Welcome to this week’s Golf Insider, everyone!
The LPGA Tour returned to action last week, and Yuna Nishimura was our first fall-golf winner. On Sunday, Sept. 27, Nishimura completed a wire-to-wire victory, holding the lead after each round of the tournament, to capture her first LPGA Tour victory at the 2026 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
Nishimura shot rounds of 63, 63 and 66 across the three rounds of the tournament to post a total score of 21-under-par. Her score (192) was the best 54-hole score to be posted since the 2023 playing of this event, and she beat it by six strokes. Let’s take a closer look at how Nishimura stayed so hot at Pinnacle Country Club.
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Nishimura was flawless in her first round. She carded six birdies and an eagle to shoot an 8-under-par 63, the lowest 18-hole score of her career. Her eagle came on the par-5 18th hole. Nishimura hit all 13 fairways and all 18 greens to take the lead after day one in Arkansas.
The vibes were high and the hot streak of golf kept going on Saturday’s second round, too. Nishimura posted yet another 8-under-par 63 with nine birdies and one bogey. This 36-hole score was, again, the best in her career, and it beat her previous record by four strokes. Nishimura was certainly on another level.
In her final round, Nishimura got off to a bit of a shaky start. Maybe she was looking at Aki Iwai charging up the leaderboard, or maybe her game was tiring out. Nishimura birdied the par-3 3rd hole but then bogeyed the 4th and the 6th holes. A birdie on No. 8 saw her go out on the front nine with an even-par 36. It certainly wasn’t the golf Nishimura was used to playing the last two days.
But on the back nine, the first and second round Nishimura reappeared to close out the tournament. There were some fireworks too. Nishimura holed out for birdie from the bunker to grab a birdie on No. 11 to regain the lead. Then, she hit a beauty of a second shot into the par-5 14th and nailed the eagle putt to stretch her lead to three strokes. Two more birdies on Nos. 15 and 18 pretty much sealed the deal for Nishimura’s first LPGA Tour trophy. She shot a 5-under-par 30 on the back nine for a 66.
With this maiden title, the 26-year-old from Japan joined Gina Kim and Yana Wilson as the third LPGA Rolex First-Time winner of the 2026 season.
What’s impressive about Nishimura’s wire-to-wire win was how she was able to pull away from competitors that were going low as well. It’s not like others were playing poorly and that Nishimura was just on a tear. Everyone had their A-games in this tournament, but Nishimura just had her A-plus-game.
Lauren Coughlin shot the best opening nine in LPGA history during Saturday’s second round. She opened her round with nine straight birdies, a feat never before seen on the LPGA or PGA Tour. Coughlin’s 9-under-par 26 is the lowest raw 9-hole score ever carded on the LPGA Tour.
The 34-year-old from Virginia only carded one birdie on her closing nine, rounding out her second-round 61 (-10). If she had just made some more birdies on her second nine, we may have had a 59 watch on our hands. Coughlin would have been only the second player to post a sub-60 round in LPGA history. Alas, the putts weren’t dropping, but she still staged an incredible comeback.
“Yeah, felt like I started to get a little bit of adrenaline pretty much nine green on for the next few holes, but then I made the birdie on three so I thought I was like, I really have a chance now. Then, yeah, just couldn’t quite get it close enough unfortunately last few holes,” Coughlin said in a post-round press conference on Sept. 26.
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On Sunday’s final round, Coughlin kept a clean card to post a 5-under-par 66. Her tournament total 13-under-par was good enough for a tie for 12th place.
Coughlin’s comeback wasn’t the only charge, though. Aki Iwai posted a final-round 62 (-9) to climb into a tie for second place. Nishimura even lost her five-shot lead she carried into the final round because Iwai was on her way to posting her second-lowest career round.
Iwai began her round in a tie for 31st place, but this didn’t discourage her. She came out of the gate with five straight birdies. Another birdie on No. 7 helped her to go out on the front nine with a 6-under-par 30.
Then, Iwai notched three more birdies on the back to come into the clubhouse at a tournament total 16-under-par. Her 29-spot jump up the leaderboard helped her to her fifth top-10 result of the season.
It seemed like so many players were going low at Pinnacle Country Club. On Sunday, especially, players said the course was softened by some rain. This gave players the green light to pin-seek.
“You know, I’ve been coming here for like 15 years so I kind of know this course inside and out. It’s a little bit wetter than usual so you can really be aggressive, fire at pins,” Jodi Ewart Shadoff said in a post-round press conference on Sept. 27.
Shadoff posted three rounds of 66 (-5) to tie for fifth place at 15-under-par. The result was her second top-10 finish of the season. This 2026 campaign comes after Shadoff worked to regain LPGA Tour status through the LPGA’s Q-Series, so any finish like this one in Arkansas has got to be a great boost.
This week on the LPGA Tour, we head to Hawaii for the LOTTE Championship from Oct. 1-4. The Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells is happening too, from Oct. 1-4 as well. Some players have already secured their LPGA Tour cards for the 2027 season, but so much more is at stake.
We’ll see you next week to meet the 2026 Epson Tour graduating class. Until then, golf fans.
This week in women’s golf
LPGA News
Medalists crowned as 104 advance from LPGA Q-Series pre-qualifying
Brooke Henderson named 2026 Dow Impact Award recipient
Yuna Nishimura goes wire-to-wire to win Walmart NW Arkansas Championship
Aki Iwai, Chanettee Wannasaen and In Gee Chun in three-way runner-up finish in Arkansas
World Golf Hall of Fame announces Class of 2027 finalists
How to watch 2026 LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei
A look back at every title holder of the LOTTE Championship
Field breakdown: 2026 LOTTE Championship
LET News
Epson Tour News
Facing cancer one shot at a time
Epson Tour rookie Reagan Zibilski returns to Arkansas for LPGA Tour debut
The long way back: Kaleiya Romero clinches her LPGA card
Epson Tour finalizes field for 2026 Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells
Things to know: 2026 Epson Tour Championship
What’s at stake at the 2026 Epson Tour Championship?
NCAA News
Angela Stanford hired as TCU women’s golf assistant coach
Stanford finish last at Stephens Cup, ending six-year streak of top-five tournament finishes
Patience Rhodes returns to Arizona State golf
No. 2 USC win Golfweek Red Sky Classic
Scarlett Schremmer sets tournament record, wins Golfweek Red Sky Classic
Wake Forest No. 1 in first WGCA DI coaches poll of the season
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Five at The IX: Yuna Nishimura at 2026 NW Arkansas Championship post-win press conference
MATT JESUS: Okay, very pleased to be joined by the winner of the 2026 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G Yuna Nishimura. Yuna, first win on the LPGA Tour. How would you kind of summarize your emotions now that the final putt has dropped, you’ve been sprayed with champagne. How does it feel to be in a winner’s circle on the LPGA Tour?
YUNA NISHIMURA: I missed a lot of cuts this year so for me to win this tournament is a surprise, but it’s a dream come true.
JESUS: You had a ton of Japanese support from fellow players, friends and family. What does it mean to have that kind of support out here on Tour?
NISHIMURA: So some of the Japanese players who started early this morning, they all stayed out late and waited for me. It feels amazing for all them to stay out and wait for me to watch this event.
Q. On hole 15 you make an eagle. You just hit an unbelievable shot into the green in two. What was the mindset going into that hole and how did that help you play really well on your last three holes of golf?
NISHIMURA: I knew it was a hole I had to be aggressive on. It wasn’t an option to play up, so, yeah, I told myself to be aggressive from the start and that’s what I followed all the way through.
Q. Yuna, Ai Miyazato won this tournament in 2012. What does it mean to you to have your name in the line of trophies as the winner of this tournament alongside your hero, Ai?
NISHIMURA: She is the reason I play golf. She’s somebody I look up to and I just — when I was struggling I would call her and she would be my shoulder to lean on, and so I can’t wait to call her and tell her that I won.
JESUS: Did making the bunker shot on 11 ease any worries you may have had knowing some of the players behind you were going to come catch you?
NISHIMURA: I was able to practice that exact shot from that bunker, and I actually love bunker shots, so I wasn’t stressing at all about it.
I kind of just took my opportunity and I already knew I practiced it, so it came easy to me.
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