The Monday Mulligan: the week that was in golf …
- themondaymulligan
- Jul 28, 2025
- 7 min read
Another big week in golf as we approach the business end of the season, with Majors on the line as well as strong form needed to fight it out for the remaining Ryder Cup spots. This week saw the PGA Tour Champions battle it out for the Senior Open whilst our professional women had a test-run on the links for the Scottish Open, before their Major this week. Plenty happening, read on for the recap.
Torque GC captain Joaquín Niemann delivered a breathtaking second‑round 8‑under (63), propelling him to a dominant six‑shot lead heading into Sunday. On Friday, Niemann shared the lead with Adrian Meronk and Branden Grace after a flawless 6‑under. Over the weekend, Niemann kept his mojo going to clinch his fifth individual LIV title of 2025, finishing at 17-under, three strokes clear of Bubba Watson. Jon Rahm, the defending champion and Legion XIII captain, improved with a strong 6-under final round but could only climb to fifth overall, trailing Niemann by 10 strokes. His team, Legion XIII, however, secured the team victory, helped by Caleb Surratt’s standout play and Rahm’s leadership. With only three regular‑season events remaining, Niemann further solidified his lead in the Individual Championship standings.
Best of the Aussies was Captain Cam Smith, who rallied to finish in tenth with Marc Leishman hot on his heels in T11. Unfortunately, Ripper GC couldn’t all put together a strong final round, starting the day in fourth and fading to sixth in the team standings.
Joaquin Niemann secures his fifth title of the season at LIV Golf UK by JCB
(photo courtesy of: www.livgolf.com)
Coming off the Open Championship in Northern Ireland, the PGA Tour returned stateside with a strong tournament field that offered opportunities to advance in the FedEx Cup. Canadian Adam Svensson set the tone with an opening round 60, the second‑lowest round of the season, and grabbed an early lead at 11-under. As the cut fell at 5-under, notable names like Tony Finau, Sungjae Im, Haotong Li and Keith Mitchell surprisingly missed the weekend—shaking up playoff hopes. But the star of the weekend was Kurt Kitayama, who began Sunday eight shots off the lead. He fired a record-tying 60 on Saturday to vault into contention and backed it with a 65 in the final round to win his second PGA Tour title by one stroke over Sam Stevens. Kitayama’s dominant weekend gained him around ten strokes on the field with his approach shots and vaulted him from 110th to 53rd in the FedEx Cup standings, essentially locking in his spot in the playoffs—and a shot at signature events next season.
Best of the Aussies was Adam Scott who got off to a strong start before finishing in T53 on 10-under.
Kurt Kitayama secures his second PGA Tour title at the 3M Open
(photo courtesy of: https://kstp.com/)
At just 21, English newcomer Lottie Woad made a stunning professional debut by winning the Women’s Scottish Open, finishing at 21-under and claiming victory by three strokes over Hyo Joo Kim. She led wire-to-wire, starting with a 67 in round one, moving into solo first after a bogey‑free 65 in round two for a halfway total of 12-under. On Sunday, Kim surged early with six birdies in her first 11 holes to draw level at 20-under, but bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes swung momentum back to Woad. Woad responded with birdies on 13 and 14, then closed with a birdie on 18, signing off with a 68 and sealing her first LPGA Tour title. Her victory capped off a remarkable month where weeks earlier she had won the Women’s Irish Open (as an amateur) and then finished third at the Evian Championship, earning her LPGA Tour status. Turning pro just days prior, she earned approximately US $300,000 in prize money for the win. Julia Lopez Ramirez fired the lowest round of the final day, a 65, to tie for third with Sei Young Kim, securing one of the final qualifying spots for the upcoming AIG. Meanwhile, World No. 1 Nelly Korda battled through a tough Sunday with multiple back‑nine bogeys to finish in fifth, eight shots behind Woad.
With a $2 million purse, this co‑sanctioned LET and LPGA Tour event drew a strong field, including four of the world’s top ten players and 15 major winners. Dundonald Links once more proved a stern yet magnificent links test for the women’s game—and introduced its newest star.
Best of the Aussies were Cassie Porter and Min Jee Lee who both finished in T21 at 5-under.
Lottie Woad wins the Women’s Scottish Open on her debut as a professional
(photo courtesy of: www.ladieseuropeantour.com)
The 38th Senior Open Championship took place at Sunningdale GC (Old Course) with a field of 144 golfers and a cut at +1 after 36 holes. The total purse stood at approximately US $2.85 million, with the champion’s share around $447,800.
Ireland’s Pádraig Harrington delivered a dominant, wire‑to‑wire victory, finishing on 16‑under (total 264), three shots ahead of Thomas Bjørn and Justin Leonard, both at 13-under. Harrington burst out of the gates with a stunning eagle at the first hole, then added birdies at the 6th, 9th, and 14th to build momentum. A couple of bogeys briefly tested his composure, but he closed with a steady par on 18 to seal the win. Earlier in the weekend, Harrington had led by two strokes entering Sunday, after a bogey‑free second round marked by consistent scoring across big holes. This triumph marked Harrington’s second senior major of 2025 (following his U.S. Senior Open win in June) and his third Senior major overall. It also made him the fifth golfer ever to win both The Open Championship and the Senior Open in a career. With his tenth PGA Tour Champions title, Harrington added to an extraordinary season.
The Aussie men battled hard and put up a solid showing, with 5 finishing inside the top thirteen. Scott Hend continued a strong season as he finished in solo fourth, with Cameron Percy hot on his heels in T5. Steven Allen and Greg Chalmers had a share of eighth, whilst Richard Green wasn’t far behind in T12.
Padraig Harrington goes wire-to-wire at the ISPS HANDA Senior Open
(photo courtesy of: www.supersport.com)
Regional Qualifying commenced this weekend for the NSW Open played later in the year at the Vintage Golf Course. The first of these events was held at Teven Valley Golf Course as Victorian Ben Henkel showed tremendous grit to outlast the conditions and the field to come away with the win. Rain halted play on numerous occasions during the final round on Saturday, before officials were forced to abandon the final round, leaving Henkel in the lead and the coveted NSW Open spots decided on countback. Henkel was a deserving winner, after holding the overnight lead by two strokes off the back of a strong opening round of 7-under. The NSW Open spots were snatched up by Queenslander Dillon Hart (-5), Kiama’s Wil Daibarra (-3) and Sydneysider Neven Basic (-3). The weather put a dampener on the event, where regional qualifying has been a determined effort to boost outlying communities and their economy by pushing these events away from the big cities. Hopefully conditions improve for the next event held at Lismore Workers Golf Club this week.
Up Ahead
It’s another Major week in golf, this time for our professional women who will be teeing it up at the AIG Women’s Open. It was clear to see plenty of tough lessons were learnt on the links at the Scottish Open, so it will be fascinating to see who adapts to the conditions the quickest and can bounce back. To get close, they will have to battle it out with some strong competition, with plenty of the big names finding form last weekend. Lydia Ko is our defending champion and this years Open carries a purse of $USD 9.5 million along with 650 points in the Race to CME Globe. Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Mid Glamorgan, Wales, is hosting the event and there are plenty of our Aussie women in the mix. Despite the conditions being different on the links, hopefully they can take their strong form from the Majors this year and put in another good display of golf.
The PGA Tour heads to the Sedgefield Country Club this week for the Wyndham Championship. There is $USD 8.2 million in prizemoney on offer along with 500 points for the FedEx Cup. However, for those eligible, a strong showing will be more important in terms of selection for the Ryder Cup, with spots heating up for both teams. Aaron Rai is our defending champion and will also be hunting a good result and the potential to throw his name in the mix for Team Europe.
The EPSON Tour continues this week at the Four Winds Invitational being played at the South Bend Country Club. Yahui Zhang was our winner last year and for the 2025 running of the event, there is a purse of $225,000 and 500 Points in the Race for the Card which is hotting up as we head into the final stretch of the season.
LET Access is off to Denmark to compete in the Q-Tour Himmerland Championship presented by Sand Spedition. The event offers a prize fund of €50,000 and is an opportunity for anyone who didn’t qualify for the AIG Women’s Open to get some tournament golf under the belt. Our Aussie women have been going strong in LET Access so hopefully they take full advantage in jump a few rungs in the order of merit with a strong showing this week.
A few tours remain on a break, with the DP World Tour enjoying a break before the ‘closing swing’ which will resume in mid-August. The Asian Tour also isn’t back in action until late August when they will compete at the Mandiri Indonesian Open. The Liv Golf League also takes a weekend off before resuming proceedings in Chicago.
That’s it for this week, I hope it covered what you were after and if not, feel free to get in touch and offer some suggestions so we can improve the blog here at The Monday Mulligan. We are stoked to be back and capturing the highs and lows across the world of golf.
That’s it for now, stay safe and play well!
Play well,
TMM
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