Telfer's Thoughts 5.8.25

It’s finally all over, this marathon Major Championship season - 9 events in all. These days the season comprises five for women and the traditional four still for men.

The final Major was the women’s Open Championship, played down in Wales at the Royal Porthcawl course.

New Zealand, unusually, had three golfers in the field - Lydia Ko as per usual, but along with her were newcomers Amelia Garvey and Momoka Kobori, sister of Kazuma Kobori who is now established on the men’s DP World Tour. These two gained entry through qualifying tournaments in Europe where they’re based. Neither managed to make the cut. Garvey missed the cut by a single shot and Kobori was a further 4 shots back. Given their inexperience at this level of the game, both acquitted themselves well, especially Garvey who was regularly hitting her drive out over 260 yards, some 50 yards further than Lydia Ko’s average drives, in what were admittingly very difficult playing conditions. However, length, as we know in golf, isn’t everything, because Amelia averaged only around 6 fairways hit from her two rounds. This, in her first year on the world’s Number Two Tour for women, has seen Amelia string together 4 top 10 finishes prior to the Open Championship, clearly suggesting she has a bright future in the women’s game.

For Lydia, again unfortunately, it was another disappointing showing overall in a Major

Championship in 2025.

Lydia entered the Open as defending champion but a 1 over par 73 on Day One left her 6 shots off the lead. Things didn’t improve on Day Two with another 1 over par 73 which saw her make the cut with only 2 shots to spare.

However, during her back 9 on Day Two the British commentators, in their curious and ill-informed wisdom, decided to write her off completely, lamenting how the defending champion wouldn’t be around for the weekend because she was a stroke off making the cut for most of her second round. What these characters didn’t take into account was the increasingly strong winds blowing across the course which saw scoring become inevitably more difficult and so the cut went from even par to minus 2, enabling Lydia to ease into the 3rd round with that 2-shot cushion.

Her best showing came on Day Three with a 2 under par 70 that saw her move up to just inside the top 20 and with a chance of at least a top 10 finish, but instead she saved her worst for last with a 3 over 75 that left her in a tie for 36th place. It wasn’t all bad news for Lydia. This Major carried $US9.5 million in prize money. So even finishing well off the pace in a tie for 36th , Lydia picked up $US57,000 for her troubles.

Ryan Fox was back in action across the Atlantic on the USPGA Tour. A promising opening round of 68 had him inside the top 20 (just) and in good shape to make the cut at this 3M Championship event. His second round started well enough with an early birdie, but 4 bogeys on the back nine left him well outside the cut.

It was odd to see Ryan’s driving stats well down the list. His average driving distance of 307 yards had him only ranked 53rd in distance off the tee. Hopefully it was just a case of his game being a bit rusty after a 2-week break, followed by a trek back to America. This week he will want and need his game to be razor sharp for the first round of the FedEx Cup play-offs.

Some potentially mega-big pay days await Foxy if he can find his best form. This week he needs to finish in the top 50 to progress to the second round and then the top 30 the following week to make the finals.