With the Masters behind us and the apparent fullness of spring’s arrival to the northern hemisphere, golf season is truly here. We have major champions in the women’s and men’s games, and we have slates of four, five, and six tournaments each week. We see shots like the one below with greater frequency, and the sense of rebirth is once again upon us.

There’s nothing quite like golf. It can’t really be played indoors, as other sports can. It demands that its practitioners demonstrate patience,as the Earth orbits into position for another season. We here at Tour Rundown are grateful to bring golf’s results to you, and we hope that you get to play with increasing frequency. Let’s share this moment and run down four events in this week’s edition of TR.

PGA Tour @ RBC Heritage: Thomas tops Novak on 73rd hole

Justin Thomas had not won a golf tournament since the PGA Championship in 2022. He had gotten married and become a father, and maybe those two, life moves, had changed him as a golfer. Maybe not. This week, on Hilton Head Island, Thomas took the first-round lead with 61, never left the 60s, gave the lead away, then retrieved it on day four. As often happens, he didn’t do anything spectacular over the final 18 holes, but he didn’t lose the event, as others did.

Andrew Novak hasn’t performed particularly well in major events during his brief career as a professional. Reaching a playoff was glorious enough, but the Charleston native wanted more. He wanted a win in his home state, and he nearly grabbed a plum one. Novak found himself in Sunday’s final pairing, with Si Woo Kim. While the Korean stumbled to 74 and a tie for eighth, Novak posted 68 to reach 17-under par. He had putts of 16 feet at 17 and 35 feet at 18, to win in regulation, but could not coax either into the hole.

Thomas and Novak returned to the coastal 18th to decide matters. Each reached the green in regulation two shots, but Novak faltered on a 34-foot putt for three. Thomas was true in his effort from 21 feet and secured a 16th career title on the PGA Tour.

LPGA @ LA Championship: All in with Ingrid

About two hours before the lead group made the turn, Nasa Hataoka signed for 63, posting a clubhouse lead of 18 under par on the week. No one thought that the number would hold up, but…nah. An hour later, Olympic silver medalist Esther Henseleit rocked a 64 of her own, to eclipse Hataoka’s 18-deep by one. Among the final two groups, Ingrid Lindblad had opened up a lead with an outward nine of 33. Her pursuers took note and stepped up their games.

First came Akie Iwai of Japan, followed by the USA’s Lauren Coughlin. At the same time that the duo began to surge, the birdie faucet ran dry for Lindblad. She posted just one birdie coming home, against eight pars. Turns out that solitary birdie was just enough. Coughlin arrived at the final tee on 20 under par. Needing birdie, she pressed and made bogey. She would end in a tie with Henseleit and Miyu Yamashita for third post. After reaching 21 under to match Lindblad, Iwai posted bogey at the last and fell to solo second. With the win, Lindblad joined the illustrious group of first-time LPGA champions.

DP World Tour @ China Open: WuChat comes back in Shanghai

While Eugenio Chacarra looked to win for the second time in a month, China’s hopes rested on a trio of its finest, young golfers. Haotong Li, Zechen Dou, and Wenyi Ding all range from 20 to 29 years of age, and each held the promise of a powerful nation, on the rise in the world of golf. By Sunday’s end, a native son had won the 2025 edition of the national open championship, but it was none of the aforementioned three.

Instead of rising in the moment, Li, Dou, and Ding each had trouble over the path of the final 18 holes. Another shining light, from a half generation older, found his way to the top step of the ladder. Ashun Wu, all of 39 years old, posted a seven-under par round of 65 on day four. He climbed from eighth place to the winner’s parking space, hoisting the Chinese Open title for the second time. Nearly ten years to the day since he won the same event for a first DP World Tour title, Wu came home in 31 strokes to ease past Jordan Smith of England, winning by one shot.

Haotong Li needed an eagle-eagle finish to catch Wu, and he nearly pulled it off. Li spanked a fairway metal onto the green of the par-four 17th hole, then holed the putt for a two. On 18, his approach nearly found the green, before descending into a pond fronting the green. Li finished three shots back of the winner.

Korn Ferry Tour: Shipley wins big in overtime

In 2023, Neal Shipley rose to the top of the amateur golf world. He found his way to the final of the US Amateur championship. Although he was unable to topple the top-ranked Nick Dunlap, Shipley gained spots in the subsequent Masters and US Open tournaments. He made the cut in each, finishing as a two-time, low amateur, before turning professional.

As of today, Shipley is a winner in the professional ranks. He summitted the Suncoast Classic field at Lakewood National, finishing in a tie for first at 18-under par. KFT verteran Hank Lebioda nearly caught Shipley and Seungtaek Lee, posting 17-under par for solo third place. Shipley and Lee returned to the 18th tee, where Shipley missed the green and could not get up and down for par. Normally, matters would have concluded there, but Lee took three putts on the green, matching Shipley’s bogey. Six more pars from the duo brought them back to the tee for a fifth time in extra holes.

With the calm of a veteran, Shipley banged a thirty-feet putt up to, then in, the hole. Lee was unable to match and Shipley took a step toward earning a PGA Tour card.

“I mean, the kid’s got it.”

Neal Shipley’s caddie expects big things the rest of the season. pic.twitter.com/T086q4mPCP

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) April 20, 2025

PGA Tour @ Puntacana Championship: Move along, please

With competitive golf comes the potential for crushing defeat. It was that way for Joel Dahmen in the second PGA Tour event of the weekend. None of the leaders on Sunday did much of anything. None of them broke par, allowing Alejandro Tosti to creep eleven spots into a tie for 2nd, with a round of 68. Dahmen stood even par for the day, on the 13th tee. The wheels, as they say, simply came off. Dahmen took three putts on the green for bogey, then proceeded to close the week with consecutive bogeys from 16 through 18.

At 16, Dahmen missed the green from the fairway. At 17, he again erred on his approach, and did so again at the last. The result was a spot in the second-place quintet, one shot back of Garrick Higgo, a young South African itinerant golfer. Higgo did half of what Dahmen did. He made bogey at 13 and 17, but saved par the rest of the way. Higgo had previously won on the PGA Tour in 2021 at the Palmetto Classic. He was able to survive a battle of the fittest, edging out Tosti, Dahmen, Keith Mitchell, Jeremy Paul, and Michael Thorbjornsen by a single shot.

The thrill of victory ?

The moment Garrick Higgo became a champion once again. pic.twitter.com/Kp5yo57BEX

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 20, 2025