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5 Things We Learned: Saturday at the Women’s PGA

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1 year ago

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The last 2024 round of the regular-tours, USA-based, major championships is upon us. Sure, we have both British Opens and the Evian Championship still to come, but the US Opens, the Invitationals (Chevron and Masters) and PGAs will be in the rearview mirror after Sunday evening. We should savor this final day at Sahalee for that reason and many others.

The dominant theme at this year’s, grand slam events has been consistency. No competitor will have the final-round charge as an option. No one is returning from five shots off with a 63 for the win. That’s the case at Sahalee as well, so the number of contenders has whittled to a handful.

The land of timber gave us another lesson in strategy on Saturday. Lapses in attention or execution were punhished with small cuts. One shot here, another shot there, and away went opportunity. Sunday should present more of the same, although hidden hole locations might force some into the mistake of chasing after them, and result in larger shot losses. Today’s installment of Five Things We Learned bids farewell to a few challengers and welcomes a smaller number of new faces to consideration.

1. Amy with a Y in the A Position

Amy Yang doubled her one-shot advantage with a timely birdie at the 53rd hole on Saturday. She made two bogeys on day three, and followed each with a par-three birdie on the subsequent hole. Who knows what that means, beyond an ability to recover quickly and forget transgression with immediacy. Yang has totaled 10 birdies (3-4-3) over the first three days of competition. She isn’t harvesting the stroke-savers in bushels, but she is also avoiding large numbers of bogeys and others.

This is the prize recipe, the winning formula, for major championships. The prescription for Sunday is written, and one more opportunity for Amy to collect the elixir has arrived. She has played the outward nine in par figures or better each day. If she is able to secure one more, she should head to the stretch with the lead.

2. Here comes Lilia

With the torrid six months of 2024 Korda, the achievements of Lilia Vu fell away from the public eye. It didn’t help that she was away from competition, recuperating from injury. Lilia Vu was a top-ranked amateur before training on the Epson and LPGA circuits. She is one of the world’s best now, with two major titles in her dossier. On Saturday, she was the best player on the course, and another performance like that one will be hard to restrain by her competition.

Vu began with a stumble on Thursday, posting three-over par. She began to make up ground on Friday with 70, and climbed back into contention on Saturday, with a six-birdie 68. The difference between her round and Yang’s was a pair of birdies. She’ll need more than that pair of birdies to summit Sahalee on Sunday, but another six stroke-savers on day four will provide the chance.

3. Sarah and Lexi have work to do

Sarah Schmelzel and Lexi Thompson entered round three with hopes of making a statement. The microphone turned off for both. Schmelzel doubled her two birdies with four bogeys, while Thompson made four bogeys that she could not afford, against three birdies. Both golfers will need the round of their lives on Sunday to hold off Vu and chase down Yang.

Fairways and greens is wished subconsciously as we pass fellow competitors on our way to different points on the course. It’s such a simple form of encouragement, but it will define the final day at the 2024 PGA Championship. If either Schmelzel or Thompson is able to reach 15 or more greens in regulation figures, she will find herself in contention. The putts will fall, and the finish line will reveal itself.

4. Could it be Lauren or Miyu?

Logic and wisdom say No, but logic and wisdom are not match for hope and opportunity. If Lauren Hartlage or Miyu Yamashita lifts the championship trophy (which should be called the Didrikson, or the Wright, or the Gunderson) on Sunday, it will put punctuation on the ultimate, outsider story. Neither one has a tour title to her name, and neither one has a top-ten finish in a major professional event. That’s the point where hope and opportunity need to knock.

Hartlage has posted consecutive 69s, after opening with 73. Yamashita has been under par each day, with 71-70-70. That’s some terrific golf for players with games suited to Sahalee. For the record, Sunday at a major is like none of the first three rounds. What Lauren and Miyu encounter on day four, paired with Amy Yang in the final game, will demand something they haven’t faced. It’s called, simply, the next step.

5. Prediction Time!

The penultimate game features Lilia Vu and Sarah Schmelzel, and welcomes Caroline Inglis to the conversation. Inglis had her hiccough on Friday, when she dug but one birdie out of the round. Saturday brought a pair of birdies and a par-five eagle, and moved her to within four shots of the leader.

On Sunday, I predict that Inglis will duplicate Pajaree Anannarukarn’s hole-in-one, and that she’ll hole her tee ball on the par-three fifth hole. With that sort of start, Inglis will reach 66 on the day, an entirely-unexpected score, and will sneak past the field to claim her first LPGA and major titles.

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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

Published

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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