The Major Trend That Isn't Slowing Down at the AIG Women's Open

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — There was a time when golf was defined by dynasties, and the biggest championships felt destined to end with the same names lifting the trophy. But lately, the LPGA Tour has entered an era of unprecedented depth, where every major seems to give birth to a new star.

I mean, where coming off a year that set the record for the amount of different winners in a single season in 2025. And there just seems to be this overwhelming feeling that players are reaching new heights of potential—a sentiment that is currently being held up at the AIG Women's Open.

The leaderboard heading into Sunday's final round is far more compelling than how it may look at first glance. Yealimi Noh takes a three-shot lead at Royal Lytham & St Annes, but five players remain within striking distance at 4-under par. Of the names inside the top-10, eight are chasing their first major championship—a leaderboard that perfectly reflects the current state of women's golf.

Noh is on the verge of the breakthrough many expected years ago, but just hasn't happened yet. She has long been considered one of America's most talented young players, after a standout junior career, but after years of flashes and steady progress, she's finally on the doorstep of the major breakthrough many expected all along.

She earned her first LPGA title just last year, and since then has struggled to find the same form that made her a winner. Up until this week, she hadn't broken par in a stroke play event since the third round of the Chevron Championship back in April.

"It only takes one round for your whole mindset and whole game to change," Noh said after her third round. "Yeah, I had a really rough couple months. Not even just missing cuts, but just not playing good golf or rounds. And Thursday I was just really happy to shoot under par and just really set me up for the week."

But those in the 4-under par cluster chasing the 25-year-old also have a chip on their shoulders.

Esther Henseleit has quietly put together the strongest major performance of her career, with her previous best finish has been T-7 at the 2024 Chevron and Evian Championships. Lucy Li is trying to turn a childhood filled with expectations into the defining victory of her professional career. Jeeno Thitikul owns nine LPGA titles and 11 major top-10 finishes but is still searching for the one trophy missing from her resume. Shiho Kuwaki isn't even an LPGA member, yet finds herself 18 holes away from one of the most improbable victories of the season that could change her career.

And then there's Haeran Ryu, the outlier in this group. While everyone else is chasing the first major of their lives, the Korean star is trying to make history with a third consecutive major championship in just three starts.

For a moment, Saturday's round looked like it was going to be another Ryu coronation. She reached 9-under and stretched her advantage before Royal Lytham reminded everyone how quickly links golf can change. A run of bogeys dropped her back into the pack, and yet even during her unraveling, she delivered a tutorial on course management that most could learn from.

The most notable moment was when she had a funky positioning in a green-side bunker that she decided to splash into the heart of it. She'd go on to make an up-and-down for bogey, but avoided an even worse score of a double or triple.

Even when her game, particularly her ball-striking, seems to be "failing her", being cerebral is her strong suit.

Even as Haeran Ryu attempts to make a run at history, nothing about Sunday feels inevitable, which has become a defining characteristic of today's version of the LPGA.

The story isn't that greatness has disappeared—it's that greatness has become harder to separate from the rest of the field. With so many players capable of winning on the sport's biggest stage, the AIG Women's Open isn't just crowning another champion, it could possibly be introducing women's golf's next star.