News

Five Things We Learned: Thursday at the Open Championship

Published

1 month ago

Jul 17, 2025

It’s funny how anticipation and arrival juxtapose. In 2019, our anticipation level for Royal Portrush had no meter to contain it. The last Northern Ireland Open championship took place in the 1950s. No matter what happened, no matter who won, the Dunluce course would win the week and the year. Our despair at Rory’s early exit was more than sated when Shane Lowry lifted the claret jug.

Move ahead to 2025, and things have changed. Lowry is still a competitive contender, and the golf course has done little in six years, to change its personality for the worse. And yet, we are a bit more critical. We recognize that it has more dogleg holes than most links courses. We confess that it has two holes added from its original design. We have no historical legacy othen than Lowry, as Max Faulkner’s 1951 win is deep in another century. The bloom is shed and the veil, lifted.

Portrush needs the book of winners that Troon, Birkdale, Hoylake, Carnoustie, and St. Andrews all possess. Portrush craves the connection with the town that other venues boast. Portrush needs an identity, one that will be enjoyed by our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as it adds name after name of Champion Golfer of the Year to its legacy. For our generations, we are here at the nascent point of the chronological arc.

With that sobriety written, let’s have a lesson from five notable things that we learned on day one, Thursday, of the 2025 Open Championship.

1. Bunkers and Billy

Billy Horschel has been sidelined with hip issues, and will undergo surgery next week. As the operation gets closer, Horschel becomes more vocal in his opinions on the state of the game. Last week, he took issue with a notion from Padraig Harrington, that the Open Championship might one day be played outside the British isles. This week, he demonstrated displeasure with the absence of trained bunker rakers at Royal Portrush. Without the standard bearers, caddies are compelled to rake bunkers as they do each week of the season.

We’ve not yet heard from Horschel on the size of the teeth of this week’s rakes. According to reliable sources, the teeth dig deeper and space wider, meaning that spin rates out of bunkers are diminished. As if the golfers needed more to adjust to than the vagaries of links golf. Will the rakes and absence of rakers have an impact on the outcome of the Open Championship? Pop the corn and stay tuned.

2. If you don’t have the shots, your long day leads to a short week

The Open championship routinely demands a wider skillset than the other major events. Find yourself high on a dune, and you’ll confront a shoulder-high knuckle ball, with little margin for error. At times, you are unable to merely pitch the ball sideways toward the fairway. Instead, you must hold the clubface open, rotate the shoulders, and hope for the best. On a good day, you make solid contact and the ball shoots toward the distant flag. On a bad day, well, see Bryson below. He finished on seven-over for the day, currently sits tied for 145th, and has work left to make Friday’s cut.

3. Monk

I confess that I thought that a Hayden “Sidd” Finch imitator was afoot, while reading that Sadom Kaewkanjana had taken time away from professional golf, to live life as a monk. This is precisely the case, as the top-fifteen finisher at the 2022 Open at St. Andrews took time away from the game in 2023. He lived as a Buddhist monk and practiced meditation and other ritual tasks. On Thursday, SK rode two birdies, plus a hole-out approach for eagle on five, to the second-best score on the day. His 68 stands him even with world number one Scottie Scheffler and two others, one shot behind the leading quintet. There may be better ways to prepare for the mental demands of championship golf; for the moment, I cannot think of any.

4. The leaders

In alphabetical order, you have Bezuidenhout, English, Fitzpatrick, Li, and Olesen. Of the five, Matt Fitzpatrick is the lone major winner. The other four were, at one point or another in their careers, predicted to be solid bets to win this sort of tournament. Each arrived at the head of the class in his own unique manner. Harris English carved seven birdies out of the course, but he also made the highest number of bogeys among the leaders. Haotong Li had four birdies and zero bogeys. The other three golfers all had at least one bogey.

The ability to minimize mistakes is critical to success at Royal Portrush. Make your way around the Dunluce with one bogey each day, and you’ll be in the thick of the chase come Sunday. English looks to have the best chance at round replication, as he teed off in Thursday’s afternoon wave. He’ll see a fresh set of greens on Friday. Despite his English roots, Fitzpatrick does not show well at The Open. His top finish is a tie for 20th, out of ten attempts.

5. Who looks to do what on Friday?

Scottie Scheffler has two, top-ten finishes in four Open Championship appearances. He did not play at Portrush in 2019, but his opening 68 suggests that he has an idea of what he wants to do, and how to do it. The Texan needs two consecutive rounds of solid, rewarded golf to set the stage for a run at the title. A fall-off on Friday will put him in a defensive mode on moving day. If he sits inside the top four after the cut, he won’t need to do anything spectacular on Saturday. Let’s see what the Schef ha on the menu.

If there’s one thing that Englishmen don’t do, it’s win the Open Championship. Look at the long list of recent, great English players with zero Open titles: Fleetwood, Rose, Westwood, Donald, Poulter, Willett, and Fitzpatrick. For some reason, they cannot find the elixir to clinch victory. Tyrrell Hatton hopes to remove his name from that list. Hatton opened with a clean card, posting four birdies against zero bogeys. Unlike Scheffler, Hatton fights to preserve control over his psyche and game with each breath he takes. He’ll be fun to watch, regardless of the outcome, but contention for the Claret will demand more from him than we’ve ever seen.

As things stand, these are the two I see with the best chance to impact the outcome of the 153rd Open Championship.

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)