Late May is that time of golf viewing season when we are filled to the brim with events, and forgetful of how brief a time it is. We languish during American football season, rekindle our hopes in far-off Pacifica in January and February, then work our way eastward and northward in March and April. May, at least in the northeast, is that time of year when the weather is still unpredictable, and 75-degree sunny days can be followed by rainy 45-degree ones. For the most part, the televised golf goes off with little delay, and we swing from any of the four PGA Tours to the LPGA, to the DP World, and stuff ourselves like Thanksgiving Day.

June and July come, and we get out to play, more and more. Suddenly, it’s August and the majors are behind us. Only the team cups await, and those fall events that matter, but not as much, to the couch residents. Let’s take a pause, then, on this Memorial Day, to remember those that served and sacrificed so much, and recall how fortunate we are to live in times of relative peace. Let’s take a second moment to look over the events below, and recognize that our viewing cup is full, and for that, we are also favored.

PGA Tour @ Charles Schwab: Griffin holds off unlikely Schmid at Colonial

The Colonial Country Club, in Fort Worth, for decades, was a revered place. Hogan’s Alley in the era of wooden heads and metal shafts was a shotmaker’s paradise. No one exemplified that brand of golf more than the route’s namesake, Ben Hogan. Since the arrival of composite shafts and the advent of alloy heads, Colonial has become more challenging to play. The narrow corridors and fairway bends demand curvature that is challenging to access with equipment designed to curve not at all.

This week, Ben Griffin won for the second time in less than a month. In late April, Griffin teamed with Andrew Novak to win the partner event in New Orleans. At Colonial, in an event where no one could pull away, Griffin held off himself and others to win by a shot over Matti Schmid. It would have been more, but Schmid had the temerity to hole a ridiculous recovery pitch from an inaccessible slope. Schmid’s approach bounded past the green at 18, managing to stay on dry land, steps from the pond that menaces the fairway and greenside left.

Griffin had reached 16 under early in the day, thanks to an eagle-birdie start, and he held steady at that number through the fifth hole. At six and seven, a pair of bogeys revealed fissures in the armor, and another pair on the inward half brought him fully back to the field. With gut-check sensors flashing on the dashboard, Griffin played short of the final green to avoid a flyer into the pond. He pitched to four feet, then maneuvered the ball into the cup for a one-shot win over the feisty German.

LPGA @ Riviera Maya: Welcome to the winners’ circle, Miss Chisato

Many of the LPGA’s top-ranked players eschewed a spot in the Riviera Maya Open this week. Charley Hull was in attendance, but not on her usual stellar game. Leona Maguire and Ruixin Liu were also there, but even farther astray. Both missed the halfway cut and headed to the beach.

The Mayakoba course at Playa del Carmen was feisty in its own way this week, and selected an unlikely winner from a group of unlikely challengers. In the mix at the end were Jenny Bae of the USA, Haeji Kang from Korea, Weiwei Zhang from China, and Linn Grant from Sweden. All four finished inside the top four at week’s end. but none was close to the woman from Japan, who ran away to a six-shot victory.

Saitama Prefecture occupies territory north and west of Tokyo, in Japan. Chisato Iwai hails from that province, and with all of 22 years of living behind her, emerged as a talent this week in Mexico. She was one of a group that led after a day-one 68, but fell off a bit on Friday with 74. Iwai returned to the top with another 68 on Saturday, then opened a well-wrapped gift box on Sunday with 66. Iwai posted seven birdies over her first 13 holes on day four, including a four-hole streak from three through six. A bogey at 14 threw some cold water on the coronation, but Iwai closed with four pars to win by six, over Bae.

PGA Tour Champions @ Senior PGA: Cabrera wins third of spring

In a season of featured horse races, a thoroughbred makes an occasional appearance and runs off with two or three of the Triple Crown events. This spring, that thoroughbred is Angel Cabrera. The two-time major winner on the regular tour has returned to professional golf with vigor. In two months’ time, the Argentine has matched both his regular and major wins on the PGA Tour. In April, Cabrera won the James Hardie Invitational by two shots. In May, Cabrera has thus far won in consecutive weeks, at consecutive major events.

Last Monday, Cabrera won the Traditon by one shot over Jerry Kelly. He made birdie on two of his final three holes in the rain-delayed event, to post 64 on the final day, for a come-from-behind victory. This week, Cabrera won from the front of the pack at storied Congressional Country Club. The Senior PGA Championship had seen different leaders amass at the end of each day. Day one saw Cameron Percy hold the solo lead at 67. On day two, Vijay Singh joined the Australian at 138. Day three saw both replaced by Cabrera and PGA Professional Jason Caron. Caron holds a full-time job at Mill River, on Long Island. Every so often, he plys his trade on the second-chance tour, with remarkable success.

On day four, Padraig Harrington threatened to pull a Cabrera and come from behind for victory. The Northern Irishman found seven birdies across the first 14 holes, to ten-under par. As Caron and Cabrera appeared stuck in neutral, the tournament was Harrington’s for the taking. Over the final four holes, he gave up the event. Double bogey at 15 was followed later by bogey at the last, and Harrington finished at minus-seven, tied with Thomas Bjorn. Caron had an up-and-down day with five birdies and three bogeys, and came to the 72nd hole a shot behind Cabrera. He and his Platense playing partner also made bogey at the last. Caron dropped to T4, two behind winner and one back of the runners-up.

DP World Tour @ Soudal Open: Reitan emerges from playoff cauldron

Once upon a time, Kristoffer Reitan was the It Guy in Norwegian golf. Then came a lad named Viktor Hovland, who captured the hearts of Norway’s golf faithful. Reitan continued to grind on the world’s tour, and this week in Belgium, at last became a winner.

It wasn’t easy. It never is. Reitan set himself up for another nice payday over 54 holes. On Sunday, he tore the cover off the pot and mixed ten birdies into a 62 stew. Suddenly, he was at thirteen under par, and near the head of the field. Darius Van Dreiel of Holland joined Reitan at 13 deep. DVD had just completed a mini-run of his own. Birdies at the final three holes elevated him from nice paycheck to maybe just maybe in the space of an hour. Neither fellow would have mattered if 54-hole leader Ewen Ferguson had managed a par at the last. He did not, and the trio returned to the arbor-infested 18th for overtime.

After three pars guaranteed a return to the final deck for a third playing, the trio all faced birdie putts of makeable distance at OT hole, the second. After DVD and Ferguson missed by inches, Reitan was good from fifteen feet for an inaugural DP World Tour win.

Korn Ferry Tour @ Visit Knoxville: another northern European closes the door

Perhaps drawing from the success of his Norwegian neighbor, Sweden’s Pontus Nyholm earned a career-changing win across the Atlantic in Tennessee. Nyholm and everyone else began day four chasing S.H. Kim, who threatened to break every speed limit in the Volunteer state, by racing to 19-under par through three rounds. Highlighting his ascent was a day-two 61, featuring ten birdies. On day four, Kim’s timing belt came off the pulleys, and he coughed his way home to 75. He tumbled to a tie for sixth, four behind the leaders.

With hope emerging from the clouds, Nyholm and Johnny Keefer took full advantage. They made up nine and ten shots, respectively, on the 54-hole leader, and finished one shot clear of a pair at minus-18. Their playoff was brief. Golf’s version of Tormund from Game of Thrones ripped two mighty shots beyond the fairway at the par-five 18th. His putt from across the green slowed and sped, wobbled and turned, until it finally gave one last revolution, into the bottom of the cup.

For a tour that is, arguably, the second-best in the world, the KFT has a remarkably empty YouTube presence. It’s every week, it seems, that a search through alternate social media is required to gather video to celebrate the win. New life goal for you, Korn Ferry Tour: polish the video game.

Electricity in Knoxville ??

Pontus Nyholm can now call himself a winner on the Korn Ferry Tour ? pic.twitter.com/LNbclxxGBI

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) May 25, 2025

PGA Tour Americas @ Inter Rapidisimo: Lamb chops in Colombia

Each season, there are unfortunate teams of planners, directors, volunteers, and officials who watch helplessly as nature reduces their months of efforts to a turn of the card, a roll of the dice, a hope and pray weekend. Such was the nature of the Inter Rapidisimo this week, north of Bogota. The rains came early, then they came again, and the decision was made to finish 36 holes and celebrate a winner.

Davis Lamb of the USA had opened with a preposterous five-birdie, three-eagle round of 61. He took a four-shot advantage into the second and final round. Of the chasers, only Argentina’s Abel Gallegos could keep pace. Lamb posted 68 on day two, a fine number, but Gallegos was better. He had a putt for 64 at the last, to tie Lamb. The putt stayed out, and Lamb had a wet win on the PGA Tour Americas circuit.

All in a days work ?

Davis Lamb posts 15-under and goes bogey-free thru his 36 holes today. Now he waits… pic.twitter.com/e6d7U4oH6w

— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) May 25, 2025