Welcome to this week’s Golf Insider, everyone!
On Sunday, July 26, Jenny Shin captured her first win in over 10 years at the 2026 ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open. While Dundonald Links took down the big names, the course allowed the unsung heroes to rise to the occasion.
Shin was one of the only players able to do some damage on Dundonald Links in Ayrshire, Scotland last week. She went wire-to-wire to win her second LPGA Tour championship and first since 2016. The win was a special one for Shin.
“I had a pretty rough patch in my career. This is my 16th [year] and from year eight to probably 12, I really struggled out here,” Shin said in her post-win press conference on July 26.
“This is such a difficult job. And to find love and to continue to love this job is incredibly difficult. So I found that spark after COVID, and I’m really glad I did because my number one goal was win again. I’m going to do everything I can to win again.”
On the first day, Shin took hold of the lead, along with 2024 Women’s Scottish Open champion Lauren Coughlin. Both players shot a 6-under-par 66 to sit atop the leaderboard after Thursday’s round. Shin posted three of her seven first-round birdies in her first five holes, and her 66 was her first opening round of 66 or lower since the 2025 Maybank Championship. This co-lead was also her best opening position in the Women’s Scottish Open in her career. Things were just different this time around.
Shin continued her dominant play with another solid round on Friday. She shot a 5-under-par 67 to take a five-stroke lead into moving day. While many players moved the opposite way desired on the leaderboard, Shin kept rising, creating a comfortable gap between herself and Esther Henseleit heading into the weekend. Shin’s 67 was the best round on the course on Friday.
After shooting a 1-under-par 71 on Saturday’s moving day round, Shin retained her five-shot lead heading into the final round. That championship Sunday, though, was a different story for Shin. Instead of taking her fate into her own hands, she had to play defense to eke out a victory.
Shin got off to a rough start on Sunday, going out on the front nine with a 39 (+3) that included three bogeys in a row. With the trophy in the back of her mind and a wire-to-wire victory on the line, she had some mental and physical work to do.
“Just stay in it. Don’t sink the ship. Don’t mess up,” Shin said she told herself during that final round.
The final round showed just how important Shin’s fairways and greens in regulation statistics were earlier in the week. On each of the holes she bogeyed on Sunday, she missed both the fairway and the green. This is the beauty and the damnation of links golf: it’s really difficult to escape with par if you don’t play the hole the way it’s set up.
While Shin was fighting through her final round, someone was coming from behind to make a push. A Lim Kim, who started out the week with a solid 67 (-5), made four straight birdies on holes No. 9, 10, 11 and 12 to shoot up the leaderboard. Ultimately, though, Kim ran out of gas and was left to only hope that Shin dropped a few shots for a chance at a playoff. One of Shin’s playing partners, Pajaree Anannarukarn, was making a charge too, putting the pressure on Shin with front nine birdies while she was dropping shots.
“I kept looking at the leaderboard and I hate being chased but at the same time, I think I love adrenaline. I’m definitely a junky. So I just love competing,” Shin said.
“Just the whole, you know, the mental width that I had with Pajaree, as well. She was making a bunch of birdies and I was making bogeys and I could feel her breath right next to me. It was fun. That was exhilarating.”
Ultimately, the chases from Kim and Anannarukarn weren’t enough, as Shin’s five-shot lead was just too much to overcome. Shin hung in there to shoot a 3-over-par 75 in the final round and claim the trophy.
And heading to the English coast from July 30 to Aug. 2, Shin knows she needs to be prepared. Maybe the links gods will bestow more good fortune on her at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s this week at the AIG Women’s Open. Practice for this major was on her mind, even immediately after her victory.
“Yeah, I can’t wait to work on my swing. I feel like the wind changed my swing a little bit. I really just want to practice,” Shin said.
The AIG Women’s Open is the last major championship of the season, and players that didn’t make their mark last week in Scotland will certainly be looking to bounce back this week. Nelly Korda and Lottie Woad, who folks have their eyes on as potential winners, both struggled at the Women’s Scottish Open. Korda, though, looked at her result in a positive light ahead of her chance to capture the career grand slam.
“It was nice to finish with a good round on Sunday leading into next week but I think any time that you get to play in this kind of weather right before the British, it’s great prep and you know what you’re going to get,” Korda said in a post-tournament interview on July 26.
Woad, on the other hand, doesn’t have the pressure that Korda does going into the Women’s Open. She’ll feel right at home, actually. Woad says it’s her favorite event, and since she only gets to play links golf once or twice a year, it’s a good challenge.
“I think links golf is fun. It can be tricky, too. Definitely need a little bit of luck out there, too, with some of the bounces and the wind,” Woad said in a pre-tournament press conference on July 28.
Golf analyst, former LPGA Tour pro and 2026 Solheim Cup Vice Captain Mel Reid said on the most recent episode of her podcast “Quiet Please” that Lytham is possibly the most difficult course these players will face in a Women’s Open. She did acknowledge that she may have some emotional stake in making that statement but thinks it’s a true links test that will play firm and fast.
The weather will also certainly be a factor. It seems like the heatwave and sunshine that blanketed the U.K. for the men’s Open Championship has passed, and we may be back to our regularly scheduled links golf weather programming. But the weather is unpredictable. It sometimes makes the difference between a low-scoring champion and an all-out bogey-fest.
Reid also noted in that podcast episode that this week at the Women’s Open is a crucial one for the Europeans. It’s the last chance for European golfers to qualify for the 2026 Solheim Cup.
There are a few players that are in the field this week that are looking to catch the eye of 2026 Solheim Cup Captain Anna Nordqvist. Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Leona Maguire are Nos. 63 and 79, respectively, in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. LET breakout stars Helen Briem and Agathe Laisné have 132 and 111 points, respectively, in the Solheim Cup European points standings.
These four golfers have a last chance to put in a solid performance before the Cup teams are announced. So, if you can believe it, there’s much more on the line than just a major championship this week.
Alright, golf fans, I’ll leave you to enjoy the 2026 AIG Women’s Open, and we’ll see you next week to crown a champion. I’ll be on the edge of my seat until then!
Until next time.
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This week in women’s golf
LPGA News
Major comeback: Georgia Hall returns to Royal Lytham & St Annes
Woad expecting good test and wanting to win AIG Women’s Open
Two players remain in contention for Rolex ANNIKA Major Award
Featured groups: 2026 AIG Women’s Open
Field breakdown: 2026 AIG Women’s Open
How to watch 2026 AIG Women’s Open
Memorable milestones at the AIG Women’s Open
Jenny Shin claims her first LPGA win in over a decade at Women’s Scottish Open
A Lim Kim finishes runner-up at Women’s Scottish Open
Pajaree Anannarukarn closes with 74, finishes solo third at Women’s Scottish Open
LET News
Major debutants excited to get going at 2026 AIG Women’s Open
Hull aiming to feel relaxed and not pressured at home open
Popov returns to AIG Women’s Open ten weeks after welcoming second child
11 LET stars earn 2026 AIG Women’s Open spots at final qualifying
LET heads to AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes
LET reaffirms commitment to The R&A Women in Golf Charter
Free sports bra fittings open to public at 2026 Women’s Scottish Open (let’s freaking go)
Epson Tour News
Christine Wang claims first Epson Tour win at 2026 Hartford HealthCare Women’s Championship
A commitment beyond competition: Hartford HealthCare champions player wellness
Amateur Golf News
First eight named to 2026 United States PING Junior Solheim Cup team
Five at The IX: Christine Wang captures first Epson Tour win at the 2026 Hartford HealthCare Women’s Championship, skyrockets 50 spots in Race for the Card standings
On Sunday, July 26, Christine Wang fired a 3-under-par 68 to claim her first Epson Tour win at the Hartford HealthCare Women’s Championship. She outlasted a surging Mirabel Ting, who went 64-66 on the weekend. With the win, Wang boosts herself up 50 spots into 13th place in the Epson Tour’s Race for the Card standings, where the top 15 players gain LPGA Tour membership for the 2027 season. As we get into the latter half of the season, each win is crucial. Here are some snippets from Wang’s post-win press conference from The Golf Club of Avon, Connecticut.
Q: Did you think that coming into the tournament this week that you were going to be standing here as the champion on Sunday?
CHRISTINE WANG: I’ve been playing some really good golf, I think I mentioned that yesterday, but probably not because I would say this is a new course and I wasn’t in a Pro-Am so I was only able to see the course on Tuesday when it rained the entire day so I didn’t really get a great look at the course so I’m just trying to play some more safe golf this week. But I’m glad that, you know, as the days went on, I felt more and more comfortable with how the course is playing.
Q: You said in your Champions speech that you liked a really good test, so can you explain what this golf course really tested you with?
WANG: This golf course really favors good ball strikers because you just cannot miss it on certain parts of the green’s certain places in the fairways and It just makes you really think because you have the place you want to go and then you have a place that your kind of can bail out to if that makes sense. Not only that even if you do hit on the green the greens are so fast and slow up this week that you are just it’s hard to trust sometimes because week to week the speed of the greens is constantly changing.
Q: You birdied your first two opening holes this afternoon. How were your nerves coming into the day and did that make you a little more nervous or kind of settle you in?
WANG: I think the birdies on the first two holes helped settle me in, for sure. I was pretty nervous this morning. I wasn’t nervous yesterday morning, and I think I was in the lead as well, but this morning definitely was. But I don’t know, I feel like after the birdie on the first hole it was just a solid drive, a solid second shot, and a solid putt, a legit putt. I felt like, you know what, you see, everything’s going to be okay. Just keep playing the golf you’ve been playing and yeah, you’ll be fine.
Q: What are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing this week and with it being the halfway point of the season or a little over it, what are you going to take from this event into the remainder of the year?
WANG: So, as you mentioned, I didn’t have a great start to the season this year. But I made some changes with the way I am treating my game, how I’m practicing on the off weeks, just a few things here and there. I feel like this is just a good indicator that everything is going in the right direction.
Q: Couple weeks back, you did some YouTube content with us, and you spoke a lot on how you don’t really read putts. Putting was a big part of your game this week. Could you just talk on a little bit what happened between then and now?
WANG: Alright, so that YouTube video, that tournament was probably the first tournament I was trying out a new way of reading putts. Shout out to Sabrina Iqbal, she really helped me out with that. I feel like the way I was doing it was good enough, but at this level you can’t be good enough, right? So that when I played the YouTube video, I let her read all the putts because she’s amazing at putting. And since then, it’s been a month and a half. I’ve just been really committed to trying to breathe the puts in this new way and I felt more and more confident about it and I felt pretty good about two weeks ago and it just has gotten better and better.
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