Sign up every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in sports and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, our writers look ahead to the US Women’s Open and discuss the most important parts of the PGA Tour’s long-term plan.
The 81st Women’s US Open It starts on Thursday in the Riviera with a lot of intrigue around the championship. It’s the first time the tournament has been played at the historic Los Angeles course and the top player, Nelly Korda, comes in playing some of the best golf of her career. Is this the best chance she’s ever had to win a US Women’s Open?
Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): She may have had more pressure on her at the 2024 US Women’s Open, as she entered it on the back of a win that was part of a stretch that included six wins in seven starts. But she somehow shot 80 and missed the cut — and then missed cuts in her next two tournaments. Although this season is starting to look a lot like the dominance we saw two years ago, where she won seven times in 16 starts. In seven races this year, she won three and finished as runner-up three more times. Her last start she tied for 8th, which is her worst of the season! She is more consistent this season, and plus, the 2024 US Women’s Open debacle can now be considered a learning experience. That might help him this week. I also think Riviera suits her game well.
Zephyr Melton, Associate Game Improvement Editor (@zephyrmelton): It’s pretty wild that Nelly doesn’t have a USWO title to her name at this point in her career. With her length and ball-striking ability, the types of setups the USGA likes to feature should be in her hands. She will surely be the favorite to lift the trophy on Sunday night, but the mental battle will be as tough as the physical one. With the way she is playing this year, it would be surprising if she is not the winner, but as we saw at Lancaster in 2024, anything can happen.
Alan Bastable, executive editor (@alan_bastable): The thing is, she has been thus much more dominant this year than in 2024. Her strokes gained in ’24: 2.86. This year until seven starts: 4.03! A differential of almost 1.2 shots! Amazing stuff. It is also 10 meters taller than it was two years ago. Her only bugaboo, relatively speaking, is her placement. If she can find a way to get hot on the greens at Riv, this could be over in a hurry.
While Korda’s quest for her fourth major title will be the big talker, there are plenty of other good stories at the US Women’s Open. What is one of your favorites?
Berhow: Whether top-ranked Kiara Romero, defending Augusta women’s amateur national champion Maria Jose Marin or Stanford’s Paula Martin Sampedrowho just helped her team win an NCAA title last week, has a number of really good amateurs with promising pro careers expanding this week. I’m curious to see if anyone can fight on the weekend.
Melton: Seeing if Jeeno Thitikul can finally redeem himself from the best player-untitled major. It’s been close many times before, but winning the first one is always the hardest. She is in good form with a win at Mizuho earlier this month, but major championship golf is a completely different animal.
Bastable: Yes, Jeeno Watch always goes full blast on these big weeks. I’m also intrigued by Julia Lopez Ramirez, the second-year player from Spain who is the LPGA’s longest putter (291-yard driving average) and 10th on the green on the reg, and who finished in the top 20 at the USWO as a rookie last year. I don’t see her contending – her short game and placement just aren’t there – but if you’re lucky enough to be on the court, she’d be a lot of fun to watch.
Which is the more likely scenario come Sunday – Korda lifting the US Women’s Open trophy for the first time, or Scottie Scheffler as three-time champion at the Memorial? (By the way, the last time someone won the same event three years in a row was when Steve Stricker won the John Deere in 2009, 2010 and 2011.)
Berhow: This is actually a difficult situation. Scottie Scheffler must – third or better in four of his last five starts – and in addition to his two wins at Muirfield Village he has also finished third twice. But I really like Nelly Korda to get the biggest win of her LPGA career this week.
Melton: I’ll go with Scottie. He has come close too many times this season to come up short on a win. I love that he does it in Jack’s place.
Bastable: Scottie WHO? Our guy didn’t win – gasp! – 10 starts. Gimme Korda, for all the reasons we laid out above. I truly believe that if she can find a rhythm with her performance, this could be a great week for her on one of golf’s biggest stages.
Scheffler will have stiff competition at the Memorial, which includes Rory McIlroy. Oddly enough, this will be the first Signature Event Scheffler and McIlroy have both played since the Arnold Palmer Invitational three months ago. Forget bigger fields and bigger markets and relegation, highlighting a potential two-track PGA Tour schedule come 2028, is this the best example of why the tour schedule may need a major overhaul?
Berhow: Yes, but I also think Tour knows that. There is a lot of golf. And even with the two-course system, there will still be plenty of golf. But if we can get the best players to compete in the same events 20 times a year or more—and get them all to actually show up—that’s a win. But most importantly, it should rod. The tour schedule needs stability so people know what’s coming instead of constant changes. Is this a signature event? A variation on the Florida Swing? Will the playoff format change again? When it comes to the schedule, the PGA Tour’s continued evolution, while occasionally necessary, has also been somewhat of an own goal. It’s hard to keep going.
Melton: I agree with all the points Josh raised. We need to see the stars together more often, but we also can’t get enough. It seems like Brian Rolapp knows this – but creating a schedule that accurately contains that line won’t be easy.
Bastable: It bothers me more than I have ANY star in ANY the marquee event is resuming cuts across all of them (so we have some mid-tournament drama) and expanding the fields (so we have some weaker stories). I like the idea of ​​downgrading, but if the A flight is too exclusive, it can start to feel stagnant.
The Stanford women’s golf team won its third NCAA title in five years last week, and now it’s the men’s team’s turn at the NCAA Championships at the Omni La Costa, which runs now and runs through next week. One name to watch is Jackson Koivun, the Auburn junior who has won six of his last nine starts and could turn pro this summer. For the uninitiated, what makes Koivu one of the best prospects we’ve seen in years?
Berhow: Koivun seems to be the real deal. Six wins in nine starts?! It’s hard to do at any level. Plus, he’s already fired up at the start of the PGA Tour. His coach raves about him and such high expectations wouldn’t be given to someone if he couldn’t live up to them. He’s already at the US Open (but has to remain an amateur to keep his spot), but he could turn pro after that. He is a name golf fans should know.
Melton: Can’t say I watch a ton of collegiate golf, but it seems like Koivun has that “it” factor. However, dominating the pros and dominating in college are two different things. We’ve seen a lot of “can’t miss” prospects this decade fail early on (Gordon Sargent, Luke Clanton, etc.), so for now, I’m in wait-and-see mode.
Bastable: Wait and see?! We’ve already seen it, Melton! In seven PGA Tour starts last year, Koivun had four top-11 finishes, and in the last three of those starts he went T6-T5-T4. He then returned to little old Auburn, where all he did was post a 67.9 (!) scoring average this season. I’d say the kid is destined for great things.
