As is expected at a major championship, many story lines developed throughout the day at Riviera Country Club. There were amateurs in the mix. There were young and old professionals without major wins, seeking an initial one. There were major winners seeking another on the way to hall of fame status. As for the golf course, there was concern that the competition committee might lose control over green speeds and rough heights (they didn’t) and that they might eliminate cool features like the backstops on the first and sixth greensites (they didn’t.) Riviera was a spectacular success for the USGA, at a time when it needed one. Riviera will host two men’s major competitions over the next half decade (the 2028 Olympic tournament and the 2031 men’s U.S. Open) and the blueprint has been laid down for how to set the course.

The lead was passed around throughout the day like a trip photo album. Riviera gave up a few low scores, with 67 from Charley Hull and Pajaree Anannarukarn leading the pack. Makes sense, since today is 6/7. What Riviera did not do, was offer up a 64 or 65 that would have allowed a distant chaser into contention. The old dame of the Palisades made it clear that you would earn the open by consistent play throughout the week, not with one dazzling effort over 18 holes.

As mentioned, so many story lines. We’ll hold ourselves to just four as we conclude Open week and say goodbye to Pacific Palisades and her barrancas and kikuyu. Here’s what we learned on day four of the U.S. Women’s Open.

Storyline One: The Amateurs

Four amateurs finished inside the top twenty-five players at this year’s celebration. Kiara Romero was not one of the three mentioned yesterday, but she was the class of the crew on Sunday. Romero closed with two birdies and a par, to finish on three shots under par. That was enought to edge Maria Jose Marin for the gold medal. Marin also made birdie at 16 and 17, but she slipped to bogey on 18 to finish T8, just behind Romero’s T6. Also representing the non-working class with distinction were Aphrodite Deng  at T17 and Asterisk Talley at T22.

Storyline Two: Charley comes close again

I’m not counting, but Charley Hull has a dozen, top-ten finished in major titles. She began competing full-time in these prestigious events in 2014, which works out to one close call a year. On Sunday, Hull played magnificently through the first eleven holes. She had five birdies and one bogey through eleven holes, and reached eight-under par. Perhaps aware that she had assumed the lead, Hull gave two shots back over the next three holes., and slipped to minus-six. One final birdie at 17 brought her agonizingly close to another major title. Hull underclubbed on her approach at twelve, then took three putts from distance. On fourteen, she once again came up short, this time in a bunker, but came out briliantly to three feet. Whether it was a misread or an open face is left to the mists. What is known is that she missed for a second bogey in three holes.

Some who have not felt the sharp blade of competition will carelessly toos comments like she just can’t putt or he putting lets her down to give plausible explanation for why Charley Hull did not win. Check out the two-putts that she made at 15 and 16. Over 100 feet of putts combined, and she got the ball in the hole in four strokes. If I had to guess, it would come down to adrenaline and the ability to manage it, but only on certain holes. Truth is, no one played better than Hull on Sunday. Her 26 putts were tied for 6th on the day. On the three holes where she made bogey, she had a putt for birdie.  In the end, it was rotten luck that Hull didn’t raise the trophy.

Storyline Three: Lopez almost gets it done for the kitchen staff

Politics and culture rarely take any stage during a major golf event. Once in a blue moon, Payne Stewart discusses race relations or Scottie Scheffler gets arrested, but nearly always, the golf occupies 100% of the media production. That’s why it was so heartwarming to hear Gaby Lopez discuss the pride she felt all week, when greeting the kitchen staff at Riviera. Lopez is Mexican, and she acknowledged that all of the kitchen staff at Riviera is Hispanic, mostly Mexican. Lopez beamed with pride when she revealed how supported she felt, and how she longed to win the title for them and for her home country. She nearly made the dream a reality.

Lopez made nine consecutive pars on Sunday, which did nothing to label her a contender. If you check the USGA highlights for the co-runner up, you’ll see only a putt on ten and eleven, and an approach and putt on thirteen. Let me fill in the spaces: Lopez had five feet and in for birdie on all three holes. Like Hull at 16, Lopez played beyond the hole, then took three putts from distance. Lopez could not get up and down for birdie from the penultimate hole’s right greenside bunker, but she did drop a twenty-feet putt for birdie at the last.

Storyline Four: Nelly Korda has the first two legs of the Grand Slam

Nelly Korda was the picture of consistency on Sunday. She had one boegy on her card, courtesy of a three-putt green. No one completely mastered the George Thomas greens in the valley. Hogan’s Alley, though, became Nelly’s Valley, as the Floridian won her second major title of 2026, and created a buzz for the Women’s PGA, to be held next month in Minnesota.

Like the other challengers, Korda hit around 10 greens and 10 fairways in regulation. The massive putting surfaces place a premium on proximity to the hole. Every element of Korda’s game was better than the field, save for putting. Off the tee, from the fairway, around the green, Nelly was nasty. As for the putting, all that she needed was one putt fewer than the rest, and she got it, but just barely. Her open-faced tug from two feet caught the left edge and fell. It was about the worst putt, at about the worst time, as one might imagine, but it was good enough.