Kuwaki Wins Women's Open After Henseleit's Marshal Ricochet in Playoff
Shiho Kuwaki won the 2026 Women's Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes, finishing at five under par and defeating Esther Henseleit in a playoff. Henseleit's drive on the second playoff hole struck a course marshal and was redirected into a gorse bush, costing her the championship.
Shiho Kuwaki won the 2026 Women's Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes, claiming her first major championship in a playoff marked by an unlucky bounce. Kuwaki and Esther Henseleit both finished regulation at five under par, per BBC Sport reporting, forcing sudden-death play.
Henseleit forced the playoff with a dramatic finish, sinking a 45-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in regulation to tie Kuwaki's score. Her path to the championship began to unravel on the course's back nine: after successive bogeys on the eighth and ninth holes, she recovered with birdies at the 11th, 12th, and 15th, then bogeyed the 16th before that salvaging putt on 18.
The two players each made pars on the first sudden-death hole. On the second playoff hole, played again on the 18th, Henseleit's drive struck a course marshal and was redirected into a gorse bush. Unable to recover from the deflection, she failed to save par. Kuwaki made a short putt for a four to secure the title, finishing with a one-under 70 in Sunday's final round.
Kuwaki's victory marks the second consecutive Women's Open win by a Japanese player and the fourth title by a Japanese woman in the tournament's history. The win caps a rapid ascent from her previous professional record: five victories on her home tour and a missed cut at Royal Porthcawl just 12 months earlier.
Henseleit, 27, was competing for only the second German female major championship victory since Sophia Popov's breakthrough. "I just got a bit unlucky on the second play-off hole there," Henseleit said, according to BBC Sport. The outlet noted she was "a deserved winner despite her play-off opponent's misfortune." She will represent Europe at the Solheim Cup in September.
Yealimi Noh, world number 69, finished four under par, one stroke clear of the third-place finisher. Nelly Korda, the world number one, carded a three-under 68 on Sunday to finish at two under par. Korda's double-bogey finish in Saturday's third round placed her out of reach of a career grand slam. The top prize was 1.11 million pounds, according to BBC Sport reporting.
Kuwaki, finishing at minus-5, won the Women's Open playoff over Henseleit after Henseleit's drive struck a marshal on the 18th hole in sudden death, ending her bid to become only the second German female to win a major.
Kuwaki advances from tour professional to major champion with a run timed perfectly for the sport's summer calendar. Henseleit's loss hinges on an element beyond her control, leaving the question of how a near-miss major affects her confidence heading into team competition.
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