Shiho Kuwaki of Japan wins the Women's British Open on second playoff hole

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England (AP) — Shiho Kuwaki of Japan saved par to stay alive in a sudden-death playoff Sunday and won with a par on the second extra hole to claim the Women’s British Open over Esther Henseleit of Germany for her first major title.

Kuwaki closed with a 1-under 70 and looked like a winner as she waited nearly 30 minutes in the scoring room. Henseleit, in the final group, holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at Royal Lytham & St. Annes for a 70 to join Kuwaki at 5-under 279.

Henseleit then had the advantage in the playoff when the 23-year-old from Japan was in deep grass short of a bunker and had to lay up short of the green. Kuwaki hit wedge to 3 feet to save par and got another chance when Henseleit missed a 15-foot birdie putt for the win.

The tables turned on the second extra hole. Henseleit's tee shot on the 18th drifted far enough to the right that it was beneath a gorse bush. She did well to get that back to the fairway, and hit wedge to about 12 feet. But her par putt stayed left of the cup, and that left Kuwaki to tap in for par.

“Very happy with how I gave myself the opportunity to win today and how I handled myself. Just got a bit unlucky on the second playoff hole there,” Henseleit said. “I tried really hard and I guess it just wasn’t meant to be today.”

This is the second straight Women's British Open title for Japan, following Miyu Yamashita's victory last year at Royal Porthcawl. Kuwaki, often known for her fashion, becomes the fifth player from Japan to have won an LPGA major over the last three years.

“I can’t believe it,” Kuwaki said through a translator and the trophy presentation.

The disappointment belonged to third-placed Yealimi Noh (74), the 25-year-old Californian who began the final round with a three-shot lead until it slowly went away with bogeys. She fell out of a share of the lead with a bogey on the 14th hole. Noh was one shot behind and had two reasonable looks at birdie — with Kuwaki already in the clubhouse at 279 — but failed to convert.

“It stings being one short,” said Noh, who had missed three straight cuts before this week. “I told myself this morning, no matter what happens I'm happy to be in this position again. A couple of weeks ago, I was losing a lot of motivation. This week has helped me feel so much better about my game.”

Haeran Ryu fell short in her bid to become the first player since Inbee Park to win three straight majors in one year. The Women's PGA and Evian Championship winner was still in the mix on the back nine. She needed birdies and instead closed with two straight bogeys for a 74 to tie for sixth.

Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player in women's golf and winner of the year's first two majors, started eight shots behind and closed with a 68. She was the leader in the clubhouse for the longest time at 2 under until Kuwaki finished.

Korda tied for fourth along with Jeeno Thitikul (73).

Kuwaki, at No. 46 in the women's world ranking, played bogey-free over the last 13 holes as everyone around her made mistakes. She was in the scoring room after signing and stayed there, even as Henseleit and Noh had birdie chances on the final two holes to force a playoff.

Henseleit delivered with a most unlikely putt, 40 feet across the 18th green. The 27-year-old German raised her right arm as the golf ball still had a few feet to go and punched the air when it dropped for birdie.

It was only the second playoff since the Women’s British Open became a major in 2001.

Kuwaki covered her eyes when she watched the putt go in on TV, then broke into a smile. And moments later, she was in a cart and off to the 18th tee for a playoff and immediately in trouble. Her tee shot stayed short of a bunker but in the slope of thick grass. She smartly tried to get it back in play, and her wedge to 3 feet was as important a shot as any.

It gave her another chance, and the final mistake belonged to Henseleit with the tee shot on the 18th for the second playoff hole.

Kuwaki already has won twice this year and is fourth on the money list on the Japan LPGA, the tour that has produced five recent major champions, including Yamashita, Mao Saigo, Yuka Saso and Ayaka Furue. Kuwaki is now on that list.

“Just to be on a stage like this is just an honor, and every hole I was just focused shot-by-shot and just tried to enjoy it out there as much as I could,” she said.

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Shiho Kuwaki, of Japan, kisses the trophy after winning the Women's British Open golf championship in Lytham St Annes, England, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shiho Kuwaki, of Japan, holds up the trophy after winning the Women's British Open golf championship in Lytham St Annes, England, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shiho Kuwaki, of Japan, kisses the trophy after winning the Women's British Open golf championship in Lytham St Annes, England, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shiho Kuwaki, of Japan, holds up the trophy after winning the Women's British Open golf championship in Lytham St Annes, England, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Esther Henseleit, of Germany, celebrates after putting on the 18th green during the fourth round of the Women's British Open golf championship in Lytham St Annes, England, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shiho Kuwaki, of Japan, walks on the 16th green during the fourth round of the Women's British Open golf championship in Lytham St Annes, England, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shiho Kuwaki, of Japan, drives off the 3rd tee during the fourth round of the Women's British Open golf championship in Lytham St Annes, England, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

MIKITAMÄE, Estonia (AP) — As an accordion plays, 80-year-old Maime Kapten spins across the grass field, her embroidered skirt swirling and silver chains and coins around her neck jangling.

Kapten is a member of the Seto ethnic community, which once a year turns a village in southeastern Estonia into a symbolic kingdom for a day — complete with entry visas instead of tickets, made-up currency and even a mock military parade. She's one of only a few thousand fluent speakers of Seto, which is closely related to the Estonian language.

The idea was born in 1994 as the Setos, whose homeland was divided by the Estonian-Russian border after the collapse of the Soviet Union, created a special event to highlight their unique culture and preserve their language, and bring the community together.

“This is an important cultural day for us,” Kapten said. “We get to meet people we know, we get to talk, exchange a few words, give each other a hug.”

The Seto people have lived for centuries in the border region and never had a real kingdom. After the Soviet Union's collapse, many on the Russian side of the border eventually abandoned or sold their houses and moved to Estonia. Fewer than 200 stayed behind.

Those who remained on the different sides of the border couldn’t see each other as easily as before and needed visas to visit family graves and relatives.

According to Estonia's 2021 census, about 25,000 people reported being able to speak Seto, but linguists estimate only a few thousand use it in everyday life. Seto speakers are spread across Estonia, and the Setomaa parish in their traditional home region is home to fewer than 3,000 people.

The parish includes the usually quiet village of Mikitamäe, host to this year's kingdom day, whose streets were bursting on Saturday with men and women in colorful folk costumes.

A local saying goes that you hear a Seto woman before you see her because of the noise her silver chains and dangling coins make. Those traditional dresses, worn every day a century ago, now are only worn for special occasions.

“Seto clothes say a lot about the person who wears them," said cultural activist Piret Torm-Kriis, 62. “If you look at a Seto woman, you can understand whether she is married or single, whether she is going to the church or to the market, to a party or to work.”

For centuries, Seto culture has combined Eastern Orthodox traditions and pre-Christian mythology.

Setos attended church services but also sought help from Peko, the god of fertility and king of the Setos in local folklore. The tradition lives on with the annual election of a new Ülemsootska, the representative of the community, who speaks on Peko’s behalf and serves as his messenger.

Each year, a man and a woman declare their program while standing on tree stumps to the Seto people, who quickly form lines in front of their favored candidate, holding onto threads stretching hundreds of meters (yards).

On Saturday, the longest line formed in front of folk costume maker Ingrit Kala, who was declared the Ülemsootska.

Topping Kala's agenda: promoting the Seto culture and preserving the Seto language. The language is officially viewed as a dialect of Estonian but considered a separate language by the Seto themselves, with its distinct pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

“We have so many different things, so many skilled craftspeople, to show what a rich culture we have and to really introduce it,” Kala said.

Saturday's events prominently featured the traditional Seto way of singing, known as leelo, believed to be over 1,000 years old and recognized on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

It features a woman singing the first verse line, with a choir joining in for the final syllables before the singing blends together. Its lyrics and themes are often mythological and have been passed down orally from one generation to another.

Singing traditionally accompanied all daily activities, with songs for everything, including work, rituals and celebrations.

Leelo singing contains a lot of information about the world and people at the time of its origins, "how were they thinking, what was important, what did they believe in,” leelo singing researcher and teacher Mari Palolill said after singing with her choir.

Seto traditions have survived largely by being passed on by word of mouth, and the annual kingdom day is one of the most important events for preserving the Seto language.

In Setomaa, there is a Seto-speaking kindergarten group and a newspaper in Seto. Some books, including Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's “The Little Prince,” have been translated into Seto.

Still, it remains a language largely learned in the family.

“If Seto isn’t spoken at home, then what children learn at school doesn’t help much,” Kala said

Maria Grünberg, 23, learned Seto by listening to leelo songs as a child and trying to sing along. Now she’s leading the youth leelo choir and her dream is to help every generation embrace Seto.

“We all together try to preserve the songs, the language, and show also other young people that Seto songs and Seto language is not only for old people," said Grünberg, who sang wearing a traditional Seto dress she customized herself and her grandparents' jewelry. “We want to show that this is for everyone.”

Estonia Seto Kingdom Day People attend mock military parade during the annual Seto Kingdom Day in Mikitamäe, south Estonia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Estonia Seto Kingdom Day Men wearing traditional Seto costumes dance during the annual Seto Kingdom Day in Mikitamäe, south Estonia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Estonia Seto Kingdom Day Men wearing traditional Seto costumes dance during the annual Seto Kingdom Day in Mikitamäe, south Estonia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Estonia Seto Kingdom Day A woman wearing traditional Seto costumes dances during the annual Seto Kingdom Day in Mikitamäe, south Estonia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Estonia Seto Kingdom Day Women wearing traditional Seto costumes dance during the annual Seto Kingdom Day in Mikitamäe, south Estonia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)