U.S. Women’s Open

The women’s golf was awesome yesterday.

The leaderboard was tight from the start of play on Sunday, with seven players just two strokes off the lead, and Charley Hull, one of the LPGA’s biggest stars, just three strokes back.

Charley got off to a blistering start and charged into the lead in the middle of the round before making a bogey on the 14th.

Her miss dropped her to -6 and left Gabby Lopez, In Gee Chun, S.Y. Kim, and Nelly Korda all tied for the lead at 7-under.

Hull was able to bounce back with a birdie on the 17th and grab a share of the lead. Gabby Lopez birdied the 18th, and they both went into the clubhouse to watch Nelly Korda finish.

They watched on TV while Nelly Korda made birdie on the 17th hole to take a one-stroke lead. On the final hole, Korda hit a perfect tee shot, followed by a safe approach shot into the middle of the 18th green.

She two-putted for par and won the U.S. Women’s Open by a stroke, but we were this close to a three-way playoff:

The putt that won it all (and stopped our hearts 🫠) pic.twitter.com/VQynQ3nbUZ

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 8, 2026

The Memorial Tournament

We didn’t get a playoff at Riviera, but we did get one at Jack’s place.

The Memorial Tournament also featured a jam-packed leaderboard on Sunday.

At one point, there was a five-way tie on the back nine at 11-under.

That group was Wyndham Clark, Tommy Fleetwood, Sam Burns, Ryan Gerard, and JT Poston.

By the time the dust settled, it was Poston and Gerard who were the last two men standing. Gerard almost won it in regulation, but JT Poston made a clutch birdie on the 72nd hole to send it to a playoff.

They played the 18th, both made par, so they played it again.

This time, Gerard would bogey, leaving JT Poston an easy par putt to seal it.

With his victory, JT collected a $4 million check, along with spots in the U.S. Open and The Open this year.

He also gets to avoid playing in Golf’s Longest Day today.

What’s Next?

The RBC Canadian Open.

Odds: RBC Canadian Open

Player	Odds
Tommy Fleetwood	+1150
Matt Fitzpatrick	+1175
Sam Burns	+1300
Collin Morikawa	+2250
Robert MacIntyre	+2400
Wyndham Clark	+2500
Justin Rose	+2700
Brooks Koepka	+2800
Nicolai Hojgaard	+2900
Viktor Hovland	+2900

A mix of courtroom golf drama, rollback panic that may or may not matter, Anthony Kim doing Anthony Kim things, and Jim Furyk trying to rebuild the U.S. Ryder Cup machine before Ireland.

→ Tiger’s Prescription Records Are Staying Behind Closed Doors
Tiger Woods will have to turn over prescription records as part of the investigation into his March traffic crash, but the public won’t get to see them. A Florida judge ruled the records can be shared with a limited group tied to the case, not dumped into the public-records circus. So yes, the legal drama continues — just with fewer documents for everyone to screenshot. (defector.com)

→ Cameron Young Is Playing the Future Ball and Still Nuking It
Cameron Young is using a ball that would likely conform to the coming rollback rules, and the big punchline is that it has basically made zero difference. It was built to help him control spin, not necessarily to prepare for the rollback, and he’s still averaging the same 302.7 yards off the tee. If the plan was to scare bombers into submission, this probably isn’t the example the USGA wanted. (Golf Channel)

→ Anthony Kim Is Back in the Top 200 and Still Doesn’t Care What You Think
Anthony Kim shot a final-round 62 at LIV Golf Virginia, finished T6, helped win a team playoff, and climbed back into the OWGR top 200 for the first time in 14 years. Then he reminded everyone he is not exactly losing sleep over public opinion. The comeback is getting real — and AK is still very much AK. (Golf)

→ Jim Furyk Wants to Fix Team USA Before Team USA Breaks Again
Jim Furyk is already looking at how the U.S. Ryder Cup team gets built for 2027, and he sounds ready to mess with the formula. With money now warping basically everything in pro golf, Furyk doesn’t think earnings are the clean measuring stick they used to be. Expect simulations, tweaks, and probably the same six captain’s picks — because Team USA needs more than vibes if it wants to win in Ireland. (golfdigest.com)

Brandt Snedeker Reminds Us Why This Stuff Still Rules

According to Josh Schrock of GOLF.com, Brandt Snedeker’s win at Myrtle Beach was not just another opposite-field PGA TOUR title. It was his first victory in 2,821 days, came after years of injuries, doubt, conditional status, and experimental surgery, and ended with Snedeker breaking down in his caddie’s arms after Mark Hubbard missed a putt that would have forced a playoff. This is the kind of stuff golf still does better than almost any sport: a 45-year-old grinding for one more shot, getting it, and immediately turning into a puddle. Real stakes. Real emotion. Real golf. (Golf)

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D.C. Public Golf Is Now a Political Football

In The Hill piece you linked, the Trump administration’s deal on D.C.’s public golf courses sounds like good news on the surface: Langston and Rock Creek are set to stay with National Links Trust under a new long-term lease, while East Potomac remains open on an interim basis. But East Potomac is still the big question mark. The National Park Service is eyeing what it calls a “historic restoration,” and critics are worried that one of the most accessible public golf spots in the capital could become something shinier, more expensive, and a lot less public. Public golf is booming, but this is the reminder that the best munis are always one bad decision away from becoming someone’s vanity project. (Reuters)

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Boo Weekley Gets His Moment

According to Christopher Powers of Golf Digest, Boo Weekley finally got his first PGA Tour Champions win at the Insperity Invitational, and yeah, it got emotional. Weekley won in his 64th Champions start, went bogey-free for the week, and picked up his first victory of any kind since 2013. For a guy who has always felt like one of golf’s true characters, this was a pretty perfect Champions Tour moment: a familiar name, a long wait, and a win that clearly meant a hell of a lot more than just another trophy. (GolfDigest.com)

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Jeeno Thitikul Is Not Waiting Around

According to the Associated Press via ESPN, Jeeno Thitikul won the Mizuho Americas Open by four shots over Ruoning Yin, giving her a second LPGA title this season. The turning point came late, when Thitikul birdied 16 while Yin made bogey, turning a tight finish into a comfortable one. The bigger takeaway: the LPGA is not short on star power or depth. Nelly Korda still looms over everything, but Thitikul is stacking wins, and the competition at the top of the women’s game keeps getting better. (ESPN)

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The PGA Championship Hype Machine Is Officially Running

According to Keith Stewart of Golf Digest, Rory McIlroy sits atop the PGA Championship power rankings heading to Aronimink, ahead of Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Xander Schauffele, and Matt Fitzpatrick. The setup is pretty perfect: Rory is chasing another major after winning the Masters, Scottie is the defending PGA champ, Bryson and Rahm are still lurking with LIV baggage attached, and Aronimink gives us a proper old-school major venue. After weeks of tour politics, Signature Event grumbling, and LIV chaos, it is nice to get back to the simple stuff: a stacked major field, a classic course, and a leaderboard that should actually matter. (GolfDigest.com)

The Truist Championship was wide open on Sunday.

Plenty of names were within striking distance. Alex Fitzpatrick had the overnight lead. Rickie Fowler, Cameron Young, Nicolai Højgaard, Tommy Fleetwood, and a handful of others were all close enough to make things interesting.

But it was Kristoffer Reitan, the 28-year-old from Norway, who stepped up, closed the deal, and walked away with the trophy and the signature-event check.

Not bad for a guy still getting settled on the PGA TOUR.

Reitan’s Breakthrough Came Fast

Reitan’s road here has not exactly been smooth.

He had a brief stop at Texas before choosing the professional route, then went through the grind of trying to establish himself in Europe. He has spoken openly about the ups and downs, but eventually found his footing again.

Last year, he finished inside the top 10 on the Race to Dubai, earned his PGA TOUR card, yet hadn’t finished in the Top 10 in a single event this year.

Then came Quail Hollow.

Reitan began Sunday one shot behind Alex Fitzpatrick, but stayed steady while the leaderboard around him got chaotic. He closed with a 2-under 69, finished at 15-under, and beat Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Højgaard by two shots.

That is a life-changing week – good for him.

Alex Fitzpatrick Was Right There

Alex Fitzpatrick started the day with a one-shot lead and had a real chance to win his first solo PGA TOUR event.

Instead, Sunday got away from him.

He shot 2-over on the day and finished solo fourth, which is still a great result, but it will probably sting considering where he stood entering the final round.

Still, Fitzpatrick has been playing well since getting his PGA TOUR card, and this feels more like a sign of things to come than a collapse to worry about.

Meanwhile, his brother Matt cooled off with a T52 finish after his own ridiculous run of three wins in three starts.

Rickie And Nicolai Made Their Sunday Push

Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Højgaard both finished T2, two shots behind Reitan.

For Fowler, it was another reminder that he still has plenty left when the putter cooperates and the ball-striking shows up.

For Højgaard, it was another strong week from a player who keeps looking more and more comfortable on big stages.

Neither one got the trophy, but both made Reitan earn it.

Cam Young Gave Us All A Putting Reminder

Cameron Young has been one of the hottest players on the planet lately.

And yet, on Sunday, he missed multiple putts inside four feet.

You know, just in case you think you should make every four-footer.

Young still finished T10, but the round was a good reminder that even the best players in the world can look human at times.

Other Notable Finishes

• Tommy Fleetwood: T5
• Ludvig Åberg: T8
• Cameron Young: T10
• Rory McIlroy: T19
• Matt Fitzpatrick: T52

What’s Next?

The PGA Championship at Aronimink.

Odds For The 2026 PGA Championship

Odds are subject to change and may vary by sportsbook.

Player	Odds
Scottie Scheffler	+450
Rory McIlroy	+850
Cameron Young	+1200
Jon Rahm	+1600
Bryson DeChambeau	+1800
Xander Schauffele	+1800
Ludvig Åberg	+2000
Matt Fitzpatrick	+2200
Tommy Fleetwood	+2200
Brooks Koepka	+4000
Collin Morikawa	+4000
Justin Thomas	+4000

We’ll see you Wednesday with our PGA Championship picks.

A mix of comeback math, golf-boom growing pains, a long-overdue first at St Andrews, a public course getting dragged into White House demolition drama, and YouTube golf continuing its march into the mainstream.

→ Bryson’s PGA Tour Comeback Might Not Be That Complicated
Bryson DeChambeau says a potential return to the PGA Tour might come down less to executives and more to whether the players actually want him back. He also raised questions about how much freedom he’d have to keep creating content around tournaments, which is kind of the whole Bryson machine now. The funny part? The Tour says players can already post during practice rounds and pro-am days, so the biggest hurdle might not be the rules. It might just be the room. (Skratch Golf)

→ Golf Got Too Popular and Now Kids Can’t Get Tee Times
The golf boom has been great for courses, brands, and anyone selling $12 beers at the turn. But there’s a problem nobody loves talking about: junior golfers are getting squeezed. Tee sheets are packed, access is tighter, and the kids who are supposed to be the future of the game are sometimes stuck indoors hitting into simulators instead of actually playing. Great problem for the industry. Not so great if you’re 13 and just want to get on the course. (GolfDigest.com)

→ It Only Took The R&A 272 Years
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews named Claire Dowling as the first woman captain in its 272-year history. That’s a big deal, even if the timeline makes you do a double take. The club only opened membership to women in 2014, and now Dowling will take over as captain in September. Progress is progress — even when it shows up a few centuries late. (The Guardian)

→ White House Rubble Got Dumped On A Golf Course. Now There’s Toxic Metal Drama
Debris from the White House East Wing demolition was dumped at East Potomac Golf Links, the same public D.C. course already caught up in renovation controversy. According to Fortune, a National Park Service report found the soil tested positive for lead, chromium, and other toxic metals, while the Department of the Interior says the project passed legal safety standards. Either way, “public golf course becomes dumping ground for White House rubble” is not exactly the feel-good muni story of the year. (Fortune)

→ YouTube Golf Just Got Called Up To The Big Leagues
Grant Horvat and the Bryan Bros are joining Wasserman’s newly rebranded agency, The Team, after it acquired Provisions Golf. Translation: YouTube golf is not some side corner of the sport anymore. These guys are getting folded into the same kind of machine that represents major athletes, runs events, and knows how to turn attention into money. The line between “golf influencer” and “golf business” is basically gone. (frontofficesports.com)

By Nate Oxman

While the golf world is fawning over the majesty of Donald Ross’s self-proclaimed “masterpiece” at Aronimink Golf Club in the suburbs of Philadelphia as it readies to host the PGA Championship next week, another Donald Ross standout about two hours north in West Caldwell, N.J. will take the stage as the opening act.

Mountain Ridge Country Club, host of this week’s Mizuho Americas Open on the LPGA Tour, opened not long after Aronimink unveiled its Donald Ross design in 1928. While Aronimink is lauded as one of the top golf courses in golf-rich Philadelphia, Mountain Ridge is often overshadowed among the throngs of highly ranked courses in the New York metropolitan area.

With the likes of Shinnecock Hills, set to host the U.S. Open in June, Bethpage Black, most recently the site of last year’s Ryder Cup, and dozens of other courses dominating the top 100 rankings of all major golf publications and news outlets, it’s understandable Mountain Ridge may not have national notoriety.

That doesn’t make it right.

A Club with a Deep History

Mountain Ridge Country Club dates back to 1912, when a pair of Newark, N.J. businessmen were unable to obtain access to established private clubs in the area due to their Jewish religion. The club recruited heads of other prominent Newark Jewish families, purchased land adjacent to Essex County Country Club in West Orange, N.J., and hired that club’s pro, Robert Hunter, to craft a 9-hole course.

A.W. Tillinghast expanded that to a full 18, and Herbert Strong did a little tweaking in the 1920s too, before the club realized the property, severely sloped in certain spots, might not be the best location for the long-term success of the club.

Mountain Ridge’s leaders were intelligent enough to seek input from other prominent golf course architects at the time: Walter Travis, Seth Raynor, and Charles Banks. All three concluded that the club needed a new home, which it quickly found a little farther north in West Caldwell — and thus, a new designer.

Enter the great Donald Ross.

Donald Ross Arrives at Mountain Ridge

While Ross, a direct disciple of Old Tom Morris, was born in Scotland, he made a massive impact on American golf, crafting highly acclaimed courses like Pinehurst No. 2, Essex County Club, East Lake, Oakland Hills, Oak Hill, and Inverness.

His success at all of those sites made it possible for Ross to continue to do what he did best when he arrived at Mountain Ridge: carefully and creatively route a golf course to present a continuous variety of challenges, both as players venture from tee to green and then as they navigate the short grass with putter in hand.

And that’s exactly what Ross did at Mountain Ridge, which hosted its first big national tournament in the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2012.

It was around that time that the well-traveled Ron Prichard, a golf course architect later dubbed the “father of restoration,” finished his work at the club. His work included expanding the greens back to Ross’s specifications, widening fairways, building new back tees, adjusting the appearance and placement of bunkers that had gradually changed over time, and removing unnecessary trees.

The result was applauded throughout the golf course architecture world and helped Mountain Ridge attract the LPGA, which staged the Cognizant Founders Cup there in 2021. The club is now in its first year of a two-year period serving as host of the Mizuho Americas Open, a unique event hosted by Michelle Wie West that features both LPGA Tour and AJGA players competing side by side in separate competitions.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting mizuhoamericasopen.com/tickets. Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds.

A Gorgeous Parkland Stage

The defending champion is Jenno Thitikul, who played her final 27 holes last year at Liberty National Golf Club bogey free. While players and spectators at Liberty National enjoyed jaw-dropping views of the Statue of Liberty and the New York City skyline, Mountain Ridge offers everyone on site a glimpse at a great golf course in a gorgeous parkland setting.

“Obviously, the routing is pretty outstanding. I mean, that’s easy to give you that kind of an answer, but that’s true in every case for a Ross course. I don’t think I’ve ever found a Ross course I worked on where I felt like I would reroute it. I just felt like what he had done was a perfectly balanced golf course.”

— Ron Prichard

Prichard, who began pushing for restoration of classic American golf courses way back in the 1980s, did wonderful work at Mountain Ridge — perhaps most notably on a set of greens considered superb by both he and Dr. Bradley Klein, a golf course architecture design consultant and Donald Ross expert.

“It’s a fantastic set of greens. It’s very bold, very dramatic. Muscular. It’s in the top ten of all green sets he ever built.”

— Dr. Bradley Klein

“I think that the greens at Mountain Ridge may be easily in the top five Ross courses that I’ve ever seen.”

— Ron Prichard

That’s incredibly high — yet justifiable — praise considering Ross penned nearly 400 golf courses.

Greens Worth Studying

While all 18 green complexes wholeheartedly deserve recognition, the first of the elite is found right at the conclusion of the opening hole, a mid-length par 4 that plays downhill from a tee just below Mountain Ridge’s magnificent clubhouse.

Spectators at this week’s tournament should certainly spend some time by this green, studying how it accepts — and also deflects — different types of approach shots.

Another sensational putting surface sits atop a little rise at the end of the first one-shotter at the fourth hole, which can stretch as far back as 209 yards. Both vertical and horizontal spines and some dramatic tilts create a plethora of pin-placement options. Make it a point to spend some time studying this one.

Two more terrific greens are found at the sixth, a beautiful par 5 that could certainly put some players who attempt to reach the green in two in more than a few precarious positions, and the uphill par-3 seventh, which will undoubtedly wreak havoc on those who miss the green with their tee shot.

Don’t worry. There are plenty more greens to drool over on the back nine.

The Strategy of Ross’s Bunkering

Let’s return to the aforementioned seventh hole, which sits in the southeast corner of the property and features another fun Ross design element: a coffin bunker that both shields the player’s view of the green’s false front and snatches low-trajectory shots.

Another such bunker precedes the fairway at the short and fun 359-yard par-4 12th, an ever-so-gentle dogleg right guarded by a narrow creek on its right side.

Klein commented on these hazards that Ross used at different times throughout his impressive career.

“So that’s a different approach to bunkering than what prevailed in the entire post-World War II era. And a lot of these short carry bunkers or intruding lines of play became considered obsolete and they were removed. And I think that that’s a shame. But a lot of those now are being restored. So what you see at Mountain Ridge, for example, is fairway bunkering that comes across partially the line of play and you have to deal with it rather than just play down the middle blindly.”

— Dr. Bradley Klein

One of Prichard’s areas of focus for his work at Mountain Ridge included rebuilding and reshaping the course’s fairway bunkers to sit more perpendicular to the line of play, as Ross intended them to be.

“Very few people understand that the axis of Ross’s bunkering was normally perpendicular. Sometimes they were placed at a slight angle, occasionally you have a linear bunker that ran parallel with the line of play. But normally that was just the kind of a bunker that was almost always placed in a position to catch balls and try to keep them from going off the golf course.”

— Ron Prichard

Prichard noted that Ross intended these bunkers, many of which feature a steep wall of grass on the far side, to prevent players from being able to play to the green.

Notable examples at Mountain Ridge can be found at the first, third, ninth, 15th, and 18th holes.

An Underrated Ross Gem Gets Its Moment

The finishing hole, a beautiful uphill, dogleg-left par 4, is also often played with small planes taking off from the adjacent Essex County Airport. It’s a quaint feature that adds to Mountain Ridge’s endless charm.

“It’s a beautiful piece of land. It’s very ideal, rolling, in terms of the terrain. There isn’t a lot of steepness, but there’s always enough contour under foot. And then the greens really have been much expanded over the years, and are just fantastic.”

— Dr. Bradley Klein

A mix of D.C. drama, accusations of selfishness over LIV returnees, Nelly Korda’s greatness, and a crazy rules story from Asia.

→ Trump’s Latest Golf Course Makeover Is Already Making People Mad
East Potomac Golf Links, one of Washington, D.C.’s most accessible public golf spots, is reportedly getting pulled into a major Trump-backed makeover of federal land around the National Mall. The plan includes a redesigned golf course, landscaping changes, tree clearing, and a broader waterfront overhaul. Predictably, not everyone is thrilled. When you take a beloved public course and start talking about turning it into something bigger, shinier, and more “championship,” people are going to have opinions.

→ DP World Tour Vet Says Let The LIV Guys Back In
Pablo Larrazabal says the DP World Tour should welcome LIV players back, even if it costs some current players starts, money, or status. His argument is pretty simple: better players mean better fields, better sponsors, better venues, and better tournaments. And if that makes life harder for guys already on the tour? Play better.

→ A Guy Got A Mulligan, Almost Won, Then All Hell Broke Loose
This is golf rules chaos at its finest. Inhoi Hur hit one out of bounds, somehow got to play his provisional like the first ball never happened, then nearly shot his way into a playoff the next day. The original dispute got ugly fast while people were searching for the ball, with yelling, accusations, and the whole tournament getting held up.

→ Nelly Korda Is Just Bullying People Now
Nelly Korda won in Mexico by four shots for her third title of the season, which is starting to feel less like a hot streak and more like a hostile takeover. And the crazy thing is she’s not even putting that well.

Cameron Young just made it boring in Miami, a feat that’s not easy to do.

He went wire-to-wire, and nobody – not the Miami humidity, not even Scottie Scheffler – really made him sweat.

Young ultimately went on to win by six strokes, securing the third victory of his career.

More importantly, it was his second win in the last seven weeks, both coming at tough tracks. First, he won The Players at TPC Sawgrass. Now, he’s added the Cadillac Championship at the Blue Monster.

Add in his performance at The Masters, where he went toe-to-toe with Rory for the Green Jacket before his putter failed him, and you’d be forgiven for claiming that Cam Young plays his best golf on the hardest courses.

Because that’s exactly what he does.

In addition to his game, which he has shown the world plenty of over the last two months, Young also demonstrated what golf is really all about.

On the second hole, as he was taking his backswing, the golf ball moved forward almost imperceptibly.

Young immediately called in a rules official and explained that he wasn’t sure whether he had caused the ball to move. His club was moving backward while the ball rolled forward, but because he couldn’t be 100% certain that he hadn’t inadvertently caused it to move, he called a one-stroke penalty on himself.

When you hear people say that “golf is a gentleman’s game,” I believe Cam Young’s actions showed exactly what that means.

Cameron Young called a one-stroke penalty on himself on No. 2 Sunday @Cadillac_Champ after causing his ball to move at address.

He still saved par and maintains a five-shot lead.

📺 PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/WcmHdr7MNF

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 3, 2026

Another solid victory in what has turned into a breakout season for Cameron Young. He is the first player to win at TPC Sawgrass and Doral in the same season since some guy named Tiger Woods did it.

What about everybody else?

Scottie Scheffler birdied three of the last four holes en route to a solo second-place finish. That’s his third runner-up finish in his last three starts, for those keeping track at home.

Ben Griffin, who had a stellar season last year, finished in solo third place.

Si Woo Kim, Sepp Straka, and Adam Scott finished T4 at 11-under.

We’ll see you on Wednesday with our weekly picks for the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow.

Odds for the 2026 Truist Championship

Golfer	Odds
Rory McIlroy	+620
Cameron Young	+890
Xander Schauffele	+1225
Matt Fitzpatrick	+1650
Ludvig Aberg	+1800
Si Woo Kim	+2350
Tommy Fleetwood	+2450
Collin Morikawa	+2700
Patrick Cantlay	+2800
Robert MacIntyre	+2900