Major # 2 for the 25 year old Korean – image Mark Runnacles LET

South Korea’s Haeran Ryu confirmed her standing as a genuine challenger to Nelly Korda’s crown as world number one when she won her 5^th LPGA Tour title and her second major with a playoff victory over Canadian Brooke Henderson at the Amundi Evian Masters today.

Beginning the day with a three shot lead over Japan’s Aki Iwai, and by seven over Henderson, Ryu was unable to follow the heroics of Saturday’s stunning world setting major record of 60 over the Evian les Bains layout on the shores of Lake Geneva in eastern France, and with Henderson producing consecutive eagles at the 7^th and 8^th, including a hole in one at the 8^th, to reach the turn in 30, it was very much a case of game on.

Henderson had made up six of her seven-shot deficit by the turn, but with both players battling under the pressure of a major title and the huge money on offer, they reached the last hole with Ryu one ahead of Henderson and Iwai, who had recovered from a slow start with two late birdies.

Henderson drove beautifully at the last, and on a hole which has provided so much drama over the years, she hit her second to eight feet at the par 5, followed soon after by Ryu, who was forced to pitch out after a wayward drive and hit a short iron approach for her 3^rd to 14 feet.

Iwai was unable to birdie the last and would finish 3rd, but after Ryu holed her putt for birdie, the stage was left to Henderson, who recorded her third eagle of the day to force the playoff.

At the first playoff hole, Ryu found the green with her second and two-putted from 35 feet for her second consecutive major after Henderson’s wayward drive forced her to lay up and a par was the best she could do.

Currently 7^th in the Rolex World rankings, Ryu will now rise significantly higher when the revised rankings are released, her classic swing and capacity to handle the big occasion providing a real threat to the dominance Nelly Korda has had in recent times.

“Feels like unreal right now,” said Ryu. “Yeah, because today shots are pretty good, but my putting is too bad today. And then I was just thinking like, oh, God, please go in the hole, please. Every hole I just feel like praying.

“But last hole and the birdie hole there, just for thanks God I can say that part. And then, yeah, feels like just an unreal dream right now.”

For Henderson, it continues a return to the sort of golf she was playing earlier in her career when she was a 14-time winner on the LPGA Tour and a two-time major champion.

Her brilliant final round of 64 included the three eagles mentioned earlier, but it followed a 3^rd place finish two weeks ago at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, suggesting she has found something with her game.

“Yeah, played awesome today, which is really exciting,” said Henderson. “To finish second in a major and third a couple of weeks ago, the game is in a really good spot.

“Obviously very exciting to get into the playoff. Wish I had played a little bit better there, but Haeran has been playing great. Congrats to her.

“I am happy with how I played. Lots of birdies and eagles, which is really fun.

“I feel like my game is in a really good spot, which is really exciting and something to look forward to. Coming into AIG I haven’t played that well there in the past, so hopefully this year will be a different story.

New Zealand’s Lydia Ko finished as the leading Australasian when she reeled off a final round of 64 to finish in a share of 7^th place and did so with the services of her husband on the bag for the first time in a tournament of this nature.

“He was A+ for I think me personally, said Ko when asked how the week went. “Would it be an A+ for other players? I’m not really sure. But obviously, he can say some things that only a husband can say, and maybe not Paul for me on a week-to-week basis.

“But he was great. I think when I started off the championship with a bogey on the first, he was like, hey, it’s okay. You can do this.

“Just having him on the bag, like he felt like he was carrying his clubs and like playing on the weekend, and honestly felt like for me, too, like any other day we play together on the weekend.

“We had a lot of fun. I think having him on the bag has made me realize like how tough of a job a caddie really is. It made me become more appreciative of Paul, with whom we work together, and all of the other caddies.

“His best advice was — well, I don’t know if it’s advice, but more like an ultimatum. He was like, oh, I’m not going to caddie for a wuss, so I think that made me a little bit more kind of aggressive.

“And then he really didn’t have any bad advice. I told him to like, keep up and shut up. That was kind of like my advice at the start of the week. I actually relied on him in like, green reading as well, which has kind of been the thing that I struggled with on these greens the past few years.

“I had more birdies the past four days than I probably did the last couple of times I played here. Yeah, I think having him was very helpful, but, yeah, mostly just looking forward to being back in the norm of things with Paul.”

Cassie Porter and Karis Davidson were the only two Australians to make the cut, and they finished in a share of 26^th.

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Lydia Ko in action during round two – image Ladies European Tour / Mark Runnacles

In what has been a disappointing week thus far for the nine-strong Australasian contingent at the Amundi Evian Masters, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko has done best, the former winner of the event in a share of 18^th place but seven shots from the lead held by England’s 22-year-old, Lottie Woad.

Queenslanders Cassie Porter and Karis Davidson, at 1 under, were the only others of Australasians to make the weekend, heavyweights Hannah Green and Minjee Lee missing by one and a surprising 12 shots respectively.

Defending champion Sydney’s  Grace Kim also missed out on the chance to defend when she missed the weekend by three.

Ko, whose recent form has been mixed with missed cuts and the occasional good week, added a second consecutive round of 69, and while not completely out of calculations to contend over the final 36 holes, she will need something very special if she is to do so.

The event had been a happy hunting ground for Ko earlier in her career, but in recent years she has not performed well, 39^th her best in her last three starts, so she has an opportunity to improve significantly on those efforts. Ko won this event in 2015 as an 18-year-old and recorded seven top tens in her first ten starts in the event, including her win.

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Last year’s surprise and dramatic winner, Grace Kim of Sydney- image Ladies European Tour  

The fourth of women’s golf’s five majors in 2026, the Amundi Evian Championship, begins this Thursday in Evian les Bains on Lake Geneva on the border between Switzerland and France, but in France, where prizemoney exceeding US$9 million is on offer.

The event is the first of a three-tournament swing in Europe and Great Britain, this week’s event followed by the ISPS Handa Scottish Open in two weeks and the AIG Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes the following week.

The last of the majors to be included amongst the elite events on the women’s golf calendar, The Amundi Evian Championship established itself based on its standing as one of the most lucrative events on the LPGA Tour prior to becoming a major in 2013.

The quirky nature of the layout has seen some surprising results over the years, perhaps none more so than the dramatic finish by 2025 champion Grace Kim of Sydney and this week a total of nine Australians and New Zealanders get their chance to add to the list of golfers from our region to have won this event.

Hannah Green, Minjee Lee, Lydia Ko, Grace Kim, Karis Davidson, Gabi Ruffels, Kelsey Bennett, Cassie Porter, and Roby Choi are those players.

Six Australasians, Minjee Lee, Lydia Ko, Karrie Webb, Grace Kim, Wendy Doolan and Rachel Teske have won the event, but only three (Lee, Ko and Kim) since it gained major status in 2013.

The joint sanctioning with the Ladies European Tour allows for the in-form NSW golfer, Kelsey Bennett, to gain a start given her standing on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit this season but it is perhaps a sad reflection on how heavily weighted the event is in favour of the LPGA Tour that Perth’s Kirsten Rudgeley, currently 14^th on the LET Order of Merit, does not get a start.

Grace Kim, produced a dramatic finish to win the event last year, playing the 18^th hole on three occasions, producing an eagle on the 72^nd hole, a hole out for birdie at the first extra hole after finding the hazard alongside the green and then an eagle at the second extra hole to win US$1.2 million, her second LPGA Tour win and her first major.

Both Ko and Lee also won their first majors in this event.

Karis Davidson has been the standout amongst the Australasians in the majors to date in 2026, although in two starts in this event she has missed the cut and been  61^st in the other, so she will need a continuation of her significant progress in 2026 if she is to be a factor this week.

Of the leading Australasians, none have been standouts in recent weeks, Hannah Green unable to recapture her early season form, Minjee Lee sadly out of form and although Lydia Ko has shown glimpses of her best, she has mixed that with some rather ordinary play.

As the dominant player in 2026, Nelly Korda will start the event as favourite, although she has not enjoyed much success in this event, and I personally like the chances of previous winner and runner-up Brook Henderson, who seems to be finding form again and Jeeno Thitikul, who finished runner-up to Kim last year and is, after all, the world number two.

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Padraig Harrington – holds his third US Senior Open trophy – image USGA Jeff Haynes 

54-year-old Padraig Harrington won three majors in regular tour golf (two Opens and a PGA Championship) and today he added a fourth major in senior golf when he played his way to a comfortable four-shot win over Stewart Cink at the US Senior Open in Columbus, Ohio.

It was Harrington’s third US Senior Open title, having also won in his rookie season in 2022 and again in 2025, joining Miller Barber as the only player to win three US Senior Opens. It also became Harrington’s 12th PGA Tour Champions victory.

“It’s different, I’ve got to say,” said Harrington, whose first two Senior Open victories came in nailbiters. “It feels great, but obviously there wasn’t the drama that I know we normally provide down the stretch. That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t feeling it. I was really trying to stay in it, stay focused. I knew I had a nice lead, which let me play to the middle of the greens, and let me hit the shots.

“But I did hit some big shots coming on the way home to take all the stress out of it. I had a great week putting, which, wow, golf is easier when you putt well.”

The day began with Stewart Cink, the winner of the opening two senior majors to date this season, one ahead of Harrington, but the potential shootout between the two dominant players on the PGA Tour Champions this season never really developed. By the 4^th tee, Harrington had moved three clear after birdies at his opening two holes and two early bogeys by Cink.

By the turn, Harrington was four clear, and he would eventually go on to win by four over Cink, with PGA Tour Champions rookie George McNeil another two shots back in 3^rd place.

In what was ultimately a disappointing week for the large Australasian contingent, Brend Jones and Michael Wright emerged as the best placed of the 12 who started the week when the pair tied for 20^th place.

Jones is playing with limited status on the PGA Tour Champions and, in his second season, gets very few opportunities, but after a slow start to the week, he put together rounds of 69, 69, and 70 to record his best finish of the year and earns a cheque for US$37,000.

Wright’s third round of 67 had him close to the top ten, but a round of 72 today saw him share 20^th place with Jones.

 Results

Brendan Jones, along with Michael Wright, led the Australians – image USGA

Kelsey Bennett – during today’s second round – image Ladies European Tour 

New South Wales golfer, Kelsey Bennett, already in third place on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit in 2026, finds herself in outright second place and two shots from the leader after the second round of the Helencourt Women’s Open in Belgium.

Bennett, in her third season on the LET,  won earlier in the season in one of the Ladies European Tour events in Australia when she was successful at the Australian Women’s Classic in New South Wales and also recorded a runner-up finish in Morocco this season, but a second round of 67 has her two behind Spain’s Carolina Chacarra.

If the name Chacarra sounds familiar, it is perhaps because her brother Eugenio has won twice on the men’s European Tour (DP World Tour this season).

“It was really solid,” Bennett said after her round. “I rolled in some nice putts and am really looking forward to this weekend. There’s still lots of golf to play out there. It was really tough out there yesterday. I was level-par through nine, then managed to squeeze a few in at the end. I definitely have a lot more confidence now I’ve won on tour.”

Bennett led this event after the opening round twelve months ago, so this is a venue that clearly fits the 26-year old’s eye.

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