PGA Tour Playoffs Race Heats Up at 3M Open, ISPS Senior Open and Women's Scottish Open Previews

PGA Tour Playoffs Race Heats Up at 3M Open, ISPS Senior Open and Women’s Scottish Open Previews originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

PGA Tour: Vegas Could Make History (If the Pressure Doesn’t Get to Him First)

Let’s start in Minnesota, where Jhonattan Vegas shows up to defend his 3M Open title carrying the weight of potential history. Here’s the thing nobody talks about: No one has ever repeated at this tournament. Not since it started in 2019. That’s not a coincidence — it’s pressure.

Vegas’s win last year was pure theater, moving him from No. 147 to No. 66 in FedEx Cup points after his victory. He’s the first international winner ever at this event, and now he’s trying to become the first repeat champion.

But here’s where it gets spicy. Eighteen guys ranked between 60th and 80th in points are teeing it up, and only 70 make the playoffs. Do the math. Someone’s summer ends badly.

Take Rickie Fowler at 63rd. Remember when he was appointment television? Now he’s sweating over making the postseason. Gary Woodland at 78th is hanging by a thread. These aren’t feel-good stories — this is survival golf at its most raw.

Tony Finau brings his own baggage. Won here in 2022 with the biggest comeback in tournament history (five shots down, won by three), but now he’s 59th in points and his streak of eight straight Tour Championships is suddenly in jeopardy. That’s the thing about momentum in golf — it cuts both ways.

And can we talk about Frankie Capan III? The local kid from Stillwater is making his third appearance. T3 at Zurich Classic with partner Jake Knapp gives him confidence, but playing in your backyard with everyone watching is a different animal entirely.

PGA Tour Champions: Sunningdale’s Old Guard and New Blood

Meanwhile, across the pond at Sunningdale, K.J. Choi is defending a title that meant everything to him. First South Korean to win a senior major. At Carnoustie last year, he was 3-over through six holes in the final round — looked finished. Instead, he closed with a 70 to win by two at 10-under, beating Australia’s Richard Green.

The field reads like my childhood golf poster: Angel Cabrera, Pádraig Harrington, Miguel Ángel Jiménez. Bernhard Langer with 12 — 12! — senior majors. These guys have forgotten more about winning than most pros will ever know.

But here’s what intrigues me: David Howell and Stephen Gallacher are making their senior major debuts. Both were genuine forces on the European Tour, both played Ryder Cups, both are hungry to prove 50 is just a number. Add in Anthony Wall, Darren Fichardt, Felipe Aguilar and Søren Kjeldsen — first-timers with serious pedigree. Sometimes fresh legs beat old wisdom. Sometimes.

Sunningdale is hosting for the fourth time, and the Old Course has seen different stories each visit. Loren Roberts grinding out a playoff win in 2009. Marco Dawson’s one-shot victory over Bernhard Langer in 2015. Stephen Dodd’s breakthrough in 2021, holding off Miguel Ángel Jiménez. The course doesn’t pick favorites — it just asks questions.

LPGA Tour: Scotland’s Next Generation and Seasoned Champions

Up at Dundonald Links, Lauren Coughlin is learning what defending means in women’s golf. Last year she single-putted her final seven greens — seven! — to win by four shots. Now she’s dealing with success taxes: more interviews, more obligations, less mental energy for what matters.

“I’ve started to say no to some things,” she admits. Smart. Golf rewards focus and punishes distraction. Always has.

Minjee Lee is back for her ninth Scottish Open, and she gets links golf in a way that separates the pretenders from contenders. “I just like the creativity,” she says about playing in wind and weather. Easy to say, harder to execute when the elements turn nasty.

But the real story? Lottie Woad. Twenty-one, former world No. 1 amateur, turning pro this week. At home. Paired with Nelly Korda and Charley Hull for two rounds. Talk about trial by fire.

I’ve watched enough golf to know debuts matter. How you handle that first professional pressure, those first real stakes — it shapes everything that follows. Woad has the game (third at the 2025 Amundi Evian Championship as an amateur proves that), but professional golf is different math entirely.

The Bigger Picture

Three tournaments, three continents and not a single predictable outcome in sight. That’s what makes golf endlessly compelling — on any given week, in any time zone, someone’s dream comes true while someone else’s season implodes.

The game doesn’t care about rankings or reputation or past results. It just keeps asking the same question, over and over: What do you have today?

This week, we get three different answers.

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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 22, 2025, where it first appeared.

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