Major golf gets weird, Caitlin Clark’s Masters review | Monday Finish

Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we’re writing Scottie Scheffler letters about playing the Zurich together next year. To the news …

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GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Eyes on the prize.

Here are a few things that happened on or around the 18th green in the final hour of play on Sunday at the Chevron, the first women’s major of the year:

–Ariya Jutanugarn, needing birdie to definitely win and par to likely win, whiffed a chip from behind the 18th green and wound up making bogey.

–Haeran Ryu took several minutes to play from the fairway, took an extra club, nuked one into the grandstand, took several more minutes to figure out a drop — and then chipped in for eagle.

-Several pros got up and down from around the grandstand and made birdie to tie the lead.

-Five women finished at 7-under par, setting up a mega-playoff.

–Ronni Yin hit a sensational fairway-wood approach in the playoff, setting up a good look at eagle — and then three-putted.

-Jutanugarn missed a short putt for birdie when it horseshoed around the hole and out.

The last woman standing was Japan’s Mao Saigo, the 23-year-old rising star from Japan, who made birdie to get into the playoff, was the only player to make birdie in the playoff and walked off a winner.

That’s when things went from strange to downright scary. Saigo took the traditional winner’s jump into Poppie’s Pond — but soon was grabbing onto her caddie, Jeffrey Snow, for help.

“I’m not really a good swimmer. When I went inside, it was deep and at first I thought I was going to drown,” she said in her winner’s press conference. Yikes!

Beth Ann Nichols tracked down the details, reinforcing that a good caddie is there for their player when they need it; credit to Snow for going 19 holes on Sunday and pulling off his most crucial carry post-round. Let’s just say we’re impressed with Saigo’s two clutch birdie putts and not dwell too much on what would have been. A warm robe, some drama and a sense of relief — that’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

“This is like dreaming,” Mao Saigo said after her Chevron victory. But that doesn’t mean she’s ready to wake up. “I still have four more majors to go [this year], and I want to shoot for No. 1 in the world,” she said. This was a nice start.

Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin had each been knocking on the door of their first PGA Tour victories; on Sunday they combined for one at the two-man Zurich Classic. “I think for both Andrew and I, it felt like it was only a matter of time out here,” Griffin said post-round. “It means the world to finally get it done. I couldn’t think of a better guy to get it done with than right here with Andrew.”

Joaquin Niemann won LIV Golf’s event in Mexico City; Niemann’s victory was his fifth on LIV, tying Brooks Koepka for the all-time lead. The win earns Niemann a berth in the U.S. Open via LIV’s first official major exemption; it was also the first time his mother has seen him win as a pro.

“As a professional on my tour,” he said. “She hadn’t seen me win on the PGA Tour and not here, either, so yeah, it’s pretty special.”

John Keefer shot 30-under par to win a shootout at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Veritex Bank Championship and continue his climb up the world ranking; he’s now No. 92 despite just one PGA Tour start.

Marco Penge won his first DP World Tour title at the 2025 Hainan Classic, punching a ticket to the PGA Championship thanks to his three-shot victory. “It’s something that I’ve always dreamt of achieving — winning on the biggest stage,” he said.

NOT-WINNERS

But not losers, either.

Ariya Jutanugarn, Ronni Yin, Hyo Joo Kim and Lindy Duncan finished T2 after losing to Saigo’s birdie on the first playoff hole. They were largely positive about their near-miss, particularly Duncan:

“That was the loudest I’ve ever heard on a golf course. The cheering was incredible,” she said of the birdie putt she’d holed on the 18th hole in regulation. “To make a putt like that to get into the playoff, I’ll remember forever.”

The Højgaard twins, Rasmus and Nicolai, finished second in New Orleans just two weeks after they became the first twins to tee it up in the same Masters — and gave a sneak preview of a theoretical Ryder Cup partnership.

“It’s a long time since I really enjoyed a week like this where I could have my bro as my partner and also contend,” Nicolai said post-round. “That was pretty fun again.”

And 17-year-old sensation Blades Brown shot 27 under on the Korn Ferry Tour to finish T2, setting up a fascinating decision matrix where he ended up WD’ing from this week’s PGA Tour event to chase another Korn Ferry Tour start instead as he pursues temporary membership in search of a full-time place to play. Clearly he has the game to belong …

SHORT HITTERS

5 intriguing updates from around the golf world.

1. A decision on the new Tour Championship format could come in the next few weeks, and while starting strokes may be out, match play is unlikely to replace them, per a report from Golfweek’s Adam Schupak.

2. Lexi Thompson’s trip to contention — and eventual T14 finish — highlighted the in-or-out semi-retirement Thompson has been dabbling with the last year or so. Here was our Josh Berhow on the wave of retirements that swept across the LPGA last season.

3. The LPGA Tour’s newly implemented slow-play policy was put to the test on Sunday when its tournament leader’s group was put on the clock. (It was still slow.)

4. In addition to Penge, two pros earned spots at the PGA Championship via the DP World Tour: Keita Nakajima, the Japanese pro and former No. 1 am, and Eugenio Chacarra, the Spanish ex-LIV pro and former Arizona State standout.

5. Oklahoma State sophomore Preston Stout won his second consecutive Big 12 title and did so with the flu — and at a brutal major championship test in Southern Hills.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

Staying positive.

Andrew Novak on his near-misses and how he hasn’t let them get him down:

“I think I’ve done a pretty good job not getting overly frustrated with the close shaves,” he said. “I’ve been trying to take as many positives from each as I can because the idea is I can put myself in that position as many times as I’m able to. I want to get better each time I’m in that position. I want to be more comfortable. I want to have things that I can look back on and improve on. Yeah, it’s frustrating, but it’s also nice going into a tournament knowing you’re playing well.”

RYDER CUP WATCH

Novak watch?!

Novak’s co-victory has him up two spots from No. 11 to No. 9. We saw that he plays well with others and, more importantly, we saw him continue to play well. Griffin also leapt from No. 45 to No. 21 in the standings, just ahead of U.S. captain Keegan Bradley …

On the European side, Rasmus Højgaard reclaimed his No. 3 spot while Nicolai moved up to No. 30 after earning his first significant points of the qualifying period. But with twins and teamwork, you’d have to figure there are some things you can’t measure …

Here are the current top-12s on each side (complete rankings here):

TEAM USA

1. Scottie Scheffler – 14,579 points

2. Xander Schauffele – 11,133

3. Collin Morikawa – 8,586

4. Bryson DeChambeau – 8,190

5. Russell Henley – 7,824

6. Justin Thomas – 7,583

–

7. Mav McNealy – 5,745

8. Brian Harman – 5,714

9. Andrew Novak – 5,588

9. J.J. Spaun – 4,778

10. Patrick Cantlay – 4,329

12. Harris English – 3,714

TEAM EUROPE

1. Rory McIlroy – 2,883 points

2. Tyrrell Hatton – 991

3. Rasmus Højgaard – 982

4. Justin Rose – 870

5. Shane Lowry – 863

6. Ludvig Åberg – 810

–

7. Tommy Fleetwood – 687

8. Thomas Detry – 625

9. Matt Wallace – 572

10. Niklas Norgaard – 554

11. Laurie Canter – 521

12. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen – 502

ONE THING TO WATCH

Caitlin Clark perfectly summarized the joy of the in-person Masters experience. I found her no-phone takes especially meaningful coming from a 23-year-old — more specifically one of the most photographed 23-year-olds in the world.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

I entered U.S. Open qualifying — with disastrous results. The comeback tour begins tomorrow.

We’ll see you next week!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.