Esther Henseleit tapped in for bogey and turned around to look into the fading sunset at Royal Lytham. Forty minutes earlier, the 27-year-old German had made the putt of a lifetime, draining a long bomb for birdie on the 72nd hole to tie Shiho Kuwaki and send the AIG Women’s Open to a playoff.
She then missed a much shorter birdie putt to win the first playoff hole and watched as her tee shot on the second playoff hole apparently hit a marshal in the leg and ricocheted into a gorse bush. She hacked out into the fairway, played her third onto the green, but missed her par putt. With Kuwaki in close for par, Henseleit was left to rue a missed opportunity as Kuwaki rolled in the par putt to win the year’s final major in stunning fashion. The 23-year-old from Japan is a multi-time winner on the JLPGA and will be a staple on the LPGA. Make no mistake, Shiho Kuwaki won the AIG Women’s Open. As chaos enveloped Royal Lytham on Sunday, it was Kuwaki who played her final 13 holes in regulation in two under to post five under and put pressure on 54-hole leader Yealimi Noh and Henseleit to match. It was Kuwaki who hit a perfectly flighted iron to the small landing spot on the par-3 ninth for a key birdie. It was Kuwaki who steadied herself after early trouble, played fast and confident, and did what no one else on Sunday could.
This was Shiho Kuwaki’s day. The champagne showers and the LPGA membership that comes with a life-changing win prove that.
But if anything summed up Sunday at the year’s final major, it was Henseleit’s look off into the distance as reality set in, a look that said how fast everything could change at Royal Lytham and an ominous feeling of “what could’ve been.”
But Esther Henseleit isn’t the only one leaving Royal Lytham feeling they let a golden major opportunity slip away.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda fired a final-round three-under 68 to finish in a tie for fourth at two under. Sunday’s round saw 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 kept throwing punches, but big mistakes like the closing double bogey on Saturday and an early seven on Sunday were the difference between a third major and a solid, but otherwise bland finish to a brilliant major season.
Alongside Korda was World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul, who opened the tournament with a brilliant round of 64. As Thitikul torched Lytham’s greens on Thursday, it felt like this might be the week she finally won her maiden major title. Instead, Thitikul’s putter went cold over the final three rounds, including Sunday’s final round, where she went out in three over and was unable to make anything coming home to meet the bar set by Kuwaki.
“It’s just kind of shake it off,” Thitikul said leaving Lytham. “I knew I missed some, but I feel like my game wasn’t that bad. I just couldn’t make putts like the first day, and then we just couldn’t hit it that close because of the wind, the pin position, and everything. That’s why I [couldn’t make] the putt.”
Yealimi Noh held the lead for as long as she could on Sunday. Battling final-round nerves, Noh scraped her way around Lytham’s front nine and watched her lead go from five to one as she made the turn. By the time she bogeyed 14, she had lost the lead and needed to make a birdie coming in to match Kuwaki. When her final birdie attempt on 18 came up short, Noh admitted she was hurt by how Sunday unfolded, especially a missed short putt for par at 14, but exited the carnage at Lytham with a silver lining.
“I will be taking away a lot more than I thought I would be this week,” an emotional Noh told NBC’s Cara Banks after the round, wiping tears from her eyes. “It stings just being one short, but very happy with the week. I told myself this morning, no matter what happens, I’m just really happy to be in this position again. A couple of weeks ago, I wasn’t even feeling the want to play golf — obviously play — but I was losing a lot of motivation with my past results.
“But this week has really helped me feel so much better about my game and realize why I’m doing this. Coming up 18 was pretty incredible, just in front of those crowds and playing here at the Open. Very grateful.”
But there might be no bigger what ifs than from the two players who the crowd at Lytham tried their hardest to will to victory. Lottie Woad entered Sunday four shots back of Noh. Charley Hull was one shot back of her but ready to put the pedal down to chase her first major title in 75 tries.
As Noh scuffed along and Lytham pummeled the field, the title was there for the taking for either Woad or Hull.
Woad opened with a bogey but got the stroke back with a birdie at six. With the par-5 seventh coming up, it looked like Woad was in position to pin her ears back and put pressure on Noh. Instead, she made a mess of the seventh and dropped a shot. When she missed a birdie putt at the eighth, Woad became visibly irritated. When her par putt at the ninth missed the cup, she swiped her putter through the air knowing that her major opportunity was slipping away. No late Sunday magic materialized for Lottie Woad. She played the back nine in even par, and her bogey at the 16th served as the final nail in Sunday’s would-be comeback.
With a leaderboard filled with players with few LPGA winning moments, Sunday seemed like it could be Charley Hull’s day. With five major runner-up finishes, Hull has experience in the cauldron. She emptied the tank at Riviera and was just beaten by Nelly Korda. A furious run to catch Miyu Yamashita at last year’s AIG Women’s Open was derailed by two bad swings. But Charley Hull had been here before, and now it appeared her moment had finally arrived. Sunday, in benign conditions, set up for Charley Hull to finally become a major champion.
Instead, Hull quickly lost control. She made a double bogey at the third and then made another double at the par-5 seventh after hitting her approach into a pot bunker. Birdies at nine and 11 got Hull back onto the periphery, but every birdie attempt coming home veered away from the hole. Perhaps nothing better told the story of Hull’s unsuccessful charge than the tee shot on the short par-4 13th. Needing to make a move, Hull pulled driver and hit it a bullet through the northwestern English wind. It was a pure strike, one of her best of the day, but Hull immediately knew it might not deliver the desired result. It landed on the front of the green, bounded across the putting surface and rolled into a thick patch of dried-out rough. Unsure of how the ball would come out, Hull left her pitch well short and two-putted for par. When her birdie putt just missed right, she pointed for it to go left and shook her head.
As Charley Hull approached Lytham’s clubhouse, she tried to give the English crowd one final firework, even if her title dreams were dashed. But her closing birdie attempt missed the hole, closing the book on another winless major championship season. Charley Hull quickly tapped in for par and exited another major she could’ve won, with nothing but scars.
Hours after Korda, Hull and Woad left Royal Lytham, Esther Henseleit looked out at nothing in particular, her would-be signature major moment quickly evaporating as Shiho Kuwaki rolled in a short putt and raised her arms in triumph.
“I just can’t believe it,” Kuwaki said through an interpreter afterward. “I just can’t believe it.”
That feeling was everywhere in the aftermath at Royal Lytham. But she’s the only one who won’t be trying to forget her reason for disbelief.
