News

Tour Rundown: Stricker’s fifth senior major | Day ends drought

Published

2 years ago

May 15, 2023

As the golf world prepares to turn its attention to western New York and the US PGA Championship, it could not help but peek at a series of tournaments whose conclusions came on the eve of the second men’s major of 2023. The LPGA gathered in New Jersey for the Founders Cup, while the DP World Tour met in Belgium for the Soudal Open. The PGA Tour Champions celebrated its first major event of 2023 at the Tradition, while the PGA Tour assembled in Texas for the Byron Nelson.

Which event offered more interest? The celebration of the founding members of the LPGA against a major title, against a final major invitation? For those with something on the line, the answer was none and each of them. It’s time to run down the four professional winners of May’s second weekend in 2023.

Finishing eagle for @CTPanGolf ? pic.twitter.com/6a1zz3szTE

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 14, 2023

PGA Tour Champions @ Regions Tradition: Stricker finishes off fifth Senior major title

When Steve Stricker decides to post 64-65 on the weekend, especially at a major, we at GolfWRX hope that the rest of the field enjoys the battle for second place. That was the script for this week at Greystone in Birmingham, Alabama. For the third time in five years, Stricker secured victory in the Regions Tradition with a definitive performance. The only opponent to slow his roll was a rain delay from Mother Nature.

This week, Stricker’s tour de force was a six-shot margin of victory over Ernie Els and Robert Karlsson. Els was equal to Stricker on Sunday, posting his own 65. Karlsson began the day one shot back of Stricker, but the Swede was unable to mount any sort of challenge. His three birdies were not nearly enough, and his two bogies relegated him to the runner-up tie.

The streak continues. ?

After the rain delay, @stevestricker heads straight to the green and birdies another hole @RegionsTrad. pic.twitter.com/brD51zvANg

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 14, 2023

PGA Tour @ the Byron Nelson: Day claims 13th title in Texas

Tour win number thirteen was a long time coming for Jason Day. He claimed a twelfth in 2018, but fell victim to back and other ailments soon after. Day tried a vast array of treatments for the maladies, but only recently was able to return to the form that saw him ascend to the highest echelon of golfers on the planet.

On Sunday, Day posted eight birdies in his first 17 holes, but it was a gritty, ninth one at the final hole, that sealed his triumph. Day reached the final tee with a one-shot advantage over Si Woo Kim. His tee shot found the rough, while Si Wood reached the fairway. Day laid up short of the crossing water at TPC Craig Ranch, while Kim came up just shy of the putting surface, in a bunker.

With raindrops falling, Day played a gutsy pitch with his wedge, spinning the ball to three feet. Kim needed to hole out to force a playoff, but came up just shy. Both golfers tapped in for birdie, and Day was again on top of the golf world. He’ll head to Rochester’s Oak Hill Country Club as a former PGA Championship winner, with designs on a second major title, and a bushel of confidence.

Golf shot.@JDayGolf knocks it close in front of his family @ATTByronNelson pic.twitter.com/6varghTQaO

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 14, 2023

LPGA @ Founders Cup: Jin Young overtakes Minjee in playoff

It was a big week for three-in-five, if you mean two golfers did the deed. Jin Young Ko proved to love Upper Montclair as much as Stricker loves Greystone. JYK had to work overtime to seal her deal, Ko made a fifteen-feet birdie putt on the final regulation green to catch the overnight leader. Minjee Lee had a number of chances to win in regulation, but it was a stinger of a bogey at the 16th that gave Lee pause, and Ko hope.

On the first extra hole, Minjee was bold in her birdie putt, rolling the rock six feet past the hole. Her comeback putt for par was away, and Jin Young Ko had her 15th career LPGA win. What’s next for JYK? Perhaps a return to the major champion’s circle. Two of her first five tour wins were majors, but none since 2019 has fallen her way.

JIN YOUNG KO!

She birdies the 18th to tie the lead!!! pic.twitter.com/hOnYNUqoCv

— LPGA (@LPGA) May 14, 2023

DP World Tour @ Soudal Open: Forsstrõm earns first Tour title

On Saturday in Antwerp, Belgium, France’s Mike Lorenzo-Vera thrilled the paying public with consecutive eagles at 16 and 17. Sweden’s Simon Forsstrõm didn’t need nearly as thrilling a finish to his round on Sunday, but what he did was certainly noteworthy. After birdies at four and eight gave the 14-year veteran the lead, double bogey and bogey at 10 and 12 threatened to undo his run to a maiden title on the DP World Tour. With but one Challenge Tour title on his resume, could he rally?

Steeling himself, the pride of Bromma, Sweden indeed rallied with birdies at 14, 16, and 17 to reclaim the lost shots and edge past countryman Jens Dantorp to a total of 17-under par. Dantorp played wonderful golf all week, never leaving the 60s. His tally came up one strike shy of Forsström, and two shots clear of Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen, who claimed third position. As for Lorenzo-Vera, he ultimately finished in a tie for fourth spot, four shots behind the victor.

A first DP World Tour title for Simon Forsström ? #SoudalOpen pic.twitter.com/zqt5KQNmJF

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 14, 2023

News

Tour Rundown: Bend, but don’t break

Published

3 weeks ago

Aug 4, 2025

Ronald Montesano

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.

Card III and Bacha both miss their birdie tries on the first playoff hole.

We’ll play 18 again @OspreyOpen. pic.twitter.com/vNpHTdkHDg

— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) August 3, 2025

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2025 Wyndham Championship

Published

4 weeks ago

Jul 29, 2025

GolfWRX Staff

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.

News

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

Published

4 weeks ago

Jul 28, 2025

Brian Knudson

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)