From the outside, there was something very funny about two recent Rory Moments, which is a phrase somebody smarter than me should trademark; thereʼs got to be a way to make money from the reliable way he appears out of nowhere, like a grinning whack-a-mole, every time you sense heʼs been quiet just a bit too long. I only need a 50-per cent cut for the idea, and maybe some credit for calling this latest when I wrote before the U.S. Open that “Rory has been WAY too quiet lately, which makes me about 125 per cent certain that something dramatic is going to happen with him soon. The man needs his attention.”

Anyway …

Moment One: On the Tuesday before the U.S. Open, when asked about the two-track system that PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp had teased and was about to unveil a week later, Rory McIlroy opted for a drive-by: “Track two is a glorified Korn Ferry event. Thatʼs what track two is going to be.”

That was the money quote, but it wasnʼt the only quote. He also offered this gem: “You start to realise that the way the tour was before LIV came along was actually pretty good … now that LIV looks like itʼs less of a threat, as I said, the old ways of the PGA Tour werenʼt actually that bad.”

Which sounds a little like saying, “Now that weʼve won the war after a disastrous beginning where the enemy caught us with our pants down, maybe thereʼs no need to have a standing army.”

Thereʼs a third quote we need to highlight, and weʼll come back to it: “I play my schedule, and Iʼll continue to play my schedule, which is getting less and less as the years go on.”

Now, as for the Korn Ferry stuff regarding the second tier, heʼs not wrong, or at least not completely. But the back-biting undertone was shocking, even by the standards of the growing chasm between McIlroy and the tour that he once shielded with his own time and reputation and, yes, pain.

Rolapp would go on to have a quiet chat with him before making his big announcement last Tuesday, and at the press conference, he spoke about their talk and offered his counter.

“I had a chance to speak with Rory today,” he said. “We talked a bit about it, and I think heʼs made some comments publicly since then. But I think the best way to think about what weʼre doing here is that right now we have 47 events on the PGA Tour. Weʼll have 47 events going forward. That current model serves roughly 230 players. Weʼll serve that amount of players, the same … we think weʼve just organised the same tour into a much more interesting and competitive system.”

One of Rolappʼs many talents seems to be getting people on board with his ideas, and it wasnʼt long after his presser on Tuesday before Rory was singing the right tune, albeit in a statement released to the Golf Channel:

“Todayʼs announcement is a positive step for professional golf. As more details emerge, it is encouraging to see the PGA Tour reaffirming the importance of meritocracy and creating a structure that will serve both players and fans well into the future.”

And so the wayward son was brought back into the fold, briefly. But Roryʼs original remarks at Shinnecock Hill were almost jaw-dropping when you consider the timing. Sure, maybe Rolapp already had his votes and wasnʼt exactly scrambling for support—in other words, a few barbed putdowns from McIlroy werenʼt going to scuttle the deal—but I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in PGA Tour HQ when your biggest star comes out a week before a critical announcement to say, basically, “The Challenge events are second-class, things were better before, and also, Iʼll be playing less and less, so that narrative youʼre trying to spread about the best players showing up every week are at least one player short of true.”

Itʼs so undermining! It got some attention (not enough in the midst of a major) and highlighted just how much things have changed for the guy who served as the de facto player spokesman for the PGA Tour during the hottest years of the LIV war. Back then, McIlroy was your top soldier, a living embodiment of the fantasy superhero commissioner Jay Monahan had scripted for Tiger Woods, taking bullet after bullet and suffering for his valour while stars like Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler mostly stayed quiet.

RELATED: 15 things to know about the PGA Tour’s new world order

Now? You canʼt even get the guy to play in all of the signature events. Which brings us to …

Moment Two: Where was McIlroy this week instead of the Travelers? Chumming it up with Nick Faldo at Royal Birkdale, where he seems to be reprising the Augusta tactic of playing a major course early and often to gain an advantage.

Yet again, funny as this is from the outside, it has to be wildly irritating in Ponte Vedra. The words stung more, Iʼm sure, but this was still a direct one-man refutation of the concept of the Championship Series Rolapp outlined, where even outside the majors and the Players, youʼre going to get all the stars in the same spot. A nice idea, but thereʼs Rory wagging his finger, saying, “Not this star.”

Itʼs head-spinning stuff, and itʼs hard not to wonder if thereʼs actual animosity brewing.

It would make sense, considering the fallout from Roryʼs stint as the tourʼs good soldier. In late 2023, after feeling like a “sacrificial lamb” who was blindsided by that summerʼs fake merger (not an unfair assessment, actually), he resigned his spot on the PGA Tourʼs Policy Board. At around the same time, vis-a-vis LIV, he pulled a total about-face—if Roryʼs not pulling an about-face, is he truly Rory?—and became the No. 1 tour-side cheerleader for a merger. Without getting too deep into the mechanisms behind why he changed his mind, in early 2024 he was suddenly saying things like, “Having a diminished PGA Tour and a diminished LIV Tour or anything else is bad for both parties. It would be much better to be together and move forward together for the good of the game.”

It wasnʼt just a tepid mood change, either; McIlroy suddenly seemed very invested. So much so that when Spieth said at Pebble Beach that he didnʼt think a PIF deal was necessary anymore, largely because of the new SSG investment, it irritated Rory to the extent that he quit a group text chain of fellow players and had a long phone call with Spieth. When he spoke to the media afterwards, McIlroy was full of concern with how LIV would react to Spiethʼs words, because the new word buzzing around his brain was “unity.”

“Having PIF as your partner as opposed to not having them as your partner, I donʼt think is an option for the game of golf,” McIlroy said.

Of course, he was dead wrong. It was an option—in fact, it was the best option—and even back then people like Spieth and those in tour leadership were starting to realise it. Itʼs not like they could have predicted the Iran war and the total reversal on investment strategy within Saudi Arabia, but for the first time they started to sense that maybe the “merger” had given them breathing room (especially from legal fees), that maybe time was on their side, and that maybe this thing was winnable.

So yes, Rory had picked the wrong time to change his tune (his timing was impeccably bad throughout the process), and thereʼs also this: A great way to have influence on these things beyond pulling up the soapbox at press conferences is to be—wait for it—on the Policy Board. Which he quit. They even invited him back just a couple of months later so he could use his voice for something other than sniping. But McIlroy said no due to “scar tissue” and things being “pretty complicated and pretty messy,” which is apparently the kind of thing you say when you keep getting outmanoeuvred by a man as disagreeable as Patrick Cantlay.

Then time took its toll on LIV, the Saudis bailed, and now, in the midst of the transformation of the tour, Rory is suddenly pining for the good old days, albeit while skipping three signature events and finding himself on pace to miss the minimum events played requirement of 15.

So, to arrive back at the main question: What does Rory want from the PGA Tour? Does he want them to love him again? Is he bridling at his lack of control? Is he, quite reasonably, annoyed that he went from their poster boy in the hard times to being ignored and left behind when the tides of battle turned? Is there any way to deny that thereʼs some real, lingering bitterness here?

And most pressing of all, whatʼs going to happen when 2028 comes, and the best players in the world have their marching orders to play all (or most) of Rolappʼs new Championship Series? Itʼs clear from Roryʼs own words that heʼs not up for that kind of commitment, and as messy as things have been in the past two years, the biggest confrontation may be yet to come.

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Viktor Hovland’s legs shot up from their crouch, caught between panic that his birdie putt was offline and hope that it wasn’t. The putt ultimately went where it was supposed to go, and when the ball disappeared, those legs chased after with a mean fist pump. Seconds later, after his opponent’s try slid past, Hovland collapsed briefly into his caddie, a hug that said everything about the hours, the struggles and the doubt it took just to get here.

It took 73 holes, five days and a little help from Scottie Scheffler (and Mother Nature), but Hovland is the winner of the 2026 Travelers Championship.

“Oh, yeah, it’s been stressful,” Hovland said on the 18th green Monday morning. “But, yeah, it’s unbelievable. Especially after Scottie hits it so close there. I knew I had to bring in my best to have a chance to beat him, and he’s certainly brought it out of me and couldn’t be happier.”

Three years ago, Hovland was arguably the best player in golf. He was the FedEx Cup winner and the defining force in Europe’s runaway Ryder Cup victory in Rome. The seasons since were something else. He looked lost and, worse, seemed to have no map back, going so far as to withdraw from a signature event because he’d stopped trusting his own contact. There were still weeks of brilliance; a near-miss at the 2024 PGA, another at the 2025 U.S. Open, the 2025 Valspar title, and East Lake both years. Yet, they read more like reminders of what he’d been than signs of what he was becoming. Whatever was happening, it hadn’t been solved.

Look no further than last week at Shinnecock Hills. Few players on tour carry Hovland’s reputation as a range obsessive, yet he missed the cut at the U.S. Open. He came back Saturday anyway, spending hours beating balls and searching for something only he felt was missing.

“He has so much talent. He hits the ball so solidly,” Scheffler said afterwards. “I remember playing with him at Bay Hill a few years ago, and I was just telling him, like, ‘Dude, you just hit the ball like so solid every time. It’s really quite impressive.’ He’s a guy who has a lot of talent and works really hard. So those are the types of guys you like to see have success. I saw him warming up … when I was warming up on Sunday last week, I saw him on the corner of the range hitting balls by himself. So he’s never going to be a guy that’s … if he’s not having success, it’s not because he’s not putting in the work. So when you see a guy like that who practices as hard as he does and works as hard as he does, you’re always glad to see those people have success.”

Hovland was in command for the first three days in Cromwell, Conn., taking a one-shot lead into the final round. But he and Scheffler were stuck in neutral over the first nine holes Sunday. A bogey at the 10th put Hovland two behind Scheffler and ostensibly looking like a bystander. That’s when Hovland received some providence, a storm moving into the area forcing an 80-minute delay. It allowed Hovland to settle down and get right, while icing the rest of the field. In the restart, Hovland made back-to-back birdies to tie things up before trading pars with Scheffler to force a playoff.

On Monday, both men put their approaches within seven feet. Hovland’s putt (6 feet, 7 inches) did what it was supposed to. Scheffler’s (2 feet, 4 inches) didn’t. Sometimes, this stupidly nuanced game is that simple.

The winning putt for Viktor Hovland

His 8th PGA TOUR victory comes in a Monday playoff @TravelersChamp. pic.twitter.com/zOC1v17sjR

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 29, 2026

Which is why Hovland has been working on going easier on himself, accepting that this game drives him nuts, that it drives everyone nuts, and that shared misery is only so comforting. The frustration doesn’t get smaller just because it’s universal. But the other side of that equation is real too. The harder the road, the more a moment like this costs, and the more it pays.

“I think that’s a long ways from there, but yeah, obviously I know how good I can get and I keep pushing myself and I keep wanting to get better and then when I fall short it really pisses me off,” Hovland said, “but I really did a good job of, I didn’t get off to a great start on Thursday and I just kind of didn’t let it bother me as much.”

Even with the early Monday start, the 18th was ringed by a strong crowd, including a Norwegian World Cup contingent that made for good atmosphere and better visuals. More importantly, Hovland’s mother was there, watching him win on tour for the first time. “I thought about that early in the week,” Hovland said. “My dad still hasn’t watched me win, but at least I’m glad my mom got to be here and we got to share this moment together and, yeah, couldn’t be happier.”

One week doesn’t declare anyone back. But he beat the tour’s 70 best players to get here, and the trophy is real. For a man who has spent years in the endless pursuit, the stops along the way matter.

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Seventy-two holes couldn’t decide a winner at the Travelers Championship, Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland tied with matching 21-under 259 totals when sunset arrived Sunday at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn. And so the No. 1- and No. 30-ranked players in the world returned to the course Monday to determine who would take home the $3.6 million first-place prize money payout in the final signature event on the PGA Tour in 2026.

A pop-up thunderstorm with the leaders playing the back nine forced an 83-minute weather delay late Sunday afternoon. And with the PGA Tour already scheduled for a 7 p.m. finish, when Scheffler holed an eight-footer for par on the 18th hole, tournament officials decided to carry sudden death over to Monday at 9 a.m.

It was there that Scheffler and Hovland both hit approach shots inside seven feet on the first extra hole. Hovland played first, rolling in his 6½-foot birdie putt. But Scheffler couldn’t follow suit, missing his 2½-foot try on the left edge.

The winning putt for Viktor Hovland

His 8th PGA TOUR victory comes in a Monday playoff @TravelersChamp. pic.twitter.com/zOC1v17sjR

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 29, 2026

Here’s the purse breakdown in Connecticut

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His eyes dart up and down, tracking the ball flight, while his head swivels from side to side in an attempt to coerce the ball back to his target. DP World Tour star Eugenio Chacarra becomes more watchable with every swashbuckling swing and intense reaction.

There’s a strong chance golf fans will be watching Chacarra’s relentless brand of golf on the PGA Tour next year after the 6-foot-2 Spaniard walloped the field at the Italian Open on Sunday to collect his second DP World Tour title in three weeks.

“Yeah, winning is always great, but that’s what we work for,” Chacarra said after his victory. “I’ve been doing [some] incredible work these last couple of years and I’m very proud of myself.”

Chacarra, whose Arnold Palmer-type swing and aspirational pace of play left commentators in awe, will also be visible at the 154th Open Championship next month given the Italian Open afforded the leading player a spot in the field at Royal Birkdale.

“Yeah, so excited,” Chacarra said. “I’ve never played [the British Open]. I’ve dreamed of playing it, always. I’ve watched Seve [Ballesteros] win British Opens. I’ve watched it on TV since I was little. Excited to be out there. It’s now time to celebrate and then we focus on that.”

A former LIV golfer, Chacarra was cruising on Sunday at the Italian Open, two shots ahead of playing partner, Matt Wallace (67). After five birdies, Chacarra dropped a lengthy eagle putt on the par-5 15th that took his final-round scorecard to seven under par at the Circolo golf course in Turin.

WIN NUMBER THREE FOR EUGENIO CHACARRA #ItalianOpen pic.twitter.com/A5XvGt4TJG

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 28, 2026

Three closing pars gave Chacarra a bogey-free 64, enough for a five-shot victory over Wallace at 24 under. He didn’t shoot worse than 66 all week at the par-71 course. LIV Golf’s Joaquin Niemann (68), also in the final trio, finished third at 18 under.

“Obviously, [64] is a great round of golf,” Chacarra said. “Not just this round, but all week. And I think it’s [now] 20 rounds in a row under par. I’ve been playing solid golf. I’ve done an incredible job with my caddie staying patient. I’m enjoying golf.”

Wallace chipped in for eagle at the par-5 first and when the Englishman birdied the fourth, he drew level with Chacarra. But from the fifth, Wallace was unable to avoid errors like Chacarra, mixing three bogeys—including at 17 and 18—with four birdies.

“I think it was a good fight; two world-class players, probably two of the best players in the world,” Chacarra said. “That’s what I was dreaming since I was little, to play against those kinds of players down the stretch. I’ve very proud how I played and how I managed myself today.”

Having won the KLM Open in the Netherlands earlier this month, Chacarra took a step closer to achieving his lifelong dream of playing on the PGA Tour when he catapulted to third on the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings. His current position, though, is essentially second place once PGA Tour member Rory McIlroy’s name is removed from the list. The top 10 points earners at the end of the DP World Tour season earn cards on the PGA Tour for 2027. Chacarra now has 2,107 points. For comparison, the 10th finisher on last season’s Race to Dubai final standings earned 2,203 points.

WHAT AN EAGLE FROM THE LEADER

Eugenio Chacarra makes eagle at the 14th to move to -24.#ItalianOpen pic.twitter.com/NkGAuxkvlJ

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 28, 2026

Chacarra, now 26, was once a standout at Oklahoma State University. He was the No. 2-ranked amateur in the world when he turned professional and joined LIV Golf in 2022. He quickly won a LIV event and an International Series tournament on the Asian Tour in 2023.

But at the end of the 2024 season, Chacarra was not re-signed by Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs team and decided to leave the league and play on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour. At the time, Chacarra was outspoken about LIV Golf. In a January 2025 interview with Flushing It Golf, Chacarra said: “I see what it’s like to win on the PGA Tour and how your life changes. How you get major access and ranking points. On LIV, nothing changes, there is only money.”

After serving a one-year suspension from the PGA Tour for most of 2025, Chacarra received a sponsor invitation to the Puerto Rico Open this year and he tied for 21st place.

Chacarra will likely next tee up at the Scottish Open next month, which is co-sanctioned by the PGA and DP World tours. The following week he will play in the British Open.

“I’ve proved myself already,” Chacarra said Sunday in Italy. “When I was an amateur I was one of the best in America and I want to be one of the best players in professional golf.”

He’s already one of the most exciting.

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Jim McLean is one of Golf Digest’s Legends of Golf Instruction. The South Florida staple was named to the inaugural list two years ago, joining 21 other instructors who had dominated the teacher rankings for decades.

On Saturday, McLean sent a social media post saying that he had a health scare late last month which saw him spend some time in the hospital.

“I arrived in an ambulance on May 26. I was pronounced dead twice—from diverticulitis—where the colon is punctured. I had my phone off for over 3 weeks—then I answered a few texts,” he wrote.

McLean, 76, went on to explain how family and friends came to visit, including his two sons and his brother. He said that his wife, Amparo, has been his “rock” and has never left his bedside. Thankfully, however, he seems to be on the mend.

“I’m working on getting back to full health,” McLean wrote. “I’ll be transferring to PT hospital by the end of next week. Thanks to all of you for the positive notes.”

McLean has coached many big names in golf over the years, including major champions like Cristie Kerr, Gary Woodland, Curtis Strange, Keegan Bradley and Lexi Thompson. He was inducted into the PGA of America Hall of Fame in 2025.

In the early 1990s, McLean became the director of golf at Doral and established the Jim McLean Golf School there in 1993. In 2017, he relocated his school 10 miles down the road to the Miami Biltmore Hotel.

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Phil Mickelson will miss all four majors for the first time in his professional career.

Mickelson’s name is no longer listed in the Open Championship’s field on the tournament’s website, instead moving to the non-playing portion of exempt players. Mickelson captured the claret jug in 2013 at Muirfield, and past champions are allowed to compete until 60 years old.

Mickelson’s only competitive appearance of the year came in mid-March at LIV Golf’s South Africa event, where he tied for 48th. Ahead of the LIV Golf season opener in Saudi Arabia, Mickelson posted on social media he would not be able to play in LIV’s first two events because he and wife Amy needed to be present for a family health matter. He missed the Masters in April for the same reason, saying he would be “out for an extended period of time.” He withdrew from the PGA Championship and wasn’t extended a special invitation for the U.S. Open.

Earlier this month, Golf Digest reported that Mickelson is no longer a member of his hometown club, the Farms outside San Diego, after a female club employee accused the six-time major champion of making nonconsensual, inappropriate contact with her before a round of golf. Mickelson declined invitations to comment directly on the allegations, but a spokesperson for the golfer offered the following statement to Golf Digest: “Any misunderstanding has been cleared up. Phil continues to attend to a family health matter and is uncertain when he will be able to return to professional golf.” Mickelson’s defamation lawyer Tom Clare also told Golf Digest, “There is a great deal of misinformation circulating and, while Phil’s full attention is devoted to a private family health matter, he has retained defamation counsel and is determined to hold accountable any publication or individual trafficking in speculation or false rumours.”

This will be the first time Mickelson has missed the Open since 2009, when he pulled out of the event to be with Amy during cancer treatments. Tiger Woods, Zach Johnson and Ernie Els are other past champions not in the field at Royal Birkdale. Earlier this weekend Dustin Johnson pulled out of Open local qualifying. The Open begins July 16. Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion.

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When the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was last played at Hazeltine National in 2019, Hannah Green took home a first-place prize money payout of $577,500 from an overall purse of $3.85 million.

On Monday, officials with KPMG, the PGA of America and LPGA proudly announced this week’s purse for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship would be $13 million, more than triple Hazeltine’s previous amount and the highest for any women’s major in history. South Korea’s Haeran Ryu, after sitting 10 shots back through the opening 18 holes before changing putters, came out on top by three shots and earned $1.95 million for her first career major title.

“When this came across my desk with the option of what we wanted this to look like, it was such an easy decision to lean into a record-breaking purse,” Tim Walsh, the KPMG U.S. chair and CEO, told Golf Digest. “We’re so supportive if this event. We’re so proud of our association with this event and all that comes from it. We’ve been doing the sponsorship for 12 years. When we started, the purse was $2 million, now $13 million. That’s almost a 500 per cent increase in supporting that purse which supports these incredible female athletes. I’m so proud to do that in partnership with PGA of America and the LPGA Tour.”

RELATED: Rain delays, Nelly’s major streak ends and a rising star caps a historic comeback

The amount jumps past the previous mark of $12.5 million which the USGA offered last month at the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club.

As Walsh alluded to, the championship has seen an impressive increase in prize money over the last decade-plus:

YEAR: PURSE, WINNER’S CHECK
2014: $2.25 million, $337.500
2015: $3.5 million, $525,000
2018: $3.65 million, $547,500
2019: $3.85 million, $577,500
2020: $4.3 million, $645,000
2021: $4.5 million, $675,000
2022: $9 million, $1.35 million
2023: $10 million, $1.5 million
2024: $10.4 million, $1.56 million
2025: $12 million, $1.8 million

The PGA of America announced on the weekend the specific prize money payouts for each golfer. Come back at the end of the tournament and we’ll update these with names and paydays.

Prize money payouts at Hazeltine National

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Haeran Ryu was so far back after Thursday’s first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship—10 shots with an opening 73—that she changed her putter in the middle of a major.

Then, she made history.

The 25-year-old South Korean thrived with her new (old) flat stick, methodically working her way back into contention on Friday (64) and Saturday (68) at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. Come Sunday, she was pumping her fist a plenty, one of four different leaders on a day that started ominously for the entire field.

By late afternoon Ryu took the lead for good on the back nine. And after holing a one-footer for par and a two-shot victory on the 18th hole, she rejoiced with a smile and a laugh. A two-under-par 70 gave her a 13-under 275 total and left her the second player in women’s golf to rally from 10 or more shots back after 18 holes to win a major (and the first since 1964).

“It feels like a dream, and I cannot trust it right now. It felt like a dream and that’s why I laughed a lot on the last hole,” Ryu said. “And then a lot of players waiting for me next to the green and I saw the Amy [Yang] is there, so she’s like, ‘Let’s go, Haeran, with the two bottles of champagne.”

A Major Championship moment for Haeran Ryu.#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/CGXZz4T1Lt

— KPMG Women's PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 28, 2026

After that first round, the 12th-ranked player in the world surely couldn’t have imagined hoisting the trophy and being doused with champagne; her win probability was just .2 percent. And, surely, she wasn’t aware of what Carol Mann did at the 1964 Women’s Western Open. Mann started that major with an 83 in the first round at Scenic Hills C.C. in Pensacola, Fla., 10 back of Ruth Jessen, only to go on and beat Jessen after 72 holes by … wait for it … two shots.

But Ryu, putting in a Scotty Cameron putter she had used when finishing second in the LPGA’s Cincinnati stop, shot the low round of the day Friday and then tied for the low round of the day. She led by one shot heading into the final round, the third time she led a major after 54 holes.

RELATED: Here’s the record prize money payout for each golfer at the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

Sunday didn’t get off to a good start for anybody, a 3½-hour delay from a storm requiring everybody to bring a little extra patience with them. With three holes left, Ryu led by three shots, easing to her fourth career LPGA title, with victory in each of her first four seasons on the LPGA Tour. The last player to accomplish that was Jin Young Ko from 2017-2020.

The victory came with an impressive payday, as the 2023 LPGA Rookie of the Year grabbed $1.95 million from the $13 million purse, an all-time LPGA record.

History made by Ryu meant history denied for World No. 1 Nelly Korda. Seeking a third straight major win after having won the Chevron Championship in April and U.S. Women’s Open last month, Korda’s putter had other ideas on Saturday, leaving her four off the lead with 18 holes to play. It continued early Sunday, a missed six-foot putt on the first hole dropping her six back. While the 27-year-old American star battled to pull within two shots on the back nine, she couldn’t get closer, shooting a closing two-over 73 and finishing seven back of Ryu in a tie for eighth. The LPGA Hall of Fame, which she would’ve gotten earned a place in with a victory, will have to wait.

“You guys made that such a big thing. I didn’t think about that, no,” Korda said of winning three straight majors. “I was kind of disappointed in the way that I played this week, not that I came up short, really. I was just thinking about the way that I played, not like the realistic big picture that everyone is talking about.”

Andrew Wevers

While Korda was the player many hoped would be victorious Sunday, she was not among the four who held the lead at one point during the final round. Ina Yoon shot a scorching nine-under 63 in the first round, which was the lowest round in the history of the Women’s PGA Championship. Her three-over 75 in the third round took her out of the lead but she still had a strong showing in the final round with a two-under 70 and finished the tournament at 11 under in solo second.

Then there was Dewi Weber, a 30-year-old from the Netherlands who was playing in just her third major championship of her career. Her best previous major finish was a T-30 at the 2025 Chevron Championship. When she eagled No. 7 she held the solo lead, but bogeyed the next two holes. Still, she stuck around despite being the 210th ranked player in the world and having earned less than $740,000 in her career, all that and more ($752,090) by finishing T-3. She’s the first Dutch women’s golfer to finish top 10 in a major, and she will become a mom this year with her wife expecting their first child.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson was also in the mix before finishing tied for third. She had a heartwarming storyline going all week as she became an aunt to a girl named Sahalee earlier in the week. Her sister Brittany—her longtime caddie—named the baby after the place where Brooke won her first major, the 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA. Henderson hung in there with Ryu. After Ryu made a 15-foot birdie and pumped her fist on No. 10 to go up by two, Henderson, playing with Ryu in the final group, made a 10-foot birdie to stay within one. But Henderson bogeyed the 14th and that was the difference as Ryu didn’t make any mistakes down the stretch.

Kate McShane

Ryu’s performance was made even more impressive by the fact that she was coming off recent surgery that caused her to miss six weeks of competition, including the U.S. Women’s Open. (She declined to say what the surgery was for.) Before that, she had finished second at the Kroger Queen City Championship in May, one of six top-10s this season.

Perhaps, the rest was a good thing, and she got to hang out with her mom in Korea. Her mom was there Sunday to watch her daughter win her first major.

“On the first round I just thought, ‘this is the comeback tournament so I just want to play on the weekend,” Ryu said. “But in the second round, it was amazing play because I had eight birdies and then I was bogey-free round. It just feels like a dream right now.”

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For the second straight week the crowd was the story, but if those at Shinnecock were the bane of golf’s existence for their treatment of the eventual national champion, those who stayed through a downpour and hour-long weather delay at River Highlands this Sunday evening were the best of what sport can be. Big in number, louder in voice, full of character—highlighted by a Norwegian World Cup contingent—without the type of ugly colour that can leave a permanent stain. A gallery whose presence alone made what was on the line feel earned.

And we lead with the crowd because there is no champion after 72 holes. Scottie Scheffler made the par putt he had to make, threw a fist pump that said more than he intended, and sent the Travelers Championship to a Monday morning sudden death against Viktor Hovland.

“It’s nice to be able to hole those putts, keep myself in the tournament,” Scheffler said. “It’s more fun when you’re making the ones to win, but to keep yourself in it is also nice. I live another day until tomorrow, and will be coming out in the morning and see what I can do.”

This was supposed to be a two-man race. Scheffler and Hovland entered the final round well clear of the field, and for a while it played like a standoff — both stuck in neutral through the front nine, the door cracking open for the rest of the field. Collin Morikawa walked through it, posting a 61 to reach 20 under. Then a storm rolled through Cromwell, pulling Scheffler and Hovland off the course at the 14th fairway for more than an hour. When they returned, Hovland birdied 15 and 16 to tie at 21 under. The door closed.

They traded pars on 16 and 17, Scheffler’s birdie attempt on the 71st hole catching the lip and spinning out. Both reached the 18th green with a chance to end it. Scheffler ran his five feet past. Hovland came up short.

The noise about Scheffler’s slump has been loud and mostly wrong. He is still the best player in the world. What he has not done lately is close, and that, however narrow the distinction, is the thing that matters in sudden death. There was a little fire behind that fist pump on 18, something with more voltage than a par save usually generates. He felt it. The crowd felt it. Make of that what you will.

Monday morning offers a rare, sudden death between two players who matter. Scheffler is chasing a level of dominance the sport hasn’t seen in 20 years, a standard so high that anything short of a major feels, to outside observers, like failure, which is its own endorsement. Hovland is chasing something more basic. He was a top-five player in the world not long ago, the type of talent that made you wonder, genuinely, where the ceiling was. Then he lost it, gone in the wilderness, a place where you never know if someone’s returning. Sunday was the closest he’s looked. Monday is a chance to confirm it. “Man, I played a lot of great golf this week, so I’m feeling pretty good,” Hovland said. “Obviously, I would have liked to have gotten it done in regulation, but to have a chance again tomorrow to win, feeling pretty good about that. So try to get a good night’s sleep and be fresh.”

And before the night closes, a quick nod that this is what the Travelers does. Every year it produces. The players love it, the fans fill it, it keeps finding a way to entertain. Sunday was no different. The rain came, the crowd stayed, and the golf refused to resolve itself into anything neat. The only difference is we get one more day of it.

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Ben James is one of the most promising college golfers since Tiger Woods. But he missed crossing paths with the 15-time major champion on Tuesday for a hilarious—but understandable—reason.

James recently turned pro after graduating from the University of Virginia, where he won seven times and became the first player in a quarter century to earn First Team All-America honours for all four years in school. In his pro debut at the RBC Canadian Open earlier this month, he held the 36-hole lead and he finished T-23 at the U.S. Open last week.

So, the dude is a total stud. Which is why the Travelers Championship extended a sponsor invitation to him this week for this PGA Tour signature event. Well, that and the fact that he also happens to have grown up in nearby Milford, Conn.

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That plays a key role in this story, because James is getting to sleep in his own bed this week. And apparently, he’s still got the sleep habits of a college kid because here’s what he said when he was asked about whether he saw Tiger Woods, who was on hand at TPC River Highlands for the big PGA Tour announcements.

“I was sleeping in my bed in Milford,” James replied. “I wasn’t here.”

Amazing. Maybe next time, Ben. It should be pointed out that Tiger wasn’t exactly there at the crack of dawn, either. He was on hand for Brian Rolapp’s session with the media that ran from 10 a.m. to about 11 a.m.

It should also be pointed out that James didn’t do his Q&A until noon. Smart move by tournament officials. Although, he’s got a 9:05 a.m. tee time on Thursday. Better set a couple alarms, Ben.

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