After Shiho Kuwaki’s beautiful Ladies’s Open win, 1 unshakeable feeling was in every single place
Golf.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/kuwak-nelly-lottie-charlie-esther.jpg” /> Esther Henseleit tapped in for bogey and rotated to look into the fading sundown at Royal Lytham. Forty minutes...
Golf.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/kuwak-nelly-lottie-charlie-esther.jpg” />
Esther Henseleit tapped in for bogey and rotated to look into the fading sundown at Royal Lytham. Forty minutes earlier, the 27-year-old German had made the putt of a lifetime, draining a protracted bomb for birdie on the 72nd gap to tie Shiho Kuwaki and ship the AIG Women’s Open to a playoff.
She then missed a a lot shorter birdie putt to win the primary playoff gap and watched as her tee shot on the second playoff gap apparently hit a marshal within the leg and ricocheted right into a gorse bush. She hacked out into the green, performed her third onto the inexperienced, however missed her par putt. With Kuwaki in shut for par, Henseleit was left to rue a missed alternative as Kuwaki rolled within the par putt to win the 12 months’s last main in beautiful vogue. The 23-year-old from Japan is a multi-time winner on the JLPGA and can be a staple on the LPGA. Make no mistake, Shiho Kuwaki gained the AIG Ladies’s Open. As chaos enveloped Royal Lytham on Sunday, it was Kuwaki who performed her last 13 holes in regulation in two beneath to publish 5 beneath and put strain on 54-hole chief Yealimi Noh and Henseleit to match. It was Kuwaki who hit a wonderfully flighted iron to the small touchdown spot on the par-3 ninth for a key birdie. It was Kuwaki who steadied herself after early hassle, performed quick and assured, and did what nobody else on Sunday might.
This was Shiho Kuwaki’s day. The champagne showers and the LPGA membership that comes with a life-changing win show that.
But when something summed up Sunday on the 12 months’s last main, it was Henseleit’s look off into the gap as actuality set in, a glance that stated how briskly every part might change at Royal Lytham and an ominous feeling of “what might’ve been.”
However Esther Henseleit isn’t the one one leaving Royal Lytham feeling they let a golden main alternative slip away.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda fired a final-round three-under 68 to complete in a tie for fourth at two beneath. Sunday’s spherical noticed Korda make a bogey on the par-3 fifth and double on the par-5 sixth. That was the story of Nelly Korda’s week. She stored throwing punches, however massive errors just like the closing double bogey on Saturday and an early seven on Sunday have been the distinction between a 3rd main and a stable, however in any other case bland end to a superb main season.
Alongside Korda was World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul, who opened the event with a superb spherical of 64. As Thitikul torched Lytham’s greens on Thursday, it felt like this is likely to be the week she lastly gained her maiden main title. As a substitute, Thitikul’s putter went chilly over the ultimate three rounds, together with Sunday’s last spherical, the place she went out in three over and was unable to make something coming dwelling to satisfy the bar set by Kuwaki.
“It’s simply form of shake it off,” Thitikul stated leaving Lytham. “I knew I missed some, however I really feel like my sport wasn’t that dangerous. I simply couldn’t make putts like the primary day, after which we simply couldn’t hit it that shut due to the wind, the pin place, and every part. That’s why I [couldn’t make] the putt.”
Yealimi Noh held the lead for so long as she might on Sunday. Battling final-round nerves, Noh scraped her approach round Lytham’s entrance 9 and watched her lead go from 5 to at least one as she made the flip. By the point she bogeyed 14, she had misplaced the lead and wanted to make a birdie coming in to match Kuwaki. When her last birdie try on 18 got here up quick, Noh admitted she was harm by how Sunday unfolded, particularly a missed quick putt for par at 14, however exited the carnage at Lytham with a silver lining.
“I can be taking away much more than I assumed I’d be this week,” an emotional Noh advised NBC’s Cara Banks after the spherical, wiping tears from her eyes. “It stings simply being one quick, however very pleased with the week. I advised myself this morning, it doesn’t matter what occurs, I’m simply actually completely satisfied to be on this place once more. A few weeks in the past, I wasn’t even feeling the need to play golf — clearly play — however I used to be shedding numerous motivation with my previous outcomes.
“However this week has actually helped me really feel so a lot better about my sport and understand why I’m doing this. Developing 18 was fairly unbelievable, simply in entrance of these crowds and taking part in right here on the Open. Very grateful.”
However there is likely to be no greater what ifs than from the 2 gamers who the group at Lytham tried their hardest to will to victory. Lottie Woad entered Sunday 4 photographs again of Noh. Charley Hull was one shot again of her however able to put the pedal right down to chase her first main title in 75 tries.
As Noh scuffed alongside and Lytham pummeled the sphere, the title was there for the taking for both Woad or Hull.
Woad opened with a bogey however obtained the stroke again with a birdie at six. With the par-5 seventh arising, it appeared like Woad was in place to pin her ears again and put strain on Noh. As a substitute, she made a multitude of the seventh and dropped a shot. When she missed a birdie putt on the eighth, Woad turned visibly irritated. When her par putt on the ninth missed the cup, she swiped her putter by way of the air figuring out that her main alternative was slipping away. No late Sunday magic materialized for Lottie Woad. She performed the again 9 in even par, and her bogey on the sixteenth served as the ultimate nail in Sunday’s would-be comeback.
With a leaderboard full of gamers with few LPGA successful moments, Sunday appeared prefer it could possibly be Charley Hull’s day. With 5 main runner-up finishes, Hull has expertise within the cauldron. She emptied the tank at Riviera and was simply crushed by Nelly Korda. A livid run to catch Miyu Yamashita finally 12 months’s AIG Ladies’s Open was derailed by two dangerous swings. However Charley Hull had been right here earlier than, and now it appeared her second had lastly arrived. Sunday, in benign situations, arrange for Charley Hull to lastly grow to be a significant champion.
As a substitute, Hull shortly misplaced management. She made a double bogey on the third after which made one other double on the par-5 seventh after hitting her strategy right into a pot bunker. Birdies at 9 and 11 obtained Hull again onto the periphery, however each birdie try coming dwelling veered away from the opening. Maybe nothing higher advised the story of Hull’s unsuccessful cost than the tee shot on the quick par-4 thirteenth. Needing to make a transfer, Hull pulled driver and hit it a bullet by way of the northwestern English wind. It was a pure strike, one among her better of the day, however Hull instantly knew it may not ship the specified outcome. It landed on the entrance of the inexperienced, bounded throughout the placing floor and rolled right into a thick patch of dried-out tough. Not sure of how the ball would come out, Hull left her pitch nicely quick and two-putted for par. When her birdie putt simply missed proper, she pointed for it to go left and shook her head.
As Charley Hull approached Lytham’s clubhouse, she tried to offer the English crowd one last firework, even when her title desires have been dashed. However her closing birdie try missed the opening, closing the e-book on one other winless main championship season. Charley Hull shortly tapped in for par and exited one other main she might’ve gained, with nothing however scars.
Hours after Korda, Hull and Woad left Royal Lytham, Esther Henseleit appeared out at nothing particularly, her would-be signature main second shortly evaporating as Shiho Kuwaki rolled in a brief putt and raised her arms in triumph.
“I simply can’t consider it,” Kuwaki stated by way of an interpreter afterward. “I simply can’t consider it.”
That feeling was in every single place within the aftermath at Royal Lytham. However she’s the one one who gained’t be attempting to overlook her cause for disbelief.
