers were five birdies, and when he added another at the 8th, he was out in three-under and looking like the winner. Alker ran out of gas on the back nine, posting one bogey and one birdie for 35.  Both Sauers and Parel made birdie at the final hole to jump into the tie. After making birdie at the last on each of the first two days, Alker failed twice to birdie it, within half an hour on Sunday.

On the playoff hole, both Sauers and Alker dunked their second shot and made six. Parel played safely left and made par for the win. It was doubly sweet for the four-time Champions Tour winner, as he won the pro-am portion of the event with amateur partner Mardy Fish.

PGA Tour Latinoamérica: Aberto do Brasil heads to River Plate

Sunday’s 10th hole nearly decided the Brazilian Open (aka Aberto do Brasil) as leader Jaime López Rivarola of Argentina made double as Holland’s Rowin Caron signed for birdie. Rivarola’s advantage was gone as the meat of the back nine beckoned. Finding an extra gear, Rivarola played the next eight holes in three-under par, to reach twenty-deep on the week.

After his birdie at ten, Caron stumbled large with bogey at the par-five 11th. He could not match Rivarola’s heroics, and played the closing stretch in even par. When the dust over the Porto Feliz course had settled, Rivarola had edged back in front by one. Even with birdie at the final hole, Caron could only reach 19-under par. From Samba to Inca, the PGA Tour LA moves westward from Brazil to Peru this week.

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Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

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Tour Rundown: Bend, but don’t break

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3 weeks ago

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Aug 4, 2025

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I’m going to gush in this intro paragraph, to get the emo stuff done early. I’ve not pulled harder for a professional to win, than Cameron Young. I coach golf in New York state, and each spring, my best golfers head to a state championship in Poughkeepsie. I first saw Cameron there as a 9th grade student. I saw him three more times after that. I reconnecected with Coach Haas from Wake Forest, an old interview subject from my days on the Old Gold and Black, the Wake newspaper. He was there to watch Cameron. After four years at Wake Forest, Young won on the Korn Ferry Tour, made it to the big tour, almost won two majors, almost won five other events, and finally got the chalice about 25 minutes from the Wake campus. Congratulations, Cameron. You truly are a glass of the finest. #MotherSoDear

OK, let’s move on to the Tour Rundown. The major championship season closed this week in Wales, with the Women’s Open championship. The PGA Tour bounced through Greensboror, N.C., while the PGA Tour Americas hit TO (aka, Toronto) for a long-winded event. The Korn Ferry lads made a stop in Utah, one of just two events for that tour in August. The many-events, golf season is winding down, as we ease from summer toward fall in the northern hemisphere. Let’s bask in the glory of an August sunrise, and run down a quartet of events from the first weekend of the eighth month.

LET/LPGA @ Women’s Open: Miyu bends, but she doesn’t break

Royal Porthcawl was not a known commodity in the major tournament community. The Welsh links had served as host to men’s senior opens, men’s amateurs, and Curtis and Walker Cups in prior years, but never an Open championship for the women or the men. The last-kept secret in UK golf was revealed once again to the world this week, as the best female golfers took to the sandy stage.

Mao Saigo, Grace Kim, Maja Stark, and Minjee Lee hoped to add a second major title to previous wins this season, but only Lee was able to finish inside the top ten. The 2025 playing of the Women’s Open gave us a new-faces gallery from day one. The Kordas and Thitikulls were nowhere to be found, and it was the Mayashitas, Katsus, and Lim Kims that secured the Cymru spotlight. The first round lead was held at 67 by two golfers. One of them battled to the end, while the other posted 81 on day two, and missed the cut. Sitting one shot behind was Miyu Yamashita.

On day two, Yamashita posted the round of the tournament. Her 65 moved her to the front of the aisle, in just her fourth turn around a women’s Open championship. With the pre-event favorites drifting off pace, followers narrowed into two camps: those on the side of an underdog, and others hoping for a weekend charge from back in the pack. In the end, we had a bit of both.

On Saturday, Yamashita bent with 74 on Saturday, offering rays of hope to her pursuing pack. England’s Charley Hull made a run on Sunday closing within one shot before tailing off to a T2 finish with Minami Katsu. Katsu posted the other 65 of the week, on Saturday, but could not overtake her countrywoman, Yamashita. wunderkind Lottie Woad needed one round in the 60s to find her pace, but could only must close-to’s, ending on 284 and a tie with Minjee for eighth.

On Sunday, Yamashita put away the thoughts of Saturday’s struggles, with three-under 33 on the outward half. She closed in plus-one 37, but still won by two, for a first Major and LPGA title.

PGA Tour @ Wyndham: Young gathers first title near home

Cameron Young grew up along the Hudson river, above metro New York, but he also calls Winston-Salem home. He spent four years as a student and athlete at Wake Forest University, then embarked on tour. This week in Greensboro, after a bit of a break, Young opened with 63-62, and revved the engine of Is this the week once more. Runner-up finishes at the Open, the PGA, and a handful of PGA Tour events had followers wonder when the day would come.

On Saturday, Young continued his torrid pace with 65, giving him a five-shot advantage over his closest pursuer. Sunday saw the Scarborough native open with bogey, then reel off five consecutive birdies to remind folks that his time had, at last, arrived. Pars to the 16th, before two harmless bogeys coming home, made Young the 1000th winner of an official PGA Tour event (dating back to before there was a PGA Tour) throughout history. What’s next? I have a suspicion, but I’m not letting on. Mac Meissner closed with 66 to finish solo 2nd, while Mark Hubbard and Alex Noren tied for third.

Korn Ferry Tour @ Utah Championship: Are you Suri it’s Julian?

Who knows exactly when the flower will bloom? Julian Suri played a solid careet at Duke University, then paid his dues on the world’s minor tours for three years. He won twice on two tours in Europe, in 2017. Since then, the grind has continued for the journeyman from New York city. At age 34, Suri broke through in Beehive state, outlasting another grinder (Spencer Levin) and four others, by two shots.

Taylor Montgomery began the week with 62, then posted 64, then 68, and finally, 70. That final round was his undoing. He finished in that second-place tie, two back of the leader. Trace Crowe, Barend Botha, and Kensei Hirata made up the last of the almost quintet. As for Suri, his Sunday play was sublime. His nines were 32 and 31, with his only radar blip a bogey at ten. He closed in style with one final birdie, to double his winning margin. Hogan bloomed late…might Suri?

PGA Tour Americas @ Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos – CBM Aggregates

Some tournament names run longer than others. This week in Toronto, at the Heathlands course at TPC Toronto, we might have seen the longest tournament title in recorded history. The OVOPBVCCBMA was a splendid affair. It saw three rounds of 62 on Thursday, but of those early risers, only Drew Goodman would stick around until the end. 64 was the low tally on day two, and two of those legionnaires managed to finish inside the top three at week’s end. Saturday brought a 63 from Patrick Newcomb, and he would follow with 64 on Sunday, to finish solo fourth.

Who, then, ended up winning the acronym of the year? It turns out that Carson Bacha had the right stuff in TeeOhhh. Bacha and Jay Card III posted 63 and 64, respectively, on day four, to tie for medalist honors at 23-under 261. Nathan Franks was one shot adrift, despite also closing with 63. If you didn’t go low on Sunday, it was about the check, not the championship.

Bacha and JC3 returned to the 18th hole twice in overtime. Card nearly chipped in from the thick stuff for birdie, while Bacha peeked and shoved a ten-feet attempt at the win. On the second go-round, Card was long with his approach, into the native grasses once more. He was unable to escape, and a routine par from the fairway was enough to earn the former Auburn golfers a first KFT title.

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2025 Wyndham Championship

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4 weeks ago

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Jul 29, 2025

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GolfWRX is live this week from the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season, the Wyndham Championship.

Photos are flowing into the forums from Sedgefield Country Club, where we already have a GolfWRX spirit animal Adam Schenk WITB and plenty of putters for your viewing pleasure.

Check out links to all our photos below, which we’ll continue to update as more arrive.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.

 

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BK’s Breakdowns: Kurt Kitayama’s Winning WITB, 3M Open

Published

4 weeks ago

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Jul 28, 2025

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Kurt Kitayama just won his 2nd PGA Tour event at the 3M Open. Kurt is a Bridgestone staffer but with just the ball and bag. Here are the rest of the clubs he used to secure a win at the 2025 3M Open.

Driver: Titleist GT3 (11 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 TX

3-wood: Titleist GT1 3Tour (14.5 degrees, A3 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX

7-wood: Titleist GT1 (21 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P7CB (4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (52-12F, 56-14F), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2 Tour Prototype
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy 1.0PT

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Bridgestone Tour B XS (with Mindset)

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WITB

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