Width & Angles: Aug 2nd, 2026
AIG Womens Open, Thor wins in Detroit!
A sneaky great week in golf! The AIG Women's Open had such an exciting finish at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, and Michael Thorbjornsen hit the gas in Detroit and got his first PGA Tour win. Let's break it all down!
AIG Women’s Open
Shiho Kuwaki takes down Esther Henseleit in a playoff to capture the AIG Women’s Open Championship. Esther Henseleit drained a 30-footer on the 18th to get into the playoff in dramatic fashion. In my opinion, Henseleit had the advantage and is probably kicking herself for some bad shots down the stretch. I think Kuwaki avoided the mistakes better than everyone else which is what you need to do on links golf. A weird thing is that the women don’t play a 3-hole aggregate playoff like the men do in The Open Championship (weird, why not make them the same?). This is another player to win a major without holding an LPGA Tour card. From what I have read, she has 24 hours to “accept” LPGA Tour membership, and it sounds like she has. With the popularity of women’s golf in Asia, I guess this isn’t a crazy thought.
I worry that we need to figure out a way to make the Women’s Open more in the spotlight. It feels like we sort of forget about the links golf season once the men’s Open Championship is over. I would almost rather the Women’s Open happen before the men’s, to make sure there is interest leading up to the men’s tournament.
Rocket Classic
The Rocket “don’t call me mortgage” Classic’s final version finished with a final-round 63 from Michael Thorbjornsen to beat a few studs coming down the stretch, including Xander Schauffele and Cam Young. If everyone remembers The Players this year, Thor was very in the mix on the final day until he dumped two balls in the water on the front nine and quickly ejected himself. In that moment, he looked extremely young and inexperienced. Today, he looked like a completely different player who was able to make the tournament his and close the door on the 18th. Maybe it was Koivun who put a bit of pep in his step by winning last week, but this is another one of the can’t-miss kids who have come up and seemingly struggled at the start of their careers. A win for the ten-finger baseball grip as well!
Admittedly, I didn’t watch a ton of the Rocket Classic, but from what I did see, it looked like they have beefed up Detroit Golf Club quite a bit. The tournament will no longer be a part of the PGA Tour schedule after this year, which I think is quite a blow to one of the major metropolitan areas of the country. In my opinion, it feels wrong not to have any type of Tour event in the state of Michigan with the number of golf courses available, but that is the new PGA Tour world we live in today.
LIV Golf
There are so many reports around LIV Golf right now that it is tough to make sense of it all. They have seemingly canceled the end-of-year team event (which is their best event) and are also on the brink of getting a $250 million investment from “blue chip” investors. It seems that LIV might not die per se, but with only $250 mil it will be a shell of itself, as there are reports that they burn $40-50 mil per tournament. It will be wild to see Jon Rahm playing in what will essentially be a glorified Korn Ferry Tour event, since Bryson is unlikely to stick around as $250 mil wouldn’t even cover the contract he is asking for.
I can’t wait for the facts to come out this week at LIV New Jersey, as this will be the first time there is press since this news has really come out. If LIV does die, it will be fascinating to see how the downfall occurs — whether the execs give up and turn the last events into a celebration, or it becomes a Brett Favre-like ending that drags on for two years more than needed.
Quick Thoughts
What happened to Minjee Lee? She has been playing awfully lately.
Rickie Fowler is having sinus surgery in the offseason — hope all is good and he comes back stronger! From experience, it sucks to play golf with allergies.
The pictures Grant Horvat released are horrendous. I am worried for the next generation of golf.
I have a brand-new set of KBS 120s iron shafts I am going to put into a pair of Nike TW blades, and I am so excited.
I am looking for a new golf travel bag:
The Club Glove system is interesting, but I already have a carry-on I like.
The Sun Mountain system is cool, but it can be heavy.
Rankings
Add Thor to the Yung Guns
NBC stinks
