News

Tour Rundown: A week of doubles

Published

2 years ago

Aug 14, 2023

It was a week of doubles on the world’s professional golf tours, along with a first for the Auburn Tigers in the USGA Women’s Amateur. Playoff season began on the PGA Tour, while major championship season ended for the LPGA and LET. The Korn Ferry and Tour Champions marched on toward their fall conclusions, while the USGA crowned its top amateur in the women’s game. Congratulations to Megan Schofill, the first Auburn Tiger to claim the USGA Women’s Amateur title.

The information is out there; it’s up to us to collect, connect, and coordinate it all. We’ve done our due diligence and our best work, and are thrilled to present this week’s Tour Rundown for you.

An emotional family moment for @AleTostiOK. ?

No one in his family ever played golf, but that didn't them from supporting Tosti's golf dreams that sparked when he was six years old.

Today, he is the PGA TOUR's newest member with his family watching from back home in Argentina.… pic.twitter.com/Xk1AHDA4xZ

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) August 13, 2023

LPGA/LET @ Women’s Open: Vu wins Walton Heath with stellar conclusion

Lilia Vu was a star on the USA side, at the 2018 Curtis Cup. She paid her dues over the next five years, then jumped on stage in February of 2023, with a victory at the LPGA Thailand event. Little did anyone know that she was merely revving the engine. Vu went to Houston in April, where she gritted out a win at the Chevron Championship, the year’s first major. Her playoff triumph was a step way up from a non-major win. This week at Walton Heath, Vu added a second major to her summer collection, closing 67-67 in Surrey to sideline home-country favorite Charley Hull by six.

Sunday was match play between Vu and Hull. The Englishwoman got off to a rough start, with two bogeys and zero birdies over her first ten holes. Vu saw the opening and posted three birdies against zero mistakes. In the space of 150 minutes, the match had gone from even to five shots up for the American. Hull gave the home fans a chance to roar with eagle at the eleventh, but Vu made birdie of her own to hush the gallery a bit. From the point on the play was a bit erratic. Each player made some bogeys and some birdies, but none of it figured in the end.

With the win, Vu became just about the only active player to have more major titles than regular ones. That should change, as ratio indicates that Vu will win with more frequency, at non-major stops. Currently, the California lass finds herself second in the Race to CME Globe championship. She’ll need another win or two to overtake Celine Boutier. With three wins thus far, four and five don’t seem like such a reach.

????? ?? with a grandstand finish @AIGWomensOpen ?#RaiseOurGame | #AIGWO pic.twitter.com/4SM5dpyAvb

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) August 13, 2023

PGA Tour @ FedEx St. Jude: Glover keeps hot ~~glove~~ hand with playoff win

Right about now, we suspect that Zach Johnson is interviewing the top six golfers on the Ryder Cup USA side, asking them if they can partner Lucas Glover. The South Carolina native and Clemson alum has burst like a nova into the playoff and Ryder Cup races. Wins each of the past two weeks have brought him to 16th on the Ryder Cup points list, and 4th in the tour playoff race. He’s the man to beat as the tour heads west to Chicago and Olympia Fields, for stage two of the extra-season stretch. It’s worth a look at what he did, and how he did it.

Before last week’s win in Greensboro, Glover was not even a blip on the radar circle. His win moved him into the top 70, but he needed a solid finish in Memphis to keep his newly-found, top-fifty rating. He took care of that and more at TPC Southwind. Glover was in comfortable shape after round one, three shots back of Jordan Spieth’s 63. Round two saw the 2009 US Open champion move to the top of the board, one ahead of Spieth. Round three was more of the same, as Glover posted another 66, to preserve a one-shot lead over unheralded Taylor Moore. Moore would falter a bit in round four, but would earn a top-five finish and a spot in the remaining two, playoff events.

Back to Glover. Round four was not the walk in the mid-sixties that he needed. He played his first thirteen holes in one-under, thanks to a birdie and a dozen pars. 14 saw him wobble with bogey, but he gathered himself and posted birdie at 16, tor each 15-under par on the week. Ahead of him, certain Ryder Cup participant Patrick Cantlay had played flawless golf, to reach 64 on the day, and that same, fifteen-deep total. The pair returned to the 18th tee, where one shot determined the outcome. Glover found the fairway with his tee ball, while Cantlay leaned left and found the water. After a drop by Cantlay, each golfer reached the putting surface, some twenty feet from the hole. From there, it was two putts each, and a huge win for Glover.

Back on top.@Lucas_Glover_ birdies No. 16 to join the lead at 15-under @FedExChamp. pic.twitter.com/vRQKiIekxm

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 13, 2023

Korn Ferry Tour @ Pinnacle Bank: Tosti earns victory and PGA Tour card

When a golfer opens with 63 and closes with 62, an awful lot of bad has to be served at the drive-through window, for him to not figure in the outcome. That’s not Alejandro Tosti’s tale for his week in Omaha. The Argentine posted 29 for his first nine holes on Thursday, surviving a solitary bogey coming home, for 63. On Sunday, he went one better. Seven birdies and an eagle allowed him add up just 62 strokes, overtake third-round leader John VanDerLaan, win his first KFT event, and lock down a PGA Tour card for 2023-2024. That’s a big order.

VanDerLaan’s play over the final 18 holes bore little resemblance to the consistency he displayed over the prior 54. He totaled four bogies on the day, and was fortunate to hold on to a second-place tie with Max Greyserman, at 16-under par. As for Tosti, his rags-to-riches story closed another chapter and opened the next, with a glorious win in the heartland of America.

AN EAGLE HOLE OUT TO TAKE THE SOLO LEAD ?@AleTostiOK has two shot lead at 17-under with three left to play. pic.twitter.com/sBH7fSFVml

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) August 13, 2023

PGA Tour Champions @ Boeing Classic: Ames aces exam with 63

We know that 63 usually doesn’t ace a classroom exam, unless everyone else scores 62 and lower. This was not school classroom, however, but there was much learning at the hands of the Trinidadian-turner-Canadian Ames. The tall, wavy-haired golfer put on a clinic on Sunday in Washington state. Despite eagle at the first and birdie at the sixth, Ames had not put much distance between himself and Miguel Ángel Jiménez. That all changed as the denouement of the tournament arrived.

Beginning at the 14th hole, with the outcome still in doubt, Ames tallied birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie, then capped his day with a closing eagle. He left Jiménez in the dust, although the Canarian claimed solo second by two shots, over K. J. Choi and Steven Alker. The win moved Ames into third position in the Charles Schwab Cup race, although he and the other will need a turbo boost to catch leader Steve Stricker. No matter, as the Vancouver native Ames will celebrate for a bit on his sixth Tour Champions victory, then recharge and begin the chase to catch Stricker.

'The closer'?????@StephenAmesPGA's incredible second shot from 224 yards out on the par-5 18th @BoeingClassic. https://t.co/GsMvae4c1C pic.twitter.com/1izF0tER2C

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) August 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)