Nelly Korda's Final Putt in the U.S. Women's Open was Drama at its Best

Imagine standing less than three feet from the hole trying to make a putt to close out your round. Now imagine doing that playing in a tournament. Now imagine you’re a professional player in a major championship and the winner’s share is $2.5 million. If you watched the final of last week’s LPGA U.S. Women’s Open, you know where I’m going with this.

If you are a fan of anything to do with sports about France, this is a great time. Tennis fans are enjoying the French Open. Say what you will about the hard-court tennis at the U.S. Open or the grass court tennis at Wimbledon, but the clay court tennis at Roland Garros is special. Just the look and texture about the clay makes this annual major something special.

Midway through the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, I had dreams of K-Pop and the PGA Tour. When Si Woo Kim (Callaway Chrome Soft X) shot a 10-under par in the second round of the tournament, I wanted him to win. Or countryman Sungjae Im (Titleist Pro V1x), who recorded an ace in the same round. I thought it would be great to see one of the two Korean golfers win because of the connection to the title sponsor and seeing the Bibigo signage, TV commercials and logo on Kim and Im’s shirts.

If you had Aaron Rai (Titleist Pro V1) winning the PGA Championship, you are a genius. His odds ranged from 150-1 to 290-1. He showed absolutely nothing in his recent form or overall this year to indicate he was ready to do something big. Yes, he placed fifth prior to the PGA Championship in the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, but that was a tournament for players who weren’t eligible for the Truist Championship. So how could you realistically bet on Rai to win the PGA Championship?

And here we go again with the second of the four majors on the PGA Tour. Will the PGA Championship be another battle between Rory McIlroy (TaylorMade TP5) and Scottie Scheffler (Titleist Pro V1)? I’m hoping it won’t be.

Bye bye Bridgestone. Shocking news that Bridgestone is closing its golf ball plant and test facility in Georgia after 36 years and shifting its manufacturing to Japan on June 30. The bulk of Bridgestone balls are manufactured in Japan anyway. As one of the top five golf ball manufacturing companies, Bridgestone got a huge lift when Tiger Woods became its top player. Chris Gotterup (Bridgestone Tour B X) is its top PGA Tour ambassador now. It will be interesting to see if Bridgestone makes a huge marketing push to tag along to the current popularity of Japanese men's and women's golf.

Woah, Nelly. That was quite an impressive performance by Nelly Korda (TaylorMade TP5x) in the Chevron Championship, scoring a five-shot victory, winning wire to wire and setting a LPGA majors record with a score of 14-under par after 36 holes. With the win, she vaulted into first place in the world rankings ahead of Jeeno Thitikul (Callaway Chrome Tour X), who surprisingly didn’t make the cut and continued the distinction of the greatest active player not to win a major. More on that later.

It’s the first LPGA Tour major of the season. Who do you think will win? It will be interesting to see who takes the ceremonial jump into the water at the 2026 Chevron Championship, which takes place this year at the Memorial Park Golf Course, site of the recent Texas Children’s Houston Open, following three years at Carlton Woods.

Scottie Scheffler (Titleist Pro V1) is the number one ranked golfer in the world, but the sport revolves around Rory McIlroy (TaylorMade TP5). By virtue of defending his Masters championship, McIlroy provided the latest example of that. After breaking the drought last year, he repeated it last week. It might not have been as dramatic – he didn’t fall to his knees and shake – but it was historic.