News

Why the claret jug is the fourth major trophy for Scheffler

Published

1 month ago

Jul 20, 2025

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

With gratitude for Mr. Robert Frost and his well-known stanza, I must travel both roads now, but I promise to not dally on the first. The grand slam of men’s golf currently consists of four tournaments. Before the advent of the Masters, the Western Open was held in the same regard. Sadly, golfers from a different era were not given credit for Western Open triumphs as major titles. Since 2016, I’ve stumped for the Olympic gold medal to be given major title status. It doesn’t need to diminish the work of Sarazen, Hogan, Player, Nicklaus, Woods, and McIlroy, the six men that have held all four major trophies at one point in their careers. Instead, it’s a springboard to define Scottie Scheffler and the impact that his career will have on golf history. When he wins a US Open title, Scheffler will become the first man to hold all five major trophies. This is the road less traveled by.

On to the road more frequented. Scottie Scheffler held off the field at Royal Portrush, to claim a first Open Championship this week. His opening 68 positioned him well, and his day-two 64 brought him to the top of the board. He would not leave it for the remainder of the week. Scheffler seemed to face a different, principal challenger each day, and he dispatched them all with poise. Scheffler was one of two golfers to post four rounds in the 60s. The other, Nicolai Hojgaard, finished in a tie for 14th place, but his feat may have exceed all others for randomness. Hojgaard turned in four identical scores of 69, to earn an imaginary medal of some distinction.

Similar to Hojgaard, Wyndham Clark followed an opening 76 with a trio of 66s to close the week. Clark finished six shots behind the champion golfer of the year, his best major finish since his 2023 US Open victory. Royal Portrush is that sort of links. It has the potential, as do they all, to be an absolute monstrosity, if the weather conspires against the golfers. For this week, the Dunluce course showed a kinder face, and the world’s best showed off their skills. Eagles were made on par four and five holes, aces fell on par threes, greens were driven on par-four holes, and par-five putting surfaces were summitted in two mighty strikes. Putts were made from distances outside 50, 60, even 70 feet, all the way turning, twisting, in serpentine fashion, toward the hole.

Scottie Scheffler was the best man at these nuptials. Over 72 holes, Scheffler made a mere three bogeys and one double bogey. Two of the bogeys came on Thursday, another on Friday, and the double arrive mid-day Sunday, when the Texan was making an effort to run away with winner’s jug. Four undesirable holes out of 72; that’s 6% of holes played. Unless a golfer went on a Faldo-esque run of 18 pars, the other 68 holes would certainly surrender a healthy store of birdies and eagles. Scheffler made one eagle and 21 birdies on the week, eclipsing the efforts of Harris English by four shots. Chris Gotterup place third, a shot behind English.

Scheffler was able to rebound from bad shots or fortune, better than all others this week. On Sunday, three under par for the day and set to run away with the tournament, the Texan found a fairway bunker and failed to extract his ball on his first swing. He pitched the ball out with his third, played his fourth to the putting surface, and took two putts for a double bogey. Lesser golfers have crumbled in that moment. Scheffler simply reclaimed one of the two shots lost at the ninth. He collected the other at the 12th, and moved inexorably toward a third traditional major title.

Scheffler will now square on his shoulders the burden that Rory McIlroy carried from 2014 to 2025. It is the same burden that Palmer, Trevino, Floyd, Watson, Mickelson, Snead, and Nelson were never able to relinquish. Scheffler finds himself one major title away from a career grand slam. It is the same US Open that haunted Snead and Mickelson. It’s odd, because Scheffler’s favored fade, from left to right, is the favored shot at US Open courses. It seems inevitable that he will claim one. He has finished in the top tne at that event, four of the last five years. Shinnecock Hills in 2026, Pinehurst #2 in 2027, and Winged Foot West in 2028, all favor the left to right slider.

When Scheffler does finally hoist the silver chalice, he will have accomplished something that no other male golfer has ever achieved. He will own five major titles, with Olympic gold accompanying those four traditional grand slam competitions. Xander Schauffele and Justin Rose are the other, modern-day gold medalists. Do you think Rory will take dead aim at Riviera Country Club in 2028? Absolutely. By then, Scheffler should be finished with his Scottie Slam.

For now, let’s leave the 2025 major championship season for the men in the rearview mirror, and treasure the results for the exquisite displays of skill and fortitude that they were. We are fortunate to be alive, in this time and place, and to have chosen golf as our passion. Cheers to the champion golfer of the year for 2025, Scott Alexander Scheffler, and cheers to Royal Portrush and all that it offers. May we return soon.

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)