Lynne Cowan is a golf lifer. She has been a mainstay in USGA championships for nearly 40 years and is practically royalty in Northern California circuits, having won dozens of titles in the state.
On Sunday she added one more accolade – medalist honors in the 60th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur – bringing her one step closer to the prize she covets most: a USGA championship title.
For the first time in its history, the U.S. Junior Amateur Trophy is headed to the People’s Republic of China. Wenyi Ding, 17, who built an 8-up lead with eight holes to play, held on to defeat Caleb Surratt, 18, of Indian Trail, N.C., 3 and 2, on Saturday in the 36-hole final of the 74th edition of this USGA championship at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
Ding becomes the third player – and first male – from mainland China to win a USGA title. He joins Alice (Fumie) Jo and Lei Ye, who captured the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and the 2019 U.S. Girls’ Junior, respectively. Ding also becomes the fifth international champion of the U.S. Junior, joining three players from the Republic of Korea (Terry Noe, Sihwan Kim and Andy Bo Hyeon Shim) and Min Woo Lee, of Australia. Three years ago, Bo Jin of China lost in the title match to Preston Summerhays.
History was made at 7 a.m. AKDT when Pamela Chesla hit the opening tee ball of the 60th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. The Hope, Alaska, resident’s drive marked the first time a shot had been struck in a USGA championship in the Last Frontier, and with the beginning of play, Alaska became the 50th state to host a USGA championship.
While the venue and host state were new, the leader board had a familiar feel with three-time defending champion Lara Tennant at the top. She is joined at 2-over-par 74 by two-time runner-up Sue Wooster, 2019 quarterfinalist Lynne Cowan and championship newcomer Sherry Soto at the 5,762-yard Anchorage Golf Course.
You knew it was coming. You've been asking me for it. And I'm pumped to finally tell you... The PGAPappas Podcast is officially here.
My guest for Episode 1 is LIV Golf sensation Eugenio Chacarra, and I think you're going to absolutely love listening to this one. Eugenio calls it how he sees it and is a really fascinating player and personality.
They are high school teammates, best friends, fellow club members and residents of the same San Diego-area neighborhood. When asked, Luke Potter and Caden Pinckes estimated that they have played “in the thousands” of rounds together.
No previous match was bigger than the one they played on a breezy Thursday afternoon on the southwest Oregon coast. Potter, 18, of Encinitas, Calif., rolled past his Classical Academy teammate, 7 and 5, in the Round of 16 of the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
PXG, the fun-loving, performance-focused golf equipment and apparel company, announced Rob Riggle as its newest ambassador. The multi-talented actor, comedian, writer, producer, director, retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel, and golf nut will officially represent PXG on the golf course and collaborate in creating top-shelf content.
Riggle's first project with PXG is a six-part web series, Playing Around with Rob Riggle. Click here to watch the teaser!
Caleb Surratt entered the 2022 competitive golf season with a completely new outlook. His focus was on rest, nutrition and taking care of his body. That approach has been paying off in a major way for the 18-year-old from Indian Trail, N.C.
Surratt, an incoming University of Tennessee freshman, continued his torrid play on Wednesday in the Round of 64 of the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. Surratt hardly broke a sweat in producing the largest margin of victory in Day 1 of match play on the 7,078-yard Bandon Dunes layout, an 8-and-7 triumph over Ismael Encinas, of Mexico. It also was the largest Round-of-64 win in the championship since 2001 when Jessie Mudd defeated Robby Walizer at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas.
A little wind. Some sunshine mixed with fog. A career-best round and a record nine-hole score. Round 1 of the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on Monday provided a bit of everything.
Grant Lester, 17, of Washington, D.C.; Erich Fortlage, 15, of Paraguay; and Harvey Young, 18, of Australia all posted matching 66s to share the Day 1 lead. Lester played at par-71 Bandon Trails, the stroke-play co-host, while Fortlage, who turns 16 on Thursday, and Young played par-72 Bandon Dunes, where match play will take place beginning on Wednesday.
The 60th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur will be the first USGA championship held in the state of Alaska. Alaska will join six other states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, in hosting one USGA championship.
Alaska has hosted U.S. Open qualifying every year since 2009 as well as numerous U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur qualifiers.
Fujikura, the leader in performance golf shafts, was honored to be the number one driver and wood shaft on multiple professional tours this week, including the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and PGA Champions Tour.
At the Senior Open on the PGA Champions Tour, Fujikura was the #1 driver, wood, and hybrid shaft at the Major championship. Over 31.5% of the field used a Fujikura driver shaft, with another 25.7% using wood shafts and 16% using hybrid shafts.
In just her 5th start with the Garsen Quad Tour putter grip, Brooke Henderson drained an 8 foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole for a 1 shot victory at The Evian Championship.
Since putting the Garsen Quad Tour in play earlier this year, Henderson has now captured 2 titles including her second major championship. Adding to the 2016 British Open, this is the second major for Garsen and 54th tour win.
It turns out Yana Wilson is pretty good at this match-play thing.
A week after going 3-0 in the American Junior Golf Association’s Wyndham Cup in leading the West to a resounding victory, the 15-year-old from Henderson, Nev., continued her recent unblemished mark in the head-to-head format by capturing the 73rd U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at The Club at Olde Stone with a 3-and-2 victory over Gianna Clemente, 14, of Estero, Fla., in Saturday’s 36-hole final.
Gianna Clemente and Yana Wilson aren’t old enough to operate a motor vehicle. But on Saturday, one of the two talented teenagers will drive off with the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy as the 73rd U.S. Girls’ Junior champion at The Club at Olde Stone.
Clemente, 14, of Estero, Fla., and Wilson, 15, of Henderson, Nev., each maneuvered their way to a pair of victories on another hot and steamy day in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to advance to the 36-hole final.
PXG has unveiled the latest evolution in its wildly popular 0211 Irons offering. New PXG 0211 XCOR2 Irons employ some of the cutting-edge golf club technology in the company’s GEN5 series wrapped in a high-performance progressive set design and delivered at a price that will knock your socks off.
“PXG 0211 XCOR2 Irons were engineered to include some of our finest performance-enhancing technology at a ridiculously good price,” said PXG Founder and CEO Bob Parsons. “If your budget is tight and you want to play the best, these irons are the easy choice.”
NBC Sports comprehensive coverage of the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews across NBC, USA Network and Peacock delivered the second most-watched Open Championship in nearly a decade, averaging a Total Audience Delivery of 2.516 million viewers to make it the second most-watched Open Championship since 2013.
Overall viewership for the 150th Open Championship was up 16% vs. 2021 (2.174 million TAD) and up 27% vs. 2019 (1.983 million TAD).
Prior to the 4th of July holiday, Chris Gotterup hadn't been home in nearly three months. In a diabolical, roller-coaster stretch of golf from May through July Chris played in the NCAA National Championships, RBC Canadian Open, U.S. Open, Travelers Championship, John Deere Classic, and Barbasol Championship without any break at all.
I talked with Chris recently from his home in New Jersey and straight up asked him how he's even still standing. His reply? "Yeah it's been crazy honestly but I love it all. And at the end of the day golf is golf, you just gotta go play well no matter where it is." Wait, what? Golf is golf? These words on paper may sound cliché, but for Gotterup this is profoundly revealing of who he is and the depths of his personality both on and off the course.
Three days of joyful, inspired play in the Inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst Resort’s Course No. 6 ended in a dramatic triumph befitting a USGA national championship. Simon Lee, 25, of the Republic of Korea, shot a final-round 71, then went birdie-par in a two-hole playoff on Wednesday to win the men’s overall title over Felix Norrman, while Kim Moore, 41, of Portage, Mich., went wire-to-wire to earn the title of women’s overall champion.
“It's pretty cool to be part of a little bit of history in golf,” said Moore, the women’s golf coach at Western Michigan University. “I’m thankful for my friends and family and their support and all the people back home that are wishing me good luck and have been watching. It's just been very humbling and exciting for me this whole week, and it's just been nothing but amazing.”
If the intensity and pressure of trying to advance out of the Round of 64 on Wednesday at the 73rd U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship wasn’t enough for the competitors, the stifling temperatures that reached the low 90s only added to the anxiety.
Never has the term “sweating out a match” been more appropriate than at The Club at Olde Stone on a steamy mid-July day in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
A new Vokey Wedge Fitting App for indoor wedge fitting – developed by Titleist and Vokey engineers in collaboration with Titleist club fitting experts - is the first of its kind.
Specifically designed to enhance the wedge fitting experience for all golfers, The Vokey Wedge Fitting App golfers enhanced access to quality, precise wedge recommendations to improve their wedge play.
Beckett Simonon, a trailblazer in the premium leather goods category, known for bringing bespoke fashion and comfort together - has unveiled the most essential kicks for golfing - Beckett Simonon’s Golf Sneakers, a collection of re-imaginated water-repellent full-grain Italian leather shoes made to reign supreme above the rest.
Featuring avant-garde technology to power up the natural motions of your body while enhancing comfort, these ultra-modern and fashion-forward shoes were designed to morph together eco-futurism and the new wave of luxury fashion.
Golfers looking to pin-point where gains can be made in their putting performance and practice methods will benefit from another groundbreaking software feature being launched today by Arccos – the pioneer of big data and Artificial Intelligence for golf.
Available in both individual round summaries and overall player insights within the award-winning Arccos Caddie app, Enhanced Putting Stats has been designed to automatically track the Strokes Gained value for each putt at given lengths. Putting data is also broken down into Make percent and 3 Putt percent at each of the following distances: 0-2 feet, 3-5 ft, 6-9 ft, 10-14 ft, 15-24 ft, 25-39 ft and over 40 ft.
The R&A continued its efforts to play a lead role in tackling single-use plastic bottles at The 150th Open played at St Andrews, Scotland. Bluewater hydration stations dispensed a massive 76,869 litres of water during the event, equivalent to 153,738 500ml-sized plastic bottles.
“We want to thank The R&A, the organisers of The Open, for taking the lead in providing hydration solutions that end the need for an event to sell plastic bottles of water, and the fans who made the choice to support the planet by purchasing a sustainable Bluewater bottle to replace throwaway plastic bottles,” said Bluewater founder and CEO Bengt Rittri. (photo below) Mr. Rittri noted the 150th anniversary edition of The Open had attracted around 290,000 fans whose hydration requirements were met despite warmer than average weather conditions.
Building on their longstanding partnership and shared passion to elevate the stories of golf’s legends, the USGA and the World Golf Hall of Fame will create a new visitor experience at the USGA’s Golf House Pinehurst campus, opening in 2024. In doing so, the Hall of Fame will relocate its physical presence from St. Augustine to North Carolina.
Additionally, World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will be held in Pinehurst in 2024 and 2029, to coincide with the 124th U.S. Open on Pinehurst No. 2 (2024), and the return of back-to-back U.S. Women’s Open Presented by ProMedica and U.S. Open Championships, also on Course No. 2 (2029). The first-ever back-to-back U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Open were contested in 2014.
In Round 2 of the Inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open on Tuesday at Pinehurst Resort’s Course No. 6, more inspiring stories emerged of players overcoming challenges to compete at a national championship level.
No one has done it better so far than Simon Lee, who shot a second consecutive 1-under-par 71 to surge to a two-stroke lead over Felix Norrman of Sweden in the men’s division, while first-round women’s leader Kim Moore of Portage, Mich., struggled a bit but still holds a four-stroke edge heading into Wednesday’s final round.
The ANNIKA Foundation – the charitable organization founded by defending U.S. Senior Women’s Open Champion Annika Sorenstam – will host its next “Share My Passion” golf clinic at NCR Country Club on Tuesday, August 23.
The ANNIKA Foundation, in partnership with Toro and Mastercard, invites girls between the ages of six and 14 who reside in Greater Dayton and the Miami Valley area to write an open letter or send in a video to Annika telling her why they love golf and why other girls should learn to play. The creators of the 30 most-compelling submissions will be invited to attend the clinic during the week of the U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
Revo, the global leader in high-quality performance sunglasses, announced today the launch two new limited-edition sunglasses designed in collaboration with Hall-of-Fame golfer, Annika Sorenstam. Featuring custom styles and unsurpassed functionality, the Revo frames are designed to have golfers looking good – both on the course and off.
The Revo x Annika collection features two styles of unisex sunglasses for golfers. One style focuses on lifestyle, made for everyday wear, while the other style is a sports frame made with the links in mind. Each style comes in a choice of three colors and each features Revo’s glare-reducing, NASA-based Light Management System to protect wearers from harmful bandwidths of sunlight.
Fujikura, the leader in performance golf shafts, was honored to be the number one driver shaft at the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews last week. 32.1% of the field in Scotland trusted Fujikura in their driver and 24% of all driver shafts were VENTUS.
After a sensational back-nine, equaling the lowest ever scoring in major championship history, the eventual Claret Jug winner lifted the trophy using the VENTUS TR. The new world number two used the VENTUS TR Blue 6X in his driver and the VENTUS TR Blue 8X in his 3-wood on his way to his first ever major victory.
True Spec Golf, the global leader in custom club fitting and club building, has announced its newest facility, True Spec Chicago West. The new facility will have its grand opening on August 2 and will join the Highland Park site as the second location in the city.
This is the latest opening in a growing number of partnerships that brings True Spec’s bespoke fittings and best-in-class customer service to prominent venues around the country.
Bandon Dunes Golf Resort will host the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur next week with a starting field of 264 players.
Bandon Dunes course will be set up at 7,143 yards and will play to a par of 36-36–72. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort’s Bandon Trails course, which will serve as the stroke-play co-host course for the two days of stroke play, will be set up at 6,763 yards and play to a par of 36-35–71.
Once the flag was raised, the band had played and the celebration at Monday’s opening ceremony had concluded, it was time for the field of 96 competitors in this Inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open to get to the business at hand: competing for the right to call themselves a USGA champion.
No one did that better on Course No. 6 at Pinehurst Resort than Chad Pfeifer, of Caldwell, Idaho, and Kim Moore, of Portage, Mich., who lead the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively, of this newest USGA championship.
On an ideal day for scoring, Lauren Zaretsky, 18, of Canada, posted a 5-under-par 68 on Monday for a one-stroke lead after the first round of stroke play in the 73rd U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship being contested at The Club at Olde Stone.
Yana Wilson, 15, of Henderson, Nev., a two-time Drive, Chip & Putt age-group champion who reached the quarterfinals last year, Hsin Tai Lin, 16, of Chinese Taipei, Justice Bosio, 18, of Australia and Farah O’Keefe, 17, of Austin, Texas, were in the group at 4-under 69 on the 6,484-yard, par-73 Arthur Hills design that opened in 2006.
How can you not be romantic about The Open Championship? The champions and personalities who've won the Claret Jug. The history behind The Open as the oldest golf tournament in the world. And this year, the Old Course at St. Andrews, the Home of Golf.
This week just feels different, even the players admit there's something more about the 150th edition of this championship. Tiger said this week "it feels like the biggest Open Championship we've ever had." Rory called St. Andrews "the spiritual home of golf." And just like last year, I've got the exact same yardage and green books players will be using this week on the Old Course to share with all of you.
Three of golf’s great champions have accepted invitations to become Honorary Members of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.
With 20 major championship victories between them, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Paul Lawrie have enjoyed highly successful careers, been hugely influential in supporting and inspiring future generations of golfers, and served as outstanding global ambassadors for the sport.
Tour Edge has announced the launch of their new Exotics Wingman 700 Series Putters featuring three new modern mini-mallet designs and six total hosel options.
The brand-new shapes offer cascading MOI (Moment of Inertia) properties matching the size of the Wingman putter head, providing maximum stability and optimal roll for every player type.
Here's another Callaway Rogue ST Max driver review from one of the players in this year's Play With Pete Invitational at Pasatiempo. This one comes from Rob, and it's very interesting as he wrote his review from a fitting centric perspective.
All the players in my Play With Pete Invitational at Pasatiempo were fit on the range for a new Callaway Rogue ST driver and Callaway Chrome golf balls before their rounds began. And Rob went from "leaking shots right with too much (distance robbing) spin" before hit fitting began to "275 yards down the center-left fairway" to start the day.
FootJoy, the #1 Shoe in Golf, has once more joined forces with Harris Tweed Hebrides in celebration of a summer of Scottish golf, to introduce an extended limited edition footwear range that celebrates hand craftsmanship, heritage and tradition.
Following the popular release of the Black Watch Packard in 2021, the second iteration of the collaboration welcomes a unique Premiere Series Packard upper for men and a collection of FJ Traditions golf shoes for men and women.
The inaugural Adaptive Open starts next week on Pinehurst No. 6. Designed by George and Tom Fazio and opened in 1979, redesigns and restorations were done by Tom Fazio in 2005 to carve new bunkers, soften angles and seed faster greens.
The championship will reverse the 9s for championship play. Pinehurst No. 6 will be set up to four separate yardages, to coincide with impairment categories.
The 73rd U.S. Girls' Junior takes place next week at The Club at Olde Stone. Olde Stone was designed by Arthur Hills and opened in 2006.
The course, which features Zeon zoysiagrass fairways and bentgrass greens with total elevation changes of more than 150 feet, has hosted a number of prestigious events, including the Junior Ryder Cup, NCAA Division I Regionals, the Southern Amateur, the Southern Junior Amateur and the Kentucky Open.
Ahead of the 73rd U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship next week, the USGA today announced that the 2026 U.S. Girls’ Junior will be held at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C., from July 13-18.
“We are excited to continue to provide junior golfers with prestigious stages to achieve their dreams,” said Tracy Parsons, championship director. “The recipe for a good USGA amateur championship is a fantastic golf course, supportive membership and an enthusiastic golf community, and Old Chatham has all those things. The 2026 U.S. Girls’ Junior will be an exceptional experience for all involved.”
On the first day of The 150th Open at St Andrews, a number of new ways to experience the action on the course are being made available to fans before the first tee shot is struck in the Championship.
ShotView powered by NTT DATA is being introduced for the first time ever giving fans an innovative experience to see live ball positions and the route to hole for every stroke of the Championship.
Mizuno has announced the global release of 1,221 sets of the Mizuno Pro 221 muscleback, in a stunning blue IP finish.
The irons, which will be available from Autumn 2022 boast a smoky blue plating, an exclusive staff banded 'icon' ferrule, MCC Teams Blue / White grips and a custom labelled DG Tour Issue S400 shaft.
American heritage brand Zero Halliburton just launched a new Golf & Sport collection, designed to keep you at the top of your game no matter the activity.
Whether you are making a long drive or taking a long drive; building sandcastles or digging out of sand traps – the new ZH Golf & Sport Collection is here for all your athletic pursuits.
Tour Edge, the pound for pound industry leader in performance and innovation, was all over the leaderboard at the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship Sunday at Firestone Country Club in Akron, OH.
Tour Edge clubs finished with three Top 5 finishes and seven Top 25’s at the PGA TOUR Champions major championship, the fourth of five majors on the 2022 Champions tour schedule.
PING has announced the introduction of the ChipR, a fully engineered short-game solution that combines elements of a putter and wedge to help golfers improve performance around the greens.
The PING ChipR is available for custom fitting and pre-sell beginning today at authorized PING golf shops around the world.
You're going to see a lot of hole by hole looks at the Old Course at St. Andrews this week for the 150th Open Championship. But there's only one written by a three-time Champion Golfer of the Year.
Straight from this year's official Open Championship Media Guide, Sir Nick Faldo gives you his insights into the Old Course at St. Andrews (he won the 119th Open here in 1990 here), and this reads like a course scouting report.
The 150th Open Championship is upon us and to help you enjoy the week even more we're taking a look at how past champions at St. Andrews have done, successful defenses on the Old Course, and couple of key holes that almost always play a role in determining the Champion Golfer of the Year.
Since Rory McIlroy missed his title defense in 2015 through injury, no defending Champion Golfer has finished lower than tied 12th at The Open.
NBC Sports surrounds the 150th Open Championship at The Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland with comprehensive live coverage across NBC, USA Network and Peacock beginning Thursday, July 14 through Sunday, July 17. Pre-championship coverage begins Monday, July 11, with GOLF Central Live From The Open on GOLF Channel and Peacock.
In total, NBC Sports will present nearly 50 hours of live championship coverage Thursday-Sunday – and well over 100 hours of live coverage from St. Andrews including featured groups and featured holes.
When the 150th playing of the Open Championship commences at the place where it all began, the Old Course at St. Andrews, a special ceremony will be held to designate Jack Nicklaus as an honorary citizen of St. Andrews.
On July 12, The Royal Burgh of St. Andrews Community Council will bestow the honor to Nicklaus who won two of his three Open titles at St. Andrews. The Old Course is also where Nicklaus chose to compete in his final major championship in 2005.
True Spec Golf, the global leader in custom club fitting and club building, today announced its newest outdoor facility, True Spec Oahu, at Kapolei Golf Club. The new facility will have its grand opening on August 3 and will be the company’s first ever location in Hawaii. It is the latest in a growing number of partnerships that brings True Spec’s bespoke fittings and best-in-class customer service to prominent courses around the country.
True Spec Oahu offers golfers an unrivaled fitting experience at a facility that has won the Honolulu Star Advertiser’s People’s Choice Award as “Best Course on Oahu” along with being called “Hawaii’s Best” on three separate occasions. Golf Advisor also named Kapolei Golf Club as one of “Hawaii’s Top 10 Courses” and received 4 1/2 stars out of five on “Golf Digest’s Places to Play”.
On the heels of international acquisitions and the opening of their 100th store, Club Champion is now celebrating the grand opening of their new NYC flagship studio! Located at 220 E 42nd Street in Manhattan, the new studio boasts a modernized aesthetic and expands upon the custom club fitting services the brand already offered to the New York market.
This 4,400-square-foot location will feature four hitting bays and five Master Fitters. The NYC studio is only a block away from Grand Central Terminal and is nestled in a landmark skyscraper: the News Building. Known as the real-life counterpart of Metropolis’s Daily Planet from the 1978 Superman film, Club Champion took note of the history and the location when mapping out the site of its state-of-the-art flagship store.
