News

Tour Rundown: Surprise USWO winner | Sepp surges

Published

3 years ago

Jul 10, 2023

I know it’s not the tour, and I know it’s a shell of its 1912 US Open self, but a 59 in a legitimate tournament is a thing. The Erie County (NY) Amateur was played at the course where I learned the game, and a collegiate named Ryan Edholm posted 59 on Sunday, to win by eight shots. I was glued to the feed, and jumped up when I saw them finalize the score.

To the tours! The USGA celebrated its Women’s Open championship at storied Pebble Beach Golf Links this week, and the USA was treated to prime-time golf viewing for a second consecutive, national championship. Neither the competitors nor the golf course disappointed, and it is a pleasure to provide an extended look at the tournament. The PGA Tour visited TPC Deere Run in Illinois, while the DP World Tour found a home in Denmark. Let’s have a look at how each event concluded, with this week’s Tour Rundown.

USGA/LPGA: Corpuz arrives from nowhere to claim United States Open title

If you hurry up and check Allisen Corpuz’s wiki page, you’ll see the one professional win on her record is the Hawaii Women’s State Open. Venerable an event as it is, it’s not an LPGA-calibre title, nor even a Symetra Tour win. Even more important, she won that event when she was all of 16 years of age, so she wasn’t even a pro! After schooling at Southern Cal and a stint on the 2021 USA Curtis Cup side, Corpuz turned pro, and earned two top-three finishes in her first two years on tour.

Forgive us for a moment if we talk about that other wain who won her first tour event in her first tour start. Yup, Rose Zhang was at Pebble Beach, but she only finished one-over par and only tied for 9th position. What did Corpuz do? She won the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel. Corpuz began the week 69-70 to not only make the cut, but earn herself a final-pair spot with Bailey Tardy on Saturday. While Tardy struggled to a 75, AC held it together and posted a fine 71. Her reward was a second-consecutive day in the final duo, this time with the on-fire Nasa Hataoka. Hataoka delivered a 66, the only score below 70 on the day. That’s one hot round.

Hataoka had been here before. She finished runner-up in two other major championships, and was eager to shelve the mantel of almost and replace it with certain. Sunday was not her day, however, and she struggled to five bogeys and a birdie, a 76, and a tie for fourth with the aforementioned Bailey Tardy. Tardy came back from her 75 with a 73, earning a top-five major placement.

Back to Corpuz. The lass from Honolulu made six birdies on the day. She began with stroke-savers on holes one and three, then made bogeys at four and nine, along with another birdie at seven. She turned in one-under 35, and began to put distance between herself and the field. Then came Charley Hull, and things began to change.

Hull found the same flint that Hataoka encountered on day three. The English pro made birdie at four of her first five holes, and turned in 32. Three birdies against one bogey on the inward half gave her a 66, the low round of the day. Her reward was a tie for second spot with another Sunday Queen, Jiyai Shin of Korea. Shin signed for 68 and reached the same, 6-under par total as Hull. No one, on this day, would track Allisen down.

Corpuz put the doubters to bed with three birdies over the first seven holes on the vaunted, back nine at Pebble Beach. A meaningless bogey at 17 meant that her margin of victory was reduced to three strokes. After safely walking the final fairway, Corpuz was an LPGA tour winner, a major champion and, in all likelihood, a member of Team USA in Spain’s 2023 Solheim Cup matches.

What pressure?

Allisen Corpuz is putting on a historic performance at Pebble Beach

Watch now on NBC! pic.twitter.com/6fzRYGPVYa

— LPGA (@LPGA) July 9, 2023

PGA Tour: Straka survives double bogey at last for second tour title

Josef Straka (no intel on how he earned the nickname “Sepp”) had golf social media ablaze this afternoon. He turned for home in 28 shots, and still had more in the tank. His front-nine eagle and five birdies were followed by four consecutive chirps from 11 to 14. Folks were talking 60, 59, 58. All that the boy from Austria had to do, was dock the boat. Well, he didn’t, finding water on 18 and a double bogey. He finished four days in Silvia at 21-under par, and didn’t think for a moment, that it would hold up.

Until it did. Neither Brendan Todd nor Alex Smalley could close with anything spicey, and Ludvig Aberg started too far back for his 63 to give him a shot. Todd and Smalley tied for second at 19-under par, with the precocious Aberg another stroke back, tied for 4th with Adam Schenk. It was Straka in the end, whose final-round 62 held up. Now, it’s off to Scotland for many, as preparations begin for the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

This man can not miss.@SeppStraka needs to shoot 1-under in his final four holes for a round below 60 @JDClassic. pic.twitter.com/5mYhLtu84e

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 9, 2023

DP World Tour: Second Chance for Højgaard in home country

Rasmus Højgaard did nothing right down the stretch of the Made in HimmerLand stop on the DPWT. He finished well ahead of the leaders, and began to applaud his home-country fans for their presence. Then, Nacho Elvira and Richie Ramsey forgot how to finish the tournament, and just like that, Højgaard found himself in a playoff with Elvira for the title. We’ll get to the playoff (all six holes of it) in a moment. How did we get there?

Højgaard had himself a weekend, to the tune of 65-64. For a time, he thought that his 129 over the final two days would earn him a top-three finish, until tires started falling off. Elvira played his final six holes in plus-one, with three bogeys against two birdies. Robert MacIntyre stood three-under on the day, when his tee shot on 14 nearly went OOB. Six shots later, he posted a triple bogey on his card, added another bogey, and missed overtime by two shots. For Richie Ramsay, the knife cut the deepest. He had quietly worked his way to the top spot, only to see all his day’s efforts undone with a watery double at the 72nd hole. He finished solo third.

So it was left to the astonished Højgaard and the Spanish Elvira, to settle matters on the 18th hole … and the 18th hole … and the 18th hole again. Six times they returned to the final teeing ground, and five times, each man made par. On the sixth go-round, Elvira cracked and Rasmus claimed his fourth DPWT title. Three have come in playoffs — Luke Donald, you paying attention?

Shots of the week from Made in HimmerLand ?#MIH23 | @DP_World pic.twitter.com/deVZZStyEI

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 9, 2023

News

Charles Schwab Challenge Tour Report: MacIntyre, Åberg and Spaun all switch putters, TaylorMade launches new Spider

Published

20 hours ago

May 29, 2026

Alistair Cameron

There must be something in the water. Or potentially on the greens. A whole host of big-time players decided that the Charles Schwab Challenge was the perfect place to test out new putters.

With the 2026 U.S. Open just around the corner, defending champion J.J. Spaun made a surprising switch away from his center-shafted Df3 and into L.A.B. Golf’s OZ.1i HS – the heel-shafted mallet putter.

“Just something I kind of wanted to change the way the putter was looking, just a completely different look than the DF3 that I’ve been using for the last year and a half,” Spaun told GolfWRX about the swap. “So it’s just easier to line up for me with less onset looking design, and it’s just something I felt like switching it up and seeing how it goes.”

You can find more about the putter and the reasoning behind Spaun’s change here.

Robert MacIntyre also decided to change the flatstick at Colonial Country Club. He’s using a custom Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5R. The Scotty team created a specially-milled face featuring horizontal grooves and shortened the plumber’s neck to increase toe hang.

Another custom feature of the build is the welded wings added to the rear of the putter, similar to those found on the Phantom 11 head.

It’s potentially part of a major overhaul to his bag. The Scot has recently switched from the Titleist Pro V1 to the Pro V1x golf ball, added the new GTS2 driver, and is currently testing a GTS 3-wood that could replace his ancient TaylorMade AeroBurner 3-wood.

Ludvig Åberg joined the trio of superstars making alterations on the greens. He’s added a Scotty Cameron Phantom 3.2.

It’s not Åberg’s first putter switch of the season. He had been using different versions of his usual Odyssey Versa #1 head to try to get better speed control on the greens.

? Ludvig Åberg is using a new putter! He’s playing a @ScottyCameron Phantom 3 head. First major putter switch, although he has been changing loft and heads in the Odyssey #1 style this season.
Here’s a Phantom 3 built for him earlier in the season https://t.co/oGrNk6p0hz pic.twitter.com/edRbpk22m4

— Alistair Cameron (@ACameronWRX) May 28, 2026

Currently, a Tour-only offering, the Phantom 3 head is a half-moon mallet shape. Like the previous version that GolfWRX captured at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which Åberg never put in play, the current version appears to feature the Studio Carbon Steel face insert and chain-link face milling. Instead of the all-black version one, Åberg’s current flatstick is in the metal finish.

Rico Hoey’s make-shift Jailbird

Some of the best builds on Tour have a certain Frankenstein theme to them.

Odyssey decided to do this when breeding a turtle and a bird together. The result, Rico Hoey’s latest broomstick.

The custom Jailbird S2S Tri-Hot head includes an aluminium-milled insert from the unreleased TRTL head, which the team machined down to fit the face of the Jailbird after removing the usual Ai-Dual insert.

The team also filled the wings of the putter with epoxy to redistribute mass away from the face, with the metal insert weighing more than the original.

Hoey was also spotted with a custom Damascus Milled Jailbird Mini broomstick. Check out the full gallery here.

Brant Snedeker’s full WITB

Arguably, the PGA Tour’s feel-good story of the year so far was 45-year-old Brandt Snedeker returning to the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly 8 years.

His victory didn’t come without some equipment updates, either. The Presidents Cup Captain added the 2016 M2 driver equipped with a Fujikura Speeder Evolution 661. It’s a shaft that’s even older than the driver.

The historic driver setup might have been added because Snedeker was missing some antique vibes. He recently switched out his 2-decade-old Odyssey Rossie White Hot XG for a TaylorMade Spider Tour X.

He first put the Spider in play at the Cognizant Classic. Still, at the Valspar Championship, he tested TaylorMade’s True Path Alignment versus without, and preferred the added aim benefits he was getting. In previous testing, the biggest thing Snedeker noticed was the launch and how quickly the ball got to true roll from the Spider and its Pure Roll insert compared to anything else he had tried.

Check out Snedeker’s full what’s in the bag during this week’s episode of “Inside the Ropes” from Colonial.

Everything’s bigger in Texas

TaylorMade Golf chose the second stop of a Texas two-step in Dallas as the spot to launch the tour’s latest Spider putter.

On-site Monday at Colonial Country Club, GolfWRX’s Tour Photographer Greg Moore captured the new Spider ZT Max putter ahead of the Charles Schwab Challenge.

The Max version of TaylorMade’s zero-torque putter style has a larger footprint than the original ZT, which will likely lead to a higher MOI thanks to wider perimeter weighting.

The original ZT is made of high-density 303 stainless steel at the front, and then a lower-density 6061 aerospace aluminum on the back to create a high-MOI foundation, with a center shaft featuring slight forward shaft lean and 25mm onset behind the leading edge.

The Spider ZT Max also appears to use the ZT cambered sole, which is also seen on the recently Tour-launched Spider Tour, Tour X, F and V models, which were first spotted at the RBC Heritage.

Brian Harman gamed the original Spider ZT for his victory last year at the 2025 Valero Texas Open, and the putter also saw victory on the DP World Tour in the hands of Michael Kim for his FedEx Open de France win.

Check out the full gallery here.

Odds and Ends

Project X officially Tour launched the Titan Yellow shaft, just a few days after Wyndham Clark played it for the first time and won The CJ Cup Byron Nelson. The shaft features a smoother feel in the handle compared to past Project X wood shafts, along with a firm midsection and firm tip. The Synex Technology allows a player to feel more load in transition without losing the feel of the clubhead. Titleist launched the GTS300 back at Quail Hollow, and just a few weeks later, it’s in the bag of Justin Thomas. Could this be a test run for Shinnecock?

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the ShopRite LPGA

Published

2 days ago

May 28, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX Tour Photographer Greg Moore was on site in Galloway, New Jersey, ahead of the ShopRite LPGA powered by Wakefern to snap some WITB photos and more.

Check out links to all the photos below!

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

Odyssey putters – 2026 ShopRite(LPGA)

News

Club Junkie WITB, week 18: Driver still needs a grip!

Published

2 days ago

May 27, 2026

Brian Knudson

Back again for week 18 with another new bag for this week’s league night! Last week I played well but lost so hoping to get back on the winning side of things. I am pretty excited to get this driver out on the course as I think it is a legit sleeper in the category. It is also time to break out some newly built irons from JP Golf that look awesome and hopefully play just as good! Here is what is in the bag this week.

Driver: PXG Lighting Tour-Mid (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Red 6s

4-wood: Wilson Dynapwr Carbon (16.5 degrees @ 16)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7s

Hybrid: Callaway Apex Ti Super Hybrid (21 degrees @ 20)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Red 9x

Utility: Mizuno JPX One (22 degrees @ 23)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 85s

Irons: JP Prime (5-PW)
Shafts: UST Mamiya Dart V 105 F5

Wedge: Cleveland RTZ (50-10 MID)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 s

Wedge: Cleveland RTZ (56-10 MID)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 s

Wedge: Cleveland RTZ (50-8 ADAPT)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 s

Putter: Mizuno M.Craft City Osaka
Shaft: TPT Pulse 50

Ball: PXG Xtreme Tour

Bag: Ghost Anyday Black Ops Stand Bag