The Draw: Haeran Ryu's First Major, Viktor Hovland's Comeback Story

On this episode of The Draw, hosts Nathan and Brian recap Haeran Ryu's first major win at the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine. She won by two shots after trailing by 10 after round one. They also note Nelly Korda’s pre-tournament hype, Ina Yoon’s early lead, Brooke Henderson’s T3 and the strong course setup and coverage.

The hosts then go on to highlight Ladies European Tour winner Noora Komulainen after she secured her first LET title in 14 years. Her husband was her caddie and her daughter witnessed the win. 

On the DP World Tour, Eugenio Chacarra won the Open d'Italia by five strokes, reinforcing his rise and path back toward the PGA Tour. On the PGA Tour, Viktor Hovland won the Travelers Championship in a playoff over Scottie Scheffler. 

The hosts go on to preview this week's events: the Hulencourt Women’s Open, the BMW International Open and the John Deere Classic.

The Draw is a Fairway to Green podcast. See all episodes at www.fairwaytogreen.com.

Transcript

Haeran Ryu Wins the 2026 KPMG Women's PGA Championship

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, welcome back to the draw fair to green podcast. And we have a new winner or new major winner on the LPG tour. Hey Ron Yu coming up clutch, winning the two 2026 KPMG Women's PGA Championship. She wins by two after being down. She trailed after the first round by 10 shots and still won this tournament. I mean, just amazing just grit to even play yourself into contention and then win by two after being down by 10. That's an impressive showing by you over the last three rounds.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Yeah, an impressive showing and you know, honestly, a pretty crazy tournament. So obviously, as we know, the first going into tournament, all the talk was on Nellie Corda. You know, is she gonna win her third major of the season in three majors? And then you have Gino talks, Charlie Hull talks going for their first majors, and they were not really in contention. Nellie Corda was up there for after second and third round, um, but didn't really get anything going on Sunday. So it was wide open for a new major winner. And we had Hair on You, Brooke Henderson, and Ana Yun, who was way out front the first two rounds. She was, I think, up by I think seven shots, maybe after the second round. So she was playing a different course out there for the first couple rounds, but I think she shot two over on the third round and kind of dropped her back. So it really was anyone's round. And you know, on Sunday, and Hair on You came through with steady performances. She made a couple bogeys early on, but then just birdie pars and then a couple more birdies in the back. And it was very impressive. She swings very smoothly, it looks pretty easy, and obviously the results speak for themselves with amazing finish and first career major.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Yeah, I mean, it's again, we talked about it and being down 10 or more. You know, you have to go low, and all she did on Friday and Saturday was shoot the lowest rounds of the days, each of those rounds. So back against the wall, she played the best. And honestly, I thought going in, especially after the rain delay, I thought Brooke Henderson was gonna win. I just going into, I'm like, yo, I have a feeling. And her former caddy, her sister, had her baby, and so she's not on the bag for Brooke this year, but she named the baby Sahali after where Brooke won her major championship up in Washington. So just kind of the stars were aligning for Brooke Henderson, and I thought she was gonna go get it. And again, it not a disappointing finish. T3 in a major, always a good one. But looking at that lead bat name, a former major winner stuck out, and she didn't play bad, but you just played really well down

Discussing Hazeltine National's Setup

SPEAKER_00 2:29

the stretch. And Hazel Teen Man is just it's so such a cool golf course. It's great to see the women play. I know the men really only play it for a rider cup, which is a shame. I think they should play a PG2 or event or a major there, especially if you get the weather and get the wind blowing off the lake. I think it'd be create a great challenge for any golfer. And you kind of saw the wind a little on Sunday after the long rain delay. I'm kind of shocked they got it all in, to be honest. I thought with the rain delay and everything, I thought they were gonna be up against daylight. And I guess in Minnesota, it just the sun is up there longer. So that was good for them because I didn't want them to go on a Monday finish, it just always kind of gets pushed under the water, like bridge if there's a Monday finish. So I thought the coverage was good. I thought the course played great, and I thought the golf was really good. So it was another successful woman's major, I think, in my opinion, so far this year.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Yeah, I'm gonna kind of just copy what you said because you said it perfectly. But I think the course was amazing. I haven't really seen too many tournaments at Hazel Teen. Um, you know, not that many tournaments as we want to see, not as many tournaments as we would like to see up in you know, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, because there are some beautiful courses up there, some really high top rank courses up in there that don't get the love they deserve. And the course was beautiful. They off on the lake, you saw some holes in the back nine, entire right under one of the holes says the lake up the entire right side can't hit it right tight, fair away with trees left too. So a beautiful

Women's Golf Broadcast Coverage Notes

SPEAKER_01 3:53

course. I think my only critique of the coverage is I was watching the second hole and uh we talked about the coverage, and there weren't any shot tracers on the t-shots. I know we're a little spoiled with that, but I I would kind of like to see some shot tracers because I we see the ball in the air, and I was like, okay, that doesn't really help me too much. I kind of want to know where it's going. So um other than that, uh no complaints here. It was another fun tournament.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Yeah, it's just again, it's they're doing it right so far with all the broadcast changes this year. You're saying the shot tracer, who knows? Maybe it's just a fluky thing that happened. But again, three majors down, you have two more to go, and they're gonna be exciting. So it's been a good year. Again, finally getting a different winner than Nelly. Again, didn't play bad. She still finished in the top ten. I saw Gino got a top 10, so maybe kind of the moving up here for Gino to get into that first major win.

Noora Komulainen Ends Drought on LET

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Over on the Ladies European tour, we had a really another great story that's just in this game of golf this season. It's her name is Nora Kumlanian. She gets her first win on the Ladies European tour in 10 years. She's 35, hasn't won, gets a win in a playoff and a three-way playoff. I mean, just really cool to finally get over that hump. Is 10 years a long time to wait for your first win?

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yeah, it's crazy. I know the week before when her she was on the she turned professional like 15 years ago, or maybe less than that, but it was double-digit years, and she got her first win. And now we have Noro Komilinen, who this is her 199th start on the ladies' European tour. So it's a lot of starts. I think she has almost 20 top 10. So she's been pretty close. Um, but to 199 starts is a lot of golf. And for her to be able to win her first tournament, you know, that's pretty impressive. And it was a great story. She was in the final group going in, and then um, she kind of just played, made a bunch of pars, I think a bogey. But the other leaders, they were you know making the birdies going low, and she just kind of hung around and then she made her move very late. She made she birdied four her last four holes to get into the playoff, and then she birdied the first playoff hole. So she birdied her last five holes. So what a way to win your first tournament in such a long time. Great story again.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Yeah, I mean, she's from Finland, she's represented Finland in the Olympics and to get that win. And her husband's her caddy, so that's cool. Her five-year-old daughter, Ellie, was there. It's just it's another great story on a long list of great starters. I feel like every week we're talking about some comeback winner, someone breaking a drought, and I mean, it's just been they've been so many good headlines this year in the game of golf, both on the women's side and on the men's side, and it's just it's great. I mean, it creates a lot of good golf all around the world. I think that's kind of exciting to see. As golf fans, myself, as you are. It's just like when the storylines are Scotty Scheffler winning another tournament, Rory McElroy winning another tournament, that that kind of gets boring. And now we're getting all these fun, interesting kind of stories that bring this game kind of back to life a little.

Eugenio Chacarra Goes Back-to-back

SPEAKER_00 6:51

On the DP World Tour, we had a repeat winner. Eugenio Chachara is just stating his claim as one of the best young players in the world right now. We've had Jaden Shaper, who won two tournaments early in the year, Casey Jarvis won two tournaments early in the year, and now we have Eugenio Chachara. He won on the DP World Tour three weeks ago, I think the first week of June at the Kim Open. This week he wins the Talian Open over in Italy. He wins by five shots. Again, we've talked about him before. I've we've I've picked him before, you've picked him before for different events. Our guy, Neiman, this week was in the lead after two rounds, after he shot 63-63, and then kind of just stalled over the weekend. Chatara did not. I think he went 64-60 on the final two days. And again, two wins now, three wins on the DP World Tour. I think three since last November, if I'm not mistaken. Again, he was the world number two amateur in the world before it chose live. He was gonna be on the PGA tour. He chose Live, got kicked off there, comes back, as now is three times. He's all but locked up his PJ Tour card for next year. I mean, he's ranked behind Rory Macro and Patrick Reed in the race to the buy ranking. So he's gonna be on the PJ tour. So here's just another young Spanish golfer ready to state his claim as yep, the Spanish golfer lives on. We have another great one coming.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Yeah, you said it. Um, it's gonna be really interesting to see, you know, he's gonna be one of the first guys, if not the first guy with Patrick Reed who joined Lib and then left Lib to earn their card with the DP World Tour and these other pathways, and not the Brooks Kepka where you pay a lot of money and you know you lose some benefits, but he's doing it, you know, the hard work way of the old-fashioned way of get your card on DP World Tour and then move up. So I think it's pretty safe to say that he's going to be on the PGA tour next year with how he's played. So it's gonna be really interesting to see um extremely talented golfers. You got a lot of talented golfers on the PGA tour. Um, and now you're gonna add these young guys on the DP World Tour. So it's gonna be really interesting to see this next generation of young young players. We got Miles Russell, Blades Brown, um, Jackson Quiven, who is who was, you know, way his odds were crazy this week on the PGA tour. Um, but now Eugenio Chichara. So gonna be a really interesting story to follow for the rest of the season, and then go into the next year too.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Yeah, I think you make a good point. Like these young guys who are kind of staking their claim and trying to get to the PGA tour, they need to get there this year or at the end for the next 2027 season. Because what like we talked about last week, that 2028 season is coming, and you want to be on that champion level tour, you don't want to be on the challenger one. So if you can play well this year, get your card for next year and play well and earn one of those spots on the champion tour side for Chichara, for Koivun, for Blade, like Blades Brown. Like, again, that's make your life a lot easier and make a lot more money on that tour again. And same with any corn fairy guy and other DP World tour getting those cards. It's so important they get there this year so they can play their way on to that champion level and not that challenger tour. But we'll see if that's two years away.

Viktor Hovland Defeats Scottie Scheffler

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Victor Hovlin, I'm not gonna say shocking the world. He wins the Travelers Championship in the in a playoff over Scotty Scheffler, but we're talking about a guy who missed the cut at the US Open. And he, I don't want to say he went viral, but there are pictures of him Saturday and Sunday still at Shinikok on the range for hours after he missed the cut. And then he comes and he wins the Travelers. Just an all-time great dude. If I mean I found myself rooting for Victor down the stretch, all the Norway fans down in Connecticut cheering him on. I think it was great. The Travelers, man, it's one of the easier courses they play, but that tournament always delivers. I mean, you had Tom Cayman Scotty in a playoff two years ago. You had Keegan defeating Tommy last year on the last hole. You had Keegan winning it two years ago in 2023 as well. When I went, I think it was 2022 when I went, it was a six-hole playoff to win between Harris English and Kramer Hickcock. I mean, they're just some great tournament, and again, you're gonna have to go low. It's not like it's a four or five under tournament, they're beating each other up like at the memorial. It's who can make the most birdies, and it's a fun test of golf, and it's fun to watch as a viewer.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Yeah, unbelievable tournament this week. Probably one of my favorites. It was such a fun tournament to watch. And I know we kind of you know said some not nice things about TPC Craig Ranch, extremely Mickey Mouse course that we won't talk about who won that tournament. Um, but this week, even though TPC River Highlands is also an equally Mickey course, it was a lot of fun because the fans, there's always big names at the top of the leaderboard. Um, there are the fans are amazing, and the tournament is just great. And I thoroughly enjoyed watching that tournament back then, heck other days too. It was a lot of fun to watch. And Scotty and Victor Hovlin, they were going there up by three or four shots going to the final round. It's okay, we're gonna get it, we're gonna get a showdown with these two, but then all of a sudden, here comes Colin Morcala, here comes Wyndham Clark, um, who hit one of the water on set on 17.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Okay, can we talk about that shot? I audibly gasped. Like when he like had his follow-through, I like was like, ooh, and I was like, what is he doing? And then he comes up 10 yards short. I'm like, what are you? I was so confused at that. He hit the ball 340 yards down. If no one hits driver there, he hits driver and he has a hundred and yeah, he had 120 yards in when Scotty played the whole an hour after him. Scotty had 190 yards in, and Wyndham's trying to chip a nine, and it just I'm like, what are you doing? I was so confused. Like, I don't know if the wind was playing tricks on him because it was just I like audibly gasped at how bad the swing was, and I was like, he just won a major, and I was like, Oh my! And I'm like, Okay, well, he has no shot now, but yeah, that shot I was like, Well, Window, what are you doing? But he made a late charge, but it's a great course, like you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Yeah, he was doing the thing where he makes every single putt inside of 10 feet, and I was like, Man, we're not doing this again, please no. And then he was gonna, we were I was joking my friend, he's gonna open some grape, it's thing where he's gonna open some wine and celebrate. It's corny. Um, actually, I think it's really funny. I'm not gonna lie, I do think it's really funny, but um, we were it was a delightful hate watch for him to hit that ball.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Did you did you see his slice? I think it's on I think it's hole 13 is the par five, and it has the kind of like pond on the right side, and literally the only place on that hole you can't hit it is right, and he hits just his patented kind of fade slice thing and just went way too far, just straight in the middle of the pond. And then he makes a five. He again he makes a wedge footer, yeah, and makes a 15 footer for par. I'm like, oh my word. But he when he hit that slice, I thought of you because I'm like, oh, there's Brian's favorite draw fade slice thing and patented a hundred yard slice, whole 18 of the US. Yeah, I just thought of that immediately. I'm like, oh, there it is, and it's not gonna work here. But yes, it was yeah, I was I was dying laughing

Hovland's Comeback Story

SPEAKER_00 13:45

at that.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

We will focus on the real winner of the tournament, Victor Hovlin. No more window clerk hating, but Victor Hovlin, one of the best guys on tour, always a great interview, always a funny guy. And his swing has gone through so much in the last two or three years. He won the FedEx Cup, he won both the playoff events, and the dude looked like a top three player in the world. Probably he looked un almost unbeatable in that stretch. He was ridiculous, and then he goes, the next year he goes, Oh yeah, I didn't like my swing because I didn't really I didn't feel good, but the ball was great, but I didn't like it. So then he got rid of his, he had a new swing coach, rebuilt his swing, and then kind of sucked. And then now this year, we talked about it before, but he was on the range at Pebble Beach with swim floaties, and he's doing all these clips of him at the range, grinding it out, and then the last few weeks we've seen some results. He's gotten a couple top tens, you know, making his way up there, and then you know, he missed the cut at the last week at the US Open, like you mentioned. And now this week he comes out and beats Scotty Sheffler in a playoff, makes a putt. I that's also surprising. We could talk about that too, but that was it was I was I got a little breakout work and I was like, okay, I gotta put on the playoff at 9 a.m. Here we go. And then Scotty hits his def you know four feet and Hovlin 10 feet, and I did not expect that outcome. So, but great tournament from start to 15.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Yeah. No, I mean, kind of after that weather delay on Sunday, that was like it's an hour and a half ish. Victor makes the birdie on 14, makes the birdie on 15, and it's like, all right, like you're in Scotty, you know, misses and makes some long par puts, those, but then there were two shots like Scotty on the 17th hole, hits four iron or three iron, and he like I think he just mishit it a little and he gets finds the rough, and he's 190 yards away, and it's over the pond, and it's windy from the rain, and he hits the ball that 10 feet pin high. And Victor Hovlin, who had 140 yards in, has 20 feet for burns. Okay, so that's like the Scotty we know. And he missed the putt, but again, it was just his approach shot was ridiculous. And then on the 18th tee, he hits a really bad drive onto the side of the hill, and I go, Oh, it's done. You're not like the way his stance was. I'm like, you can't get this ball. I was shocked, not shocked that he got it to the green, but I'm like, oh, he's gonna have to hit it to the front of the green and then chip and all that. No, he hits it past the hole 25 feet pie, and then hits that part, that birdie putt eight feet by to make. I thought, and I still know how Hovlin's putt in regulation didn't go in the birdie putt. I just it looks like three feet in. I'm like, oh, that's in, and then just peels off. I'm like, wow, and yeah, Scotty missing that five footer. I especially after all the putts he made the previous day, like down the stretch, the long par putts. That's like I like he stuck it there. I'm like, oh, it's over. And then Victor just slides it on me and just yeah, it was real cool. And then afterwards with all the Norway fans there doing the row, it's just it's like you said, it's Victor's had an up and down last couple years. I know last year he won at the Vales Par out of nowhere after famously saying the week before at the players that his game is a mess and gone, and then he goes and wins it. One of the tougher golf courses they play at Innisbrook is a tight golf course. That's not easy. And again, to win here at TPC Travelers, it's you gotta go low. And he went low, and again, he missed the cut last week. So it's great week of golf. I love the travelers tournament, it's always delivers and always shows the best. So I again all these tour schedule changes. I hope these some of these courses stay that create some drama here.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah, I feel like the this tournament here, the travelers, I feel like it's gotta stay in the championship where I know this is gonna be a conversation for year and year this year and next year. Yeah, but it's always so fun. And you know, we've seen a lot of low scores. Scotty shot a C on Friday. Um thought he was gonna shoot 59, honestly, but a couple I'm shocked he didn't. Couple maybe subpar iron. I mean that subpar iron shots on on 17 and 18, subpar being like 20 feet, and you actually missed the green on 17. But either either way, it's still a great tournament. I'm I hope to see it on that champions tour for years to come.

Preview & Picks: Hulencourt Women's Open and BMW International Open

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Yeah, should be hopefully another exciting week this week in the game, a game of golf. Over on the ladies' European tour, we have the Houlincourt Women's Open out in Belgium. All right. Last year's winner, Darcy Harry. She was she won last year at 13 under. This is the second year of the event, so they've only played one year. Again, it's always hard to pick somebody because you never know who's gonna win. Like last week, just out of nowhere, you have someone who breaks a 14-year winless drought. I think I'm gonna go with someone who won this year. I'm gonna go with Kelsey Bennett. She won the Australian women's classic. Again, just being in form helps a lot. And I think just getting it done. And once you get one win, you kind of play easier the rest of the year. So I'm gonna go with Kelsey Bennett to pick up her second win this week.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Yeah, so for this week, the you know, Belgian tournament in Belgium, I was going to pick Manon DeRowie because she is very good. She's a Belgian golfer. I was hoping I thought she would be in the field this week because of the tournament being in Belgium, but I believe she earned her card. She's now on the LPGA tour. I think I've seen her there a couple times, but she the LPGA also has the week off, but she is not playing the tournament this week. So I'm gonna go with last year's winner, Darcy Harry. Um, you know, won last year. We've we think we've had a couple, you know, people play well at the same courses and same events. So maybe she'll get the win again this year.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

On the DP World Tour, where we have the BMW International Open. It's a pretty good field again. There's a lot of live golfers. I think live is in a break right now. So you got a lot of the live golfers. You have Abraham Answer, you have Ben On, Victor Perez, Adrian Moronc, Jose Bailey, you have Rocky Neiman again in the field. So it's a pretty strong field. And then you have the Jaden Shapers, you have Sebastian Munio, another um live golfer, Marco Penge, who was the best player on the DP World Tour last year, who's kind of coming over to Europe before a couple weeks earlier before the British Open. So it's gonna be a pretty fun tournament. You have a strong contingent of German players, and you have Marcel Snyder, Max Kiefer, Marcel Siam, Maddie Schmidt, Martin Keimer. I'm gonna go with a German golfer myself. I'm gonna go with Freddie Scott, who won earlier in the year. I'm gonna have him pick up his second win of the DP World Tour. It just seems like a lot of guys on the DP World Tour are winning multiple times. So I'm going with him to win his home country, win the BMW International Open.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Yeah, pretty strong field, like you said, on the DP World Tour this week. Um, I'm gonna go with a guy who's had proven success on the DP World Tour. You talked about him, Marco Pench. He won three times in the DP World Tour last year and before coming over to the PGA tour this year, kind of struggled early on, but kind of found his footing after a couple months. And I think that you know he's back on the DP World Tour. Some familiarity

Preview & Picks: John Deere Classic

SPEAKER_01 20:33

there for him. So I think he could get it done and beat these other top golfers in the field.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Over on the PJ Tour, we have the John Deere Classic. And I personally I like this term. I know it gets a lot of hate because it's kind of an easy golf course. You're gonna see probably 25 underwin somewhere around there. But I think it's it's always fun to see these players kind of go low. I think there's a lot of elevation changes in the in the course that makes it a little difficult and unique to watch. And again, I think it gives a chance to a lot of these younger players. So in the field, we have Jackson Koivoon, he's making his debut as a professional. Yes, he's played PJ Tour events before, but this is his first as an official PJ Tour member. So we'll see how that goes. We have Preston Stout, who just won the NCAAs. We have Mason Howell who won the USAM last year. So a lot of good young talent getting invites into here, and it's just it's a great way to get your feet wet on the PJ Tour. You've had great winners here. Jordan Spieth won when he was a teenager here. He's won it two times, Zack Johnson won it multiple times, Steve Schricker has won it multiple times. So yeah, as great as some of the other tournaments, no, but it's still again, you have a good field. You have Tom Kim in the field, you have Speace in the field for the first time in a while, you have Jacob Bridgman, um, Chris Godderups in the field, Michael Kim. So it's it's a sneaky good field, especially before a lot of them head over to Scotland for the Scottish Open and then the British Open the week after. I've gone a couple different ways. I really want to pick Speith just because it's Jordan Speath, and my fiance's father-in-law would probably pick Speath because he loves Speath and he gets mad at Speath all the time. He lives and breathes Jordan Speath, and it's I'll get a text be like Speath just missed a six-footer. And then the next text I'll get be like, you see Speith stayed from 30 feet. It is hilarious. And last week watching music, I think I'm out on Speath. And then Sunday comes, he goes, Yeah, Speed shot another disappointing round. I'm like, I thought you were out. He goes, I can't quit. No, I gotta stay with him. So I think it will be funny if he did win because he hasn't really played well. I don't think he's gonna win. I'm gonna go with Jacob Bridgeman. He won the at Riviera this year. He's just he's a steady golfer. He got all the way up to 27th in the world. He's gonna hit it straight. He's gonna make a lot of birdies, and you gotta go low here. So so give me Jacob Bridgeman for a second career win out of the PJ tour.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Like Jacob Bridgman is probably one of the top five putters on tour. This yeah, his practice, he has the he uses the blade putter, then he switches over to the mallet. He calls it like a spaceship, and then he just makes every single putt on the course. So I think it's pretty funny. And then, but for this week, I think I think it's gonna be another one of these weeks. I know last week I said Harris English, kind of a random, kind of a random out of the blue winner, and Victor Hovlin was kind of random, but but I'm gonna do the same thing again this week. I'm gonna go with a guy who's been playing well recently. Um, kind of, kind of uh not really the most. He's pretty well known, but he's been playing well recently. So we're gonna go with Eric Cole. He's gonna show these young kids, you know, what he does. And I think I I heard some stories about Eric Cole on some mini tours just showing up and just showing everyone how to play golf. So I think he could show you know professionals also how to do it. Although there are some pretty pretty big names like Chris Goddard up in there, but Eric Cole.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Yeah, I mean he was close a couple weeks ago, and he's PJ Tour rookie of the year. He's never won, but he has a lot of high efficiency, good player, and it's a course that sets him well for him. So I like kind of going the underrated, sneaky, because you never know who's gonna win here. Again, three good tournaments this week. Enjoy it. Check us out on Fair to Green for our Instagram, fairy to green.com for our website. We'll be back next week to review all these tournaments and then preview the upcoming ones as well. Enjoy the golf.