An American comeback at Medinah, a life-changing gold medal for Tom Kim, two major tournament wins and a significant shift in women’s professional golf highlighted the last seven days.
Golf gave us a little bit of everything this week.
The United States pulled off a Sunday comeback at Medinah. Tom Kim won a gold medal with consequences extending far beyond the golf course. Yuna Nishimura went wire-to-wire for her first LPGA Tour victory. Matt Fitzpatrick added another national open to an already impressive résumé.
And away from the leaderboards, Golf Saudi announced a major change to how its money will be invested in women’s professional golf beginning in 2027.
Here are the five things that mattered most this week.
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1. Team USA Flipped Medinah and Kept the Presidents Cup Streak Alive
For three days, this looked like it might finally be the International Team’s Presidents Cup.
Then Sunday happened. 
The International Team entered singles at Medinah Country Club holding a 10½-7½ lead over the United States. It was the first time in Presidents Cup history that the Internationals had taken a lead into Sunday on American soil.
Team USA responded with a massive final-day comeback.
The Americans stormed through singles to win the Presidents Cup 17-13, extending their winning streak in the competition to 11 straight. 
The week had been a constant momentum swing.
The United States won Thursday four-ball 3-2 before the International Team responded by sweeping all five Friday foursomes matches. Saturday wasn’t enough for the Americans to erase the damage, leaving them three points behind entering the final 12 singles matches. 
Then the comeback started.
Cameron Young, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Chris Gotterup, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and Jackson Koivun all delivered victories.
Eventually, Jacob Bridgeman defeated Min Woo Lee 1 up to clinch the Cup for the United States.
The setting made the comeback even more fitting. 
Medinah will forever be associated with Europe’s famous final-day comeback in the 2012 Ryder Cup.
Fourteen years later, an American team produced a Sunday reversal of its own on the same property.
For the International Team, the loss will hurt. But the week also gave the Presidents Cup something it has often struggled to produce: genuine uncertainty.
For once, Sunday wasn’t about whether the Internationals could make things interesting.
The Americans had to save themselves.
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2. Tom Kim Won Something Bigger Than a Trophy
Less than a week after representing the International Team at Medinah, Tom Kim was back under pressure.
This time, the stakes were considerably different.
Kim represented South Korea at the Asian Games in Japan and fired a final-round 64 at Kasugai Country Club, finishing at 18-under 262 and winning the men’s individual gold medal by three strokes.
South Korea also earned silver in the men’s team competition. 
But Kim’s individual victory carried consequences extending far beyond another addition to his trophy collection.
Under South Korean rules, an Asian Games gold medal qualifies an athlete for an exemption from the country’s standard mandatory military-service requirement.
For the 24-year-old Kim, that means avoiding a lengthy interruption during what should be the prime years of his professional golf career. 
Kim already owns four PGA TOUR victories. He had also just traveled across the Pacific after competing in five matches for the International Team at the Presidents Cup.
Then he went to Japan and won the medal that could have an enormous impact on the rest of his career.
There were no FedExCup points waiting for him.
There was no traditional professional winner’s check.
But in terms of what the victory changed for his future, this may prove to be one of the most important rounds Tom Kim ever plays. 
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3. Yuna Nishimura Didn’t Just Win Her First LPGA Event — She Owned It
Winning on the LPGA Tour for the first time is difficult enough.
Yuna Nishimura decided to lead the whole way.
Nishimura opened the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship with a 63.
Then she shot another 63.
She entered the final round with a five-shot advantage and finished the job with a 5-under 66, reaching 21-under and winning by five. 
Aki Iwai, Chanettee Wannasaen and In Gee Chun tied for second at 16-under.
The victory was Nishimura’s first LPGA Tour title and made her the third first-time winner on the LPGA Tour in 2026.
More impressively, it was a true wire-to-wire victory.
Nishimura held the lead after every round at Pinnacle Country Club. 
There was no late charge after somebody else collapsed. There was no playoff needed to steal the trophy.
She took control of the tournament immediately and never gave it back.
That’s a statement for a player collecting her first LPGA victory.
It’s also another example of the depth coming out of Japanese women’s golf.
Now comes the interesting part.
Was Arkansas the breakthrough?
Or was it the beginning?
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4. Matt Fitzpatrick Added Another National Open to His Résumé
Matt Fitzpatrick already owns the trophy that defines most professional careers.
He’s a U.S. Open champion.
But winning another national open still carries weight.
Fitzpatrick captured the FedEx Open de France at Le Golf National, closing with a final-round 70 to earn his 11th DP World Tour victory. 
He began Sunday five shots clear of the field, but the final round wasn’t simply a victory lap.
Fitzpatrick went through his first 12 holes without making a birdie. His scrambling and defense kept the field from fully taking advantage before he steadied himself down the stretch and ultimately won by three shots.
Angel Hidalgo finished second at 17-under. 
That runner-up finish came with something significant of its own: Hidalgo earned a place in the 2027 Open Championship at St Andrews as the highest finisher who wasn’t already exempt.
For Fitzpatrick, the victory added the championship of continental Europe’s oldest national open to an already substantial résumé.
It was also his fourth worldwide victory of 2026, continuing what has become one of the strongest seasons of his career.
And there was something telling about how he won.
Sunday wasn’t Fitzpatrick at his absolute best.
He won anyway.
That’s often what separates players capable of winning major championships from everyone else.
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5. Saudi-Backed Women’s Golf Is Changing Direction in 2027
One of the week’s most important golf stories didn’t happen on a golf course.
Golf Saudi announced a significant restructuring of its investment in women’s professional golf beginning in 2027.
The PIF Global Series will end after the 2026 season. 
The series currently consists of five tournaments across three continents with $15 million in total prize money. Since its origins in 2021, the series has staged 29 tournaments.
That model won’t continue next year.
Instead, Golf Saudi is concentrating its tournament investment around The Championship, a U.K.-based event that will be co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour beginning in 2027 and feature a $4 million purse.
Golf Saudi also announced a multi-year partnership supporting the LET’s season-long Order of Merit.
The organization is therefore not walking away from women’s professional golf entirely.
It’s changing where the money goes. 
That’s an important distinction.
The five-event PIF Global Series disappears, while Golf Saudi’s investment becomes more concentrated around a major LPGA/LET co-sanctioned event, season-long LET support and development initiatives in Saudi Arabia.
For the Ladies European Tour, that’s a meaningful structural change.
The PIF Global Series offered some of the largest purses on its schedule and provided playing opportunities across multiple continents. 
Beginning next year, that relationship will look considerably different.
At a time when Saudi investment throughout professional golf continues to evolve, this is another reminder that the business behind the sport remains almost as important to its future as what happens inside the ropes.
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One Last Thought
Some weeks in golf are defined by one tournament.
This wasn’t one of them.
The United States turned a three-point Sunday deficit into another Presidents Cup victory.
Yuna Nishimura went from LPGA Tour player to LPGA Tour champion.
Matt Fitzpatrick added another historic national open to an already accomplished career. 
Women’s professional golf learned that one of its largest sources of tournament investment is changing direction.
And Tom Kim provided perhaps the clearest example of how much can ride on a golf ball.
One final round in Japan secured a gold medal and removed a potentially enormous interruption from the middle of his professional career. 
That’s why results can’t always be measured by the size of the trophy or the check.
Sometimes you have to look at what changed after the final putt dropped.
That’s what mattered this week.