News

Tour Rundown: KK for 2! Hello, Lottie!

Published

4 weeks ago

Jul 28, 2025

There’s something refreshing about the regular men’s major season ending in mid-July. Focus moves to other events on the world’s tours, and the beneficiaries are the Open championships of the ladies’ and senior men’s circuits. Events like the N5 and 3M, which honestly look something like binary code, also garner more eyes and ears. It also helps when the pros remind us how much better they are than us by dallying with scores in the 50s.

Did we have any of those this week? I’m not saying. You’ll have to read on, as we traverse six of the world’s tours, from LET/LPGA to Americas, from Champions to LIV, from PGA to KFT. Hop on the Tour Rundown train as it leaves the station. All aboard!

PGA Tour @ 3M Open: KK? KK! Kurt Kitayama wins 2nd tour title

There isn’t much to compare between Orlando and Minneapolis. For Kurt Kitayama, they both hold a special place. In 2023, KK won at the home of Arnold Palmer for his first PGA Tour title. This week in the land of 10K lakes, Kitayama rode a day-three 60 to a one-shot win over Sam Stevens.

Every time a player threatens the 50s, we look for stress fractures. For Kitayama, it happened on the penultimate hole on Saturday. Balanced atop 11 under par, after turning in 28, he needed par-birdie over the final 788 yards to gain immortality. He handled the 18th just fine, making birdie at the long par five. It was the 17th hole that got him. A wide-right tee shot found sand, and a bunker explosion could only reach 13 feet to hole. KK’s putt for par was brave, but wide of the mark. Still, 60 put him in a good spot, heading into Sunday.

On the day of reckoning, everyone was gobsmacked by the tumble that third-round leader Thorbjorn Olesen took. 73 dropped him 13 spots, to a 14th-place tie. There was something in that final group, as Akshay Bhatia also lost compass, closing with 75 for a 23-spot drop.

There would be no momentous climbs on day four. Kitayama began the day at 17-under par, tied with Sam Stevens. Kitayama and Stevens simply stole the spotlight from the final pairing. Out in 29, KK looked anything like a winner after shuffling home in 36. Despite that banal number, he held Stevens off, despite a homeward 31 from the runner-up.

PGA Tour Champions @ Senior Open: Make room for Paddy

Padraig Harrington won three majors on the regular tour, two Opens and a PGA. He now has three senior major titles, including two this year. Harrington traveled south to Sunningdale, in England, and added a senior Open to his two U.S. senior open titles. Just under a month after winning another USGA eagle in Colorado, Harrington held off Thomas Bjorn and Justin Leonard in Berkshire, UK.

Harrington’s first round of 67 proved pivotal. He was four shots back of leader Steven Alker, who scorched Harry Colt’s masterpiece with 63. Leonard posted 69 that same day, and that two-shot differential mattered. Both Harrington and Leonard dispatched the majority of the field with scores of 65 on Friday and again on Saturday. Neither was as effective on Sunday, and Denmark’s Bjorn entered the pursuit.

Harrington stuck to a plan on day four and posted another 67. His four rounds of 67-65-65-67 were not just feng shui; they compelled Leonard and Bjorn to post something like Alker did on day one. Neither was up to the task, and Harrington hoisted the elegant silver, granted to the winner of this august tournament.

LET/LPGA @ Scottish Open: Hello, Lottie!

This isn’t our first dance with Lottie Woad. We watched her brilliance at Augusta National in the spring of 2024. We saw her win as an amateur in Ireland on the Ladies European Tour earlier this month. What’s left for Lottie as she makes her professional debut? How about a victory?

Woad won her second national open of July. She followed her stunning triumph at Carton House, three weeks back, with a brilliant farewell to the amateur ranks. Woad stood tied with Leona Maguire on 67 after day one, but left the Irishwoman and everyone else behind, with 65 on day two. Eyes opened, conversations began, and everyone wondered if the lass from Surrey could win in her professional debut. Saturday welcomed another 67, along with a season challenger. Hyo Joo Kim had found a spark, and it was she who gave Woad the most trouble on Sunday.

Kim played magnificent golf on day four. She was able to climb up to a tie with Woad at the top, but she never found the birdie that would give her the physical and psychological solo lead. Cool and collected, Woad played her inward nine in 2 under par, and completed a three-shot triumph over Kim with a Sunday 68.

Korn Ferry Tour @ N5 Invitational: Keefer kloses late

Shout-out to the amateur from western New York and #Valpo. Anthony Delisanti, playing on a sponsor’s exemption, posted three rounds of 67, followed by 66 on Sunday, to finish T30 on the week. Way to make the most of an opportunity.

Johnny Keefer can be forgiven for being stuck in a bit of a malaise for most of Sunday. His 61 on Saturday had certainly taken sumptuous amounts of energy, so perhaps the engine needed a bit more time on day four. Keefer pushed the ignition button at the proper time, and eased to a two-shot win over Jeffrey Kang. It wasn’t easy.

Neal Shipley posted 63 on Sunday to climb 22 spots to 23 under par, and a tie for third with Kensei Hirate and Davis Chatfield. Kang’s move was less spacious but more lethal. He elevated two spots with his 65, moving to 24-under par and solo second. Keefer bounced back from consecutive bogeys on the front nine, playing his final twelve holes in minus-three. The win was Keefer’s second of the season on the KFT.

TWICE AS NICE ??

Johnny Keefer is your 2x Korn Ferry Tour winner @NV5Invite! pic.twitter.com/j45jYY4mgB

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) July 27, 2025

PGA Tour Americas @ Ottawa Open: White wins

On Friday, Brett Roberts set a course record at Eagle Creek Golf Club near Canada’s capital. He posted 61. His record lasted 24 hours. Philip Barbaree, Jr. finished birdie-birdie-eagle on Saturday, with his wife on the bag, to lower that number by two shots. On Sunday, Brett White posted 28 on the inward nine, including an eagle of his own at 18, to match Barbaree’s 59. Despite those pyrotechnics, Ottawa demanded even more golf.

With White in the clubhouse at 26-deep, Danny Fisher made birdie on the closing triumvirate to reach that vaunted tally, but Ottawa wasn’t finished. After a five-hole, par streak, Nathan Franks also made birdie at the last, to make overtime a threesome. Franks bowed out with par at the first playoff hole, while Fisher failed to make birdie the second time around, and White lifted the trophy in Canada’s capital. Imagine telling your pals that you shot 13-under on Sunday, and still didn’t win…fortunately for White, he did.

20 Holes. 15-Under. ? @BWhitey08 earns his first career victory on the second playoff hole @OttawaOpenGolf! pic.twitter.com/UTtQRGEF0U

— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) July 27, 2025

LIV @ UK: Niemann by three over Watson

Joaquin Niemann won his fifth tournament of the 2025 season. The Chilean held a one-shot advantage after day one, but sizzled on Saturday with a 64, saving eight strokes on old man par. He moved to a sizable advantage through 36 holes. Bubba Watson, second after each day, made a mild charge on day three, but was unable to overtake Niemann.

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)