The final full week of August 2024 brought some keen memories to preserve. The final major championship of the season was celebrated by the ladies in Scotland. The second of three playoff events took place on the PGA Tour, while the first of four was celebrated on the Korn Ferry Tour. The DP World Tour and the PGA Tour Champions moved toward the conclusions of their respective seasons. Captain America made an appearance in Colorado, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Put on your lap belt and charge up for another Tour Rundown.

Women’s Open @ St. Andrews

It is often written about potential talents, that the first victory opens the floodgates, and many others follow. For Lydia Ko, chapter two of her career centered around winning the last tournament needed to earn LPGA Hall of Fame qualification. When she completed the KoFecta at Paris in the Olympics, many surmised that the floodgates had opened for a second time. They were proven right today.

Lydia Ko did not find the 60s at The Old Course at St. Andrews until Sunday. That’s right. Her latest major championship came at none other than the birthplace of golf as we know it. As leaders tumbled deeper into the 70s, Ko moved up the leader board. She was closing with birdie at the time that Nelly Korda was making bogey at the 17th.

Ko won by two shots over four golfers. Jiyai Shin, the 54-hole leader, struggled on day four. Defending champion Lilia Vu made a valiant effort at defense, but came up just shy. Korda made double at Long and bogey at Road, and fell down from the top rung. Finally, Ruoning Yin made a run of her own, but could not find enough birdies down the stretch to challenge Ko.

The Open represents a fourth checked box in the major championship column. After wins at Evian, Chevron, Olympics, and now, Open, only the US Open and the Women’s PGA remain. Bet on Ko to take down both of those championships, and become the seventh to win the career grand slam, and the latest since Annika Sorenstam, in 2003.

BMW Championship @ Castle Pines

The golf world was electrified when Keegan Bradley was named captain of the USA side for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. As of July 22nd, Bradley was the 26th-ranked player on the USA list, and some intimated that he might make a run at the team on valor. After this week at Castle Pines, those intimations became much more realistic.

Keegan Bradley found a way to edge past Sam Burns, Ludvig Aberg, and Adam Scott, to earn his seventh PGA Tour victory. Burns closed furiously with 65, posting eight birdies along the way. Only a bogey at the par-five 14th hole disrupted his march to victory. Scott did his best Bradley impression for much of the tournament, hoping to be the old-guy-breaks-through story at the BMW, but four bogies on the inward half derailed his express train. Finally, young Ludvig Aberg sought a second PGA Tour win, for validation. Like Adam Scott, Aberg had his trials on the inward half, posting a trio of bogeys to fall short of the victory robe.

As for Bradley, his birdie at 17 gave him a two-shot cushion. He used up half of it, surrendering a stroke to par at the last. His 72 was enough to slide into victory’s DMs, and give everyone pause on the topic of Ryder Cup 2025.

Boise Open @ Hillcrest

Matt McCarty played his college golf at Santa Clara. This year, McCarty has played like a Bronco on the Korn Ferry Tour. In July, he won his first tour title in Missouri. In early August, he won again, this time in Nebraska. On Sunday, McCarty claimed a third victory in a third unique state. The longest-tenured event on tour, dating to the inaugural season in 1990, takes place in Idaho, and McCarty used it as the site of his battlefield promotion to the PGA Tour.

Round one saw a 62 from Kevin Roy take the lead, but McCarty was just one stroke in arrears. He would post 64 on day two, to seize the lead from Roy, a lead that he would not relinquish. Roy ultimately earned solo second on the week, and moved to tenth spot on the year-long points list. As for McCarty, he close with 67-69, good for a two-shot margin of victory. Despite bogeys at 14 and 15, the champion closed with birdie-par-par to seal his third title of 2024.

Danish Championship @ Lübker

2024 may go down as the year of French golf, if you assess it properly. Last week, David Ravetto trimuped on the DP World Tour, and this week, he nearly repeated. Ravetto finished on nine under par, one shot out of a tie for 2nd with Lucas Bjerregaard and Romain Langasque (also a Frenchman.) Atop the leader board was, you guessed it, France’s Frederic LaCroix, four shots clear of the chasers.

Bjerregaard had the upper hand through 54 holes, but three bogeys and a double through the turn lost him three shots to old man Par. LaCroix made up six shots with a tidy 33, and came home in identical fashion, for a round of 66. LaCroix began the week with an eagle three at the first, and that rare bird served as a harbinger for Sunday. Langasque matched two birdies with two bogies on Sunday, and was unable to catch his country mate. After his stumble on the outward nine, Bjerregaard recovered with a one-under 35 coming home, and salvaged the runner-up tie with Langasque.

Ally Challenge @ Warwick Hills

Three golfers had posted opening round pairs in the 60s. David Branshaw and Bob Estes aren’t household names, but Stewart Cink is. Both Branshaw and Estes faded on Sunday, into the seventies and a top-ten finish. As for Cink, he stayed in the 60s and reached 17-under par. Cink turned in three-under par 33, and finished up with another nine of the same number. That performance meant that the field had to double down on birdies, and no one could get close enough to frighten Cink.

The battle for second spot was won by K. J. Choi. In late July, Choi won his first major title ever, at the Senior Open. In Michigan, Choi was able to navigate Warwick Hills in 68 strokes, just enough to keep him ahead of Mike Weir’s 64 for -11. The Tour Champions moves on to St. Louis after Labor Day, for the Ascension.