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The world’s top-ranked player was grinding all week and made a grip change on the advice of her sister, Jessica, after the first day. She’s used powerful affirmations on Post-it notes to fuel her incredible season, which is why she shook off those mid-round negative thoughts. After a birdie at 17, Korda walked up the iconic 18th fairway that leads to Riviera Country Club’s iconic amphitheater scene, needing only a par to win.

Her approach shot was to 35 feet, and her lag putt gave her a three-foot putt to win. As she would later say with a laugh, it went into ice cream-swirl mode, catching the lip before dropping in for her fourth major victory.

After nearly missing the winning putt, Korda’s face looked like the shocked emoji. She covered her mouth with her hand in disbelief, then raised both arms.

Korda shot a two-under 69 on Sunday to win her first U.S. Women’s Open at eight under, beating Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez by one shot. Had Korda missed her putt, there would be at least a two-hole playoff among the three women.

Korda continues her run at history. At 27, she is the youngest American to win four majors since Mickey Wright in 1960. She also is the first woman since Inbee Park in 2013 to capture two majors in a season following her victory in April’s Chevron Championship. She earned two more points in her bid for the LPGA Hall of Fame and needs only two more point to reach 20 ad clinch that honuor.

She needs to win a major overseas—the Amundi Evian Championship or the AIG Women’s Open—to complete the career Grand Slam, which is four of the five majors on the LPGA Tour.

Asked how the victory will define her legacy, Korda said, “I’ve never really thought about the legacy of my career, if I’m being completely honest. I just really love competing and I love being in this position, sometimes having a big lead going into Sunday and or being tied for the lead and having to absolutely grind it out.

“I didn’t feel my best on the back nine. I had a lot of emotions kind of swirling in my stomach. I would say it’s just a dream come true. I have dreamt about this moment since I was a little girl. I watched my sister compete in the Women’s Open from a really young age. I mean, she started at the age of 15. It’s honestly just a dream come true sitting next to this trophy.”

After she signed her scorecard, Korda walked out of the clubhouse wiping tears from her eyes. She cried through speech during the 18th green ceremony. And her caddie, Jason McDede, held back tears as well.

“It’s the biggest tournament in golf, so to win it and come close last year,” McDede said. “We’ve had some interesting U.S. Opens the last nine years. We’ve made 10s, we’ve missed cuts, we’ve been through every possible situation I feel like. Obviously, as an American player this is the one you want to win. As an American caddie, this is the one you want to win, too.”

Last year, Korda finished in a tie for second at Erin Hills. This year, she shot 73-67-67-69–281 to clinch the tournament she dreamed about winning while growing up playing golf with her older sister, Jessica.

It was her sister who sat next to her stall on the driving range on Thursday after an opening two-over 73 and offered advice to tweak her grip. Jessica knows Nelly’s swing as well as anybody, so her sister went with it. Nelly gave her credit every round after that. Korda was seven shots off the lead after the first round and rallied back to win with that grip change.

“We’re very much involved in each other’s business when it comes to that. I just couldn’t believe she trusted it,” Jessica Korda said. “I was very nervous. I didn’t sleep very much [Thursday night]. I don’t know how coaches do it. … Every day just going back and being like, ‘do it a little more.’ And her kind of arguing back with me that it doesn’t feel good. That’s fine, just keep trying. The way she can execute on the golf course is unbelievable. She’s unbelievable.”

Korda shared the co-lead of the tournament after 54 holes. There was a bunch of movement at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday, especially because there were 13 players four shots or closer to the lead. Hull made an early charge before ending up with a 67, and Lopez rallied late and scored 68.

Korda was in a four-way tie for the lead at the turn as well. But by the time she got to the par-5 17th tee, she looked at the leaderboard and knew she had to break out of the pack with a birdie. It was on the penultimate hole that she chipped her third shot to nine feet and made the birdie putt. From there, she needed a par on 18 to win, but after a 288-yard drive, she left her approach 34 feet from the cup.

“I was, like, ‘Why did I leave myself such a long putt? It was a left-to-righter, the wind off of my left,” Korda said. “I knew that I didn’t want to miss it right, so I like maybe had aimed a little bit too far left and pulled it. I mean, your heart rate is going. I wish I had my WHOOP to showcase my heart rate because it was definitely high.”

Korda won $2.5 million of the $12.5 million purse. She already has an extraordinary resume’, and she’s still got plenty of career left. Her place in women’s golf—and American female athletes—is arguably right there at the top.

On Sunday, she got congratulations on Instagram from LeBron James, and she told Golf Channel that Tiger Woods texted to close out her 54-hole lead.

Korda is on a heater this season, having won four times in eight starts with three runner-up finishes. She’s won 19 LPGA titles over, and now the trophy she most dreamed of is in her hands.

“That 14-year-old girl that stepped on the range at Sebonack in 2013, her dream has just come true sitting next to this trophy right now,” Korda said. “It’s really hard to put into words. This week was definitely a grind. I don’t even feel like I had my B-game. I was just grinding out there. And that’s what I guess major championships are all about, right? It doesn’t matter if you have your B or C game, you have to be there mentally.”

It came with a grip change, the shelving doubts and her own successful pep talks.

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In that vein, she started using Post-it notes with positive affirmations and put them on her bathroom mirror. She didn’t divulge any of them or what she might write for Sunday’s final round of the U.S. Women’s Open, but the message could be a career-defining one.

Korda finished with three consecutive birdies for a four-under 67 to move into a share of the lead Saturday at six under at Riviera Country Club. She’s the biggest name on the leaderboard, but there’s plenty of them up there. She’s tied at the top with 13-time LPGA winner and past major champion Sei Young Kim.

“I started at the beginning of the year writing positive notes to myself in my bathroom, and I’ve seen a bunch of athletes do that,” Korda said. “So other athletes inspire me, too. I started doing that and it’s a great reminder, and I do it occasionally here and there. I travel with Post-it notes and I stick them on to the mirror when I get ready and I write myself a positive note and that’s my thought for the week.”

The 27-year-old Korda has been in a good place all season, having won three times—including her third major at the Chevron Championship—and finishing in the top 10 in all seven of her events. She’s on pace to make it all eight. Korda, who was two shots off the lead after a terrific 67 on Friday, following a frustrating opening-round 73. After that round, her sister Jessica helped her tweak something with her grip on the driving range, and Korda has been on fire since.

Korda has a chance to make history. If she wins her first U.S. Women’s Open, she’ll be the youngest American player to reach four major wins since a 25-year-old Mickey Wright did it in 1960. Korda also would be three-quarters of her way to becoming only the eighth player to capture the career Grand Slam.

Korda will also be in fine company in the final pairing with co-leader Kim, also a major winner. The South Korean shot a three-under 68 Saturday. The 33-year-old Kim won the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and can draw on that experience.

“I have to focus on the course,” Kim said. “This course you really need patience and just focus on one shot at a time. It’s boring, but I have to do it.”

There are 13 players four shots or closer to the lead, and so many have majors under their belts. It’s a dream leaderboard for the USGA that also includes In Gee Chun and Jennifer Kupcho, who are one shot back of Korda and Kim.

Chun, who shot a two-under 69 Sunday, has won three majors, and it’s something she takes great pride in. Like so many major winners, it’s experience that can pay dividends in a showdown of so many of the world’s best players.

Kupcho seems to have unlocked something special at Riviera, and part of that is because she finally listened to her parents. Kupcho, who was the Chevron Championship the last time it was played in Mission Hills, said this week that they’d been trying to get her to prepare for U.S. Opens by playing the course ahead of time. She didn’t do that until this week and now she’s in contention and said she loves Riviera.

Her parents usually come to the U.S. Women’s Open but hadn’t this year. They surprised her on Saturday with their presence and got to see her shoot a two-under 69 with a chance to win Sunday. She’s carrying a sizzling putter and has gained 1.93 strokes on the field, ranking second.

“They didn’t want to just show up on the first tee, so that was nice of them,” Kupcho said. “They called me this morning and they’re like, ‘oh, you look really close to us.’ I was like, ‘what are you saying?’ And they’re like ‘we’re in Santa Monica.’ So that was pretty cool. Pretty cool to have them here.”

Mexican native Gaby Lopez is in a three-way tie for fifth along with Nasa Hataoka and Ruoning Yin at two shots off the lead. Lopez opened with a first-round 68 and has played solid, consistent golf all week. She’s made a habit to always meet and talk with golf course staff at every tournament she goes to and no doubt her gallery will have the grounds crew and other Riviera workers in it.

Alison Lee, who grew up in nearby Valencia and played at UCLA, hung in there without her best stuff on Saturday. Lee, who has 1-year-old son Levi with her this week, was tied for the lead after 36 holes but a one-over 72 Saturday has her three shots off the lead. The 31-year-old Lee is still searching for her first major.

“It hurts a little bit being in the final group and not being able to play as well as I wanted to,” Lee said. “I really felt like I was just scratching at the wall all day. Didn’t feel like I had my A-game out there, but I made a lot of really good par putts to keep me in it.

“Looking back on my round, one over, I feel like it could have been way higher than that. Going to just try and take positives from that. I love chasing, and so it’ll be fun tomorrow to try and just play really aggressively and try and chase the leaders.”

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She also had yet to win on the LPGA Tour in a decade after creating huge expectations as a former World Amateur No. 1 and star at UCLA.

Now, the 31-year-old Lee is back on the LPGA Tour, while having a desire to have more kids, and if another child comes along, she’s not sure if she’ll continue as a playing pro. But to get that one professional win—well, it would be the culmination of her sporting dreams.

So, the clock ticks, and the balance of Lee’s life becomes all the more obvious when she has a chance for that breakthrough win. That it could happen in a major, ust miles from her hometown, at the city’s most storied course, Riviera Country Club, would probably clear up a lot of questions in her head.

With a three-under-par 68 in the second round on Friday, Lee climbed to the top of the leaderboard of the 81st U.S. Women’s Open and is tied at four under with Ruoning Yin. Both golfers arguably played in tougher afternoon conditions when the breeze picked up, and Riviera is showing its teeth. They were two of only nine players to have a score in the 60s.

In her post-round press conference, many of the questions were about how Lee is managing tour life now with Levi, who was with Lee’s partner, Trey Kidd, when she came up the steps up to the clubhouse. Alison then took over and carried him into the scoring room.

Some of the queries became Lee talking about her future.

“If I were to have another baby, I think it would be 10 times more difficult to try and come back and play,” she said. “So I’ve really told myself, like, ‘Hey, this next year, 2026-2027, I’m just going to do everything I can to play the best golf I can and say that I have no regrets.

“So that’s kind of like a comforting feeling, but also putting a little bit of pressure on myself. But I feel like I’m in a good head space now because I’ve truly accepted that.”

The U.S. Women’s Open is only Lee’s fifth start of the LPGA season because she delayed her return until April’s JM Eagle LA Championship, where she did well out of the gate with a T-13. Even more impressive was her showing in the Mizuho Americas Open, where she had a T-3 in major-like conditions.

“The last couple months I feel like I’ve been playing really solid,” Lee said. “I feel like my game’s in a really good spot, and I feel like on courses like this, you can really take advantage of that because not everyone’s making a ton of birdies out there. You just have to play really smart and be really patient.”

After having the baby last year, Lee made a return in September and missed the cut in two of the three events she played. But in the weather-troubled Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, she moved into the lead during the second round, only to have the LPGA cancel the tournament. The results reverted back to the first round, with money, but not points awarded.

“I was devastated. I was, like, this could have been my week, you know,” she said.

There have been numerous painful close calls, and it seems like the better Lee played, the more heartbroken she was when a victory didn’t come. Among her four career runner-up finishes, three came consecutively in 2023.

“Yeah, it’s been tough,” Lee said. “I feel like I’ve definitely underachieved what I could have done out here on tour. It’s definitely been really frustrating. I’m at a point now where I’ve truly accepted it, but like I said, that’s part of why I want to come back and play.”

Lee had to dig deep in her desire to come back. Early on in motherhood, she admitted feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, and going through periods of tears. She leaned on some friends in golf, including Juli Inkster, who is the last mother to win a major.

“You know Juli,” Lee recalled with a smile. “She’s, like, ‘You got it. You’re good at this. You can do it.’ It’s just cool to see how nonchalant she is about it because that just shows you how good she is. Hopefully I can follow in their footsteps.”

Like any working mom, Lee has had to balance her home and outside duties. She and Trey live in Las Vegas, and Lee said her routine has been to get up at 6; work out with her trainer for an hour; go home to take care of Levi until his nap time; go the course to hit balls and maybe sneak in a few holes over four or five hours; and then return home before Levi’s bedtime. Then, of course, there are clothes to clean and bottles to wash.

“I clean the house a million times,” she said, “and it still looks like a tornado went through. I think I just have to accept my house is a mess and I can’t ever have people over.”

The rebuilding of her golf game took time, and Lee said she got panicked when her ball speed was way down in the month before her season debut in L.A.

She’s obviously feeling strong now. Her ball striking was superb in the second round, and she ranked No. 1 in the field in strokes gained/tee-to-green, picking up nearly 3½ shots. She gained another 2.68 shots on everybody in putting, which ranked eighth.

Lee grew up 30 miles from Riviera in Valencia and went to the same high school as the PGA Tour’s Max Homa. Between her friends and family connections there, and her ties with UCLA, it would figure she’d have a large following on Saturday afternoon when she tees off.

After her Friday round, Lee was interviewed by on-course reporter Kay Cockerill, who also is a UCLA alum. The two briefly worked together early in the season when Lee tried her hands at doing some broadcasting work in the booth. With as comfortable as Lee seems in talking to the media, she would seem to have a bright future in front of a camera.

Cockerill asked her if she dared to dream about winning the U.S. Open, and Lee didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, of course,” she said. “I’m still seeking my first tour win, and to do it in my backyard would be cool.”

Actually, cool would only begin to describe it.

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Korda shot a four-under 67 in the second round at Riviera Country Club and she’s tied for ninth, just two shots behind co-leaders Alison Lee and Ruoning Yin

Jessica Korda, who is pregnant with her second child, was following her younger sister in her gallery at Riviera. They both were pleased with the results of their range session, and Jessica was with Nelly late on the range Friday as well.

“Actually, a big shout out to my sister because she helped me. I just tried to strengthen my grip a little bit,” Nelly Korda said of the reason behind her improvement. “I just keep laying it off at the top, and I’ve been working on it, gosh, grinding on it for five weeks, and I can’t get it. I don’t know what I’m doing in my swing, so I just try to strengthen my grip. It felt super funky today, but I just trusted and went with it.”

Not only did the change work, it propelled Korda to the lowest round of the day. One day earlier, Korda struggled off the tee, switched out her LeBron James-gifted shoes mid-round and was bewildered after her practice rounds Monday through Wednesday went so well. She shot a two-over 73. A day later, Korda was back to playing like the best player in the world. Part of that was her mindset as well.

“Just tried to have a really easygoing attitude [Friday],” Korda said. “I was definitely going to leave it all out there and grind as much as I could, but I was not going to emphasize on my mistakes too much and just kind of play relaxed golf. That’s kind of when I play my best golf.”

Now, the question is if Korda can continue this trend to close out this major. Last year, she had her best-ever U.S. Women’s Open finish by tying for second at Erin Hills. She played well in the Sunday final round but not enough to overcome Maja Stark.

Korda has won three career majors—including the Chevron Championship in April—but she’s never won this one. The 27-year-old has three wins this year and has finished in the top 10 in all seven of her events. She’s in that kind of a zone.

Her putting was excellent as well. Korda needed just 25 putts in her round and her strokes gained on the greens was 2.22. She was most happy with her ball-striking, but her solid putting can’t be ignored. To win a U.S. Women’s Open, a player has to make all those four to six-foot putts, too.

“My putting? Very happy with it. Made some solid par putts or even bogey putts [Thursday] that kept me in it,” Korda said. “Overall, just really happy with the way my game is trending, especially from [Thursday.]”

If she wins, she might have to credit her sister in her victory speech.

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“I think they were just checking my temperature that I wasn’t steaming,” Scott recalled. “I didn’t reply.”

Which probably said plenty about how the amiable Australian veteran felt about the conditions in the final round last June when the USGA opted to splash on at Oakmont after another deluge of rain caused a 90-minute suspension and left the storied course on the edge of unplayable. It also undoubtedly was an indication that USGA officials knew deep down they erred in finishing even as rain continued to fall.

Scott said Thursday at Muirfield Village Golf Club that he wished he would have insisted on halting play or consulted with playing partner Sam Burns and simply put their collective feet down and stopped rather than continue in the sloppy conditions. Scott was in the day’s final pairing with Burns, who was one stroke in front of Scott and eventual winner J.J. Spaun.

“I feel in the moment I was like, ‘I’m not going to be the guy complaining.’ But looking back on it, of course, I think I should have,” Scott, 45, said after opening with an even-par 72 in the Memorial Tournament. “Maybe not complain but spoken up after my shot at 11.”

With his club hydroplaning through casual water, Scott hit a wedge that flew 170 yards, landing over the green, and he went on to make a double bogey. He struggled to a nine-over 79 and ended up tied for 12th at six-over 286, seven strokes behind Spaun, the only player to finish under par at 279. Only one player shot a higher score than Scott, who was seven over par for his remaining 11 holes after the weather delay.

Burns, meanwhile, shot 78 and tied for seventh at four-over 284. He played the last 11 holes in six over par. Playing a few groups ahead, Spaun closed with a 72 that included a remarkable 45-foot birdie putt on the final hole to win by two over Robert MacIntyre.

In the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews, Brooks Koepka refused to continue as he watched his ball on the 11th green moving amid winds gusting to 40 miles per hour. Eventually, after Koepka argued with a rules official for five minutes, play was suspended.

Winner of the 2013 Masters, Scott will be competing in two weeks at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, N.Y., for his 100th consecutive start in a major championship, joining Jack Nicklaus as the only players to appear in at least 100 majors in a row.

“It wasn’t great,” Scott said of how challenging the difficult Oakmont layout, one of the most challenging in the U.S. Open rotation, became after the already soaked course near Pittsburgh sustained another deluge. “Obviously, it was great for J.J. in the end, but everybody else probably feels like it wasn’t a great finish.

“I was trying to think in my head, there’s no one else dealing with this? There’s a ton of other groups on the course. Is everyone OK? I mean, I was kind of thinking someone might speak up, but I wish it was me now looking back on it. Yeah. I mean, Sam did and didn’t get him very far, actually.”

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After playing her opening six holes while starting on Riviera’s back nine, Korda changed shoes on the 16th tee box. This move was made even more noteworthy, however, by what shoes she took off.

The day before, Korda shared on Instagram that she’d received a pair of custom LeBrons. The three-time major champ thanked the four-time NBA MVP and vowed to wear them for the first round. But she wound up going back to her old Nikes after playing the first six holes in one over par.

https://x.com/Sean_Zak/status/206256833297773792twitter

Golf Channel reported that Korda’s caddie asked her trainer to get a different pair of shoes while she was on the 14th hole and she got them a couple holes later. Apparently, the LeBrons, although sharp-looking, were “a little too loose.”

While on hole 16, Nelly Korda switched out her shoes for a different pair from the locker room.@TheAmyRogers reports with more details from Riviera pic.twitter.com/YMZU0zuOc5

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 4, 2026

She played the next 12 holes in one over as well to finish with an opening 73 that has her six shots off Sei Young Kim’s early lead.

“I felt like I had a little too much room,” Korda said after the round. “It’s honestly kind of, I’ve run into this issue. I had that with the Jordans, too. Sometimes when I wear a different color, they just are made a little different, just the spacing is a little different. It’s the exact same shoe. I just wanted to wear these.”

She was asked if the shoes made a difference in her play.

“No, apparently not,” she said with laughter. “I just felt more comfortable in these, yeah.”

Anyway, Nelly, if you’re not going to wear those LeBrons, what size are they? Asking for a friend …

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But since the U.S. Women’s Open is at Riviera Country Club this year and the LPGA Tour’s JM Eagle LA Championship in April wasn’t far from here, Kupcho changed her pre-major plans. She played Riviera before the JM Eagle with friends who are members here. They’re the people with whom Kupcho is staying with this week.

It looks like parents know best.

Feeling comfortable with choice of lines and simply believing the famous layout fit her eye, Kupcho shot a five-under 66 on Thursday to lead the U.S. Women’s Open by one stroke after the first round.

“I think my parents have always pushed me like, ‘Hey, why don’t you go try and see the golf course beforehand?’ I’m like, ‘No, I don’t do that. I never do that for any other tournament. Why would I change that for the U.S. Open,’” Kupcho recalled after her round.

“I wouldn’t say I necessarily went out of my way since we were here in L.A. at El [Caballero Country Club], but it definitely made it super easy to come out and see it. Then when I showed up this week, I knew where everything was, I knew what I was doing. So I think it actually helped.

“Parents are always right, right?” she added with a smile. “I think that certainly helped, but I think I just have a great setup. I really like this golf course. It kind of fits my eye. With the great host family, it just makes the whole week easier.”

It’s challenging to win a major, and Kupcho knows that, having captured the 2022 Chevron Championship for her first LPGA victory. But she’s already put herself in great position. Sei Young Kim shot a 67 to be solo second, and five players are tied at two shots back.

With an afternoon tee time, Kupcho birdied the first three holes of the day. She hit nine of 14 fairways and hit 12 of 18 greens in regulation. Surely, the best statistic of the day was that she needed just 26 putts—tied for first.

Best thing to do after a bogey… an immediate birdie!

Jennifer Kupcho (-5) back in the solo lead.@Ally pic.twitter.com/Hu8OzzNa9N

— U.S. Women's Open (@uswomensopen) June 5, 2026

Kupcho also got a boost late in her round at the shortest par-3 on the course, the 145-yard 16th, where she almost made a hole-in-one with what was a lucky result.

“It’s funny,” she said. “I just see an 8-iron [aimed] straight at the [TV] tower, and I hit it straight at the flag. I walked over to my caddie and he goes, ‘Straight at the tower, huh?’ I said, ‘Well, it’s next to the pin, so it’s fine.’”

This is the first time Kupcho has ever led a round at the U.S. Women’s Open, and she was all smiles after the round. It’s her ninth major championship round of 66 or lower, which is tied with three-time major winner Minjee Lee for most of any player since 2019.

Kupcho is a four-time winner on the LPGA, but the USGA tests have proved to be a challenge.

Her visit to Riviera with for the round with friends in April could’ve unlocked a major key.

“We didn’t really talk that much about the golf course. It was kind of just having fun,” Kupcho said. “But I think it helps me to be able to see the lines, kind of know where to go. Thank god I hit it well that day as well. I kind of didn’t have to see the bad parts of the golf course, but I think that certainly helped, just kind of being comfortable coming out and having fun before you’re on a big stage.”

Asked if she was going to text her parents and tell them they were right, Kupcho said, laughing: “The funny thing is they have never missed a U.S. Open either, and they’re not here this week. So maybe they were right and maybe don’t come. I don’t know what the relation is. We’ll see what happens.”

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Tiger Woods is missing from the USGA’s Friday release regarding the field for its 2026 U.S. Senior Open, but the 15-time major winner could still play in the championship.

Woods, who turned 50 in December, is eligible to compete on the PGA Tour Champions this year, including the five senior major championships. Despite the injury toll of the past decade, Woods has expressed interest in competing on the 50-and-older circuit, specifically since the tour allows for cart use in regular tour events. But three months into the season, Woods has yet to make his debut as he rehabs from a ruptured Achilles injury and back surgery, and only returned to this simulator league TGL this past week. Given that he wasn’t listed on Friday’s announcement from the USGA, it’s understandable if fans deduced Woods remains far from return.

However, in a statement to Golf Digest, the USGA confirmed that Woods has registered for the event.

“Tiger has entered the championship, simply to ensure eligibility,” said a USGA spokesperson, “but will not make a decision about playing until a later date.”

The news comes as Woods contemplates playing in the upcoming Masters, which is less than two weeks away. On Thursday, President Donald Trump said in a TV interview that Woods would not compete at Augusta National but be on the grounds. Woods has not played in an official PGA Tour event since the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon.

Joining Woods among the newly 50 crowd are Zach Johnson, Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter. Other exempt players include defending U.S. Senior Open champ Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els, Davis Love III, Justin Leonard, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke and Angel Cabrera.

This year’s U.S. Senior Open will be held at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. The course is just one of five venues to host the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, Ryder Cup and U.S. Amateur, and previously hosted the U.S. Senior Open in 1986 and 2016. The club is perhaps best known as the place where Jack Nicklaus learned the game. Designed by Donald Ross, Scioto underwent a major restoration by Andrew Green in 2021.

The U.S. Senior Open will begin on July 2.

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Just not yet.

Spaun, speaking at Riviera in his hometown of Los Angeles on Wednesday, says he still has much more work to do with the zero-torque wand, one he tossed in the air in celebration on the 72nd green. Thankfully, his caddie, Mark Carens, retrieved it, and could be seen holding it in the same hand he pointed toward the sky with while embracing his boss. Carens later explained he was pointing toward the heavens in remembrance of his deceased father, Ed, who “gave us a good read.” It made for an indelible image. Speaking of things that belong in a museum.

While that photo might already be in the USGA’s museum, Spaun’s putter is not. Though not for lack of effort on the USGA’s part. The U.S. Open champ revealed on Wednesday that he was asked to donate the custom flat-stick. Understandably, he had to turn the USGA down.

“I said unfortunately I can’t,” Spaun said. “That thing is not ready to be retired, especially after that putt.”

Fair enough. The USGA then asked for the next-best club, Spaun’s Titleist GT3 driver, which he used to drive the 17th green in the final round, setting up a two-putt birdie that gave him a one-shot lead with a hole remaining. That was an easier get.

“The second probably most valuable club, I think, was my driver,” he said. “And I actually had switched to a more new head, meaning, like, it was probably getting close to its limit. It ended up being kind of unusable anyway, so I donated that, and I think they were pretty happy.”

Not a bad consolation prize at all. And perhaps someday Spaun’s L.A.B. will be right alongside it. That day is not today.

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Main Image: Ross Kinnaird

The post J.J. Spaun had to turn down this USGA request for a very understandable reason appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.