It nearly feels like the old days, when another men’s major remained after the Open championship. There’s a reason, but it only comes to pass every four years. The Olympic golf event will take place at Le Golf Nationale, and just like that, August will matter again. Golfers will ascend the podium and listen to the playing of national anthems. It’s unique to the game and it counts as much as any other, major title. Don’t listen to those who say otherwise. They’ve long since fossilized in the ways before evolution.

The final full week of July brought five wonderful events to the attention and screens of the world’s golf fanatics. The PGA Tour traveled to the North Country, to Minnesota. The LPGA went farther north, to Alberta. The senior men played in their most recent major event, the Senior Open, while the Korn Ferry Tour found glory in Chicagoland. Finally, the PGA Tour Americas joined the LPGA above the 49th parallel, in Ottawa. Although it was a decidedly, western-hemisphere week, the golf was stellar.

It’s time for another Tour Rundown, so lace up those kicks and take your mark.

The Senior Open: Choi’s time arrives

Choi Kyung-Ju, known for the entirety of his career as K.J. Choi, is a tank. He looks to be capable of powering through, or knocking down, any wall that stands in his way. One wall that seemed to get the better of him for nearly 30 years, held the inscription of the game’s four major events. Choi achieved seven, top-ten finishes in regular-tour majors, including three at Augusta National. The final ascent eluded him, and when he came to the senior tour in 2021, the same pattern returned.

This week, the tank broke through the wall. At storied Carnoustie, itself a tank among golf links, Choi grabbed the lead from Stephen Ames on day two, then held it through day three. He wobbled a bit on Sunday, playing his first six holes in plus-three numbers. From holes nine to fourteen, however, the champion returned, four birdies, capped by an eagle at the long 14th, brought him to double-digits under par and the ladder’s top rung.

Choi’s closest pursuer, Richard Green of Australia, wasn’t quite finished. His birdie at the last, paired with Choi’s safe bogey, made the margin of victory appear smaller than it truly was. After three decades of competition, K. J. Choi is finally a major champion, and the history page at Carnoustie has another, deserving titleist.

Four shot lead for K.J. Choi with four holes to play…?#SeniorOpen | @ROLEX pic.twitter.com/rYxSUlmFU2

— Legends Tour (@euLegendsTour) July 28, 2024

PGA Tour @ 3M Open: Vegas comes up aces again

Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas came to Texas in the mid-2000s, graduated from the University there in Austin, and embarked on a professional’s playing career. He gathered three PGA Tour wins during the 2010s, including consecutive wins at the Canadian Open. The decade of his 30s hasn’t brought quite the same glory, so there’s no better way to say Hello to your 40s (in three weeks) than with a fourth tour title.

Vegas and the field found themselves chasing Canada’s Taylor Pendrith, after the Toronto-area native opened with 130 through two rounds. On Saturday, the birdie well dried up for Pendrith, and his 73 opened access to all of his pursuers. Vegas capitalized with 63, and seized the lead. On Sunday, three bogies threatened to offer opportunity to his pursuers, but Vegas’ resolve stiffened. He reached the final hole in a tie for the lead. With more water than dry land between him and glory, Vegas found the fairway and then, the green, of the par-five closer. Facing a ho-hum, 95-feet putt for eagle, Vegas nursed the massive stroke to within three feet, then found the hole with his fourth, for a one-shot margin of victory.

Two putts for the win.@JhonattanVegas gives it a run from 99 feet. pic.twitter.com/gv0C1j4TDf

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 28, 2024

LPGA @ Canadian Open: Coughlin breaks barriers

Lauren Coughlin is featured on the wikipedia page under grit and grinder. That’s not actually true, but it certainly cound be. The Virgina native and UVA alumna has toiled on the professional golf tours since 2016. Her lone win came in 2018, at the Symetra Tour’s PHC Classic. Earlier this year, Coughlin earned a career-best finish in a major, when she place third at the Chevron.

This week in Calgary had a different vibe. Scores in the 60s were hard to come by, at the Earl Grey golf club. Coughlin’s 68 took the day-one lead, and her 70 on Friday held it. Day three saw the leader collect an unheard-of, eight birdies. A brace of bogies brought her to 66 on the day, a number that should have sealed the win with 18 holes to play.

Out of nowhere, Japan’s Mao Saigo blistered the course with nine birdies and a scintillating, eagle two at the tenth hole. Her inconceivable 61 vaulted her from nine shots back, to just four in arrears. On Sunday, Saigo did her best to close the gap, but her 69 came up two shots shy of Coughlin’s 71. With no more moves under way from the field, Coughlin at long last had her maiden LPGA victory. It was time for tea.

For the lead!@LCisHOOSgolfin with a birdie on No. 17 snags the lead at @cpkcwomensopen ? pic.twitter.com/eK9aFzjt8T

— LPGA (@LPGA) July 29, 2024

Korn Ferry Tour @ N5 Invitational: A Rosenmueller by any other name, is a champion

One week can change a golfer’s life. That platitude happens more often than one might anticipate. In the case of North Texas alumnus Thomas Rosenmueller, this week was that week. When he teed off on Thursday at The Glen Club, the Munich-born traveler stood 54th on the KFT money list. The notion of making it to the tour championship was within site. 72 holes later, Rosenmueller has his eyes focused on a more prestigious prize, that fits in a wallet.

Fifteen golfers reached 20-under par or better in Illinois. If you weren’t collecting birdies by the bushel, you weren’t in contention. Rosenmueller gathered 27 from the fields, capped by a scorching eagle two at the antipenultimate hole. Even a bogey at the last wasn’t enough to undo 71 stellar holes, and the German had his first KFT title, by two shots over Australia’s Karl Vilips. And that aforementioned prize? Perhaps a PGA Tour card, the kind that fits in a wallet, is in the offing. Rosenmueller shot up to the 15th ranked spot on the yearlong money list.

What a way to take a three-stroke lead??@thomasrosenmue1 holes out from 33 yards on the 15th @NV5Invite. pic.twitter.com/WCK8tojBnq

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) July 28, 2024

PGA Tour Americas @ Ottawa Open: Double-B Barend Botha wins big

It’s an interesting journey, from South Africa to Toledo, Ohio. That’s the one that Barend Botha made, for his classroom and golf course educations. Botha graduated from the Buckeye state institution in May, and made his way onto the PGA Tour Americas soon after. He traveled north again, this time to Ottawa, to achieve unexpected success: 26 shots under par and a one-shot victory.

Botha opened 63-65, suggesting that he might have some sort of arcane knowledge of the Eagle Creek layout. He cooled to 67 in round three, but preserved his advantage. On Sunday, Botha found six birdies against a solitary bogey, and closed with another 67. There were chasers, but would they have enough? George Markham and Connor Creasy came the closest, reaching 25-under par each.

After opening seven-under through his first 13 holes, the tank was empty for Markham. Pars all the way in left him one excruciating shot shy of the leader. As for Creasy, his finish was elite, but one last birdie at the long closer eluded him, and he joined Markham at station T2.

Barend Botha sticks one close on 9 and ties the lead at 24-under ?@OttawaOpenGolf pic.twitter.com/JNwOmjGrec

— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) July 28, 2024