Kuwaki wins Women's Open after Henseleit's ball strikes marshal in dramatic play-off

Shiho Kuwaki stood in the fading light at Royal Lytham & St Annes on Sunday evening, having just won the Women's Open in circumstances that mixed brilliance with sheer misfortune. The Japanese golfer had watched most of the final round from inside the clubhouse, a nervous spectator to her own championship. Then Esther Henseleit, the German challenger, sank a 45-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to force a playoff at five-under par, and Kuwaki's quiet vigil became a sudden-death contest.

The first playoff hole brought pars for both players, but the second—the 18th again—turned on an instant of bad luck that would define the afternoon. Henseleit's drive struck a course marshal and ricocheted into a gorse bush, a deflection that cost her any realistic chance at par. Kuwaki, in her mint-green top and luminous green ball, made her short putt for the win. The prize was £1.11 million and a place in golf history as the second consecutive Japanese player to claim the Women's Open title.

For most of Sunday, the story had seemed to belong to someone else entirely. Yealimi Noh, the world number 69, had held a three-stroke lead after 54 holes and played steadily enough to finish at four-under par, one shot back. She would become the first player ever to hold such a lead going into the final round of this championship and fail to win it. The American's second-place finish, her second professional victory within reach, slipped away on a blustery Lancashire coast where links golf's vagaries swept away aspirations as quickly as they created them.

Kuwaki's round of one-under 70 had positioned her perfectly, and she was the only player in the final eight groups to finish under par alongside Henseleit. Her eye-catching style—the luminous ball, the striking clothes—matched her play from tee to green. She carved out several excellent birdie chances that might have spared her the playoff altogether. A birdie on the 13th came as Noh stumbled on the 12th, pushing a birdie attempt well past the hole. When Noh followed with a bogey on the 14th, the momentum had shifted decisively.

Henseleit, 27, had fought hard to get into position. She recovered from back-to-back bogeys on the eighth and ninth holes with birdies on the 11th, 12th, and 15th. A costly bogey on the 16th—a left-to-right putt that lacked conviction—seemed to have ended her hopes. But she regrouped and delivered that magical moment before the packed gallery in front of the clubhouse, the 45-footer that forced the extension and kept her alive for one more hole.

World number one Nelly Korda finished at two-under, two shots back, rueing a double-bogey on Saturday that had put a career grand slam just out of reach. She carded a three-under 68 on Sunday, but it came too late. England's Charley Hull and Lottie Woad failed to spark. Haeran Ryu's game was hampered by frequent visits to the bunkers that festoon the course.

Kuwaki's previous five professional wins had all come on her home tour in Japan. This was different—a major championship on one of golf's most storied stages, 12 months after she had failed to make the cut at Royal Porthcawl. She becomes the 43rd different winner in 50 editions of the Women's Open and the fourth Japanese player to claim the title. "I just can't believe it," she said in the fading daylight. "To be on a stage like this is an honour. It's an amazing feeling to win again as a Japanese player. I hope as team Japan we can continue to light up the golf world."

Henseleit will carry the memory of that moment—the putt dropping in, the gallery erupting—into the Solheim Cup in September. She had been aiming to become only the second German woman to win a major, following Sophia Popov's path. Instead, she became the first player to hold a three-stroke lead after 54 holes and walk away without the trophy. "Very happy with how I gave myself the opportunity to win today," she said, "just got a bit unlucky on the second play-off hole there."