It only took about a half hour for Esther Henseleit to go from putt of her life to worst break ever.
Henseleit, the 27-year-old German who’d never finished better than seventh in 32 previous major starts, hooped a 40-footer for birdie on Royal Lytham’s par-4 finishing hole to force a playoff Sunday at the AIG Women’s Open.
“I think that’s a moment I’ll definitely remember for a long time,” Henseleit said.
ICE COLD ON THE 72ND HOLE! 🥶🔥
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) August 2, 2026
Esther Henseleit drills it to force a MAJOR PLAYOFF at Royal Lytham & St Annes
📺 NBC pic.twitter.com/L7GmOinvjl
What happened after that may haunt her longer.
After Shiho Kuwaki chipped out and then wedged to 3 feet at No. 18 to extend the playoff, Henseleit pushed her drive on the second extra hole. Immediately, she shouted, “Fore!”
Henseleit’s ball then appeared to land amidst a crowd of people before disappearing. Among that group was a marshal, who began pointing toward the back of his left foot as others rushed back to a gorse bush, where Henseleit’s ball had ended up.
The TV broadcast later showed a slow-motion replay of the drive, which confirmed that Henseleit’s ball did land near the marshal before ricocheting some 15 yards back into the bush.
“I have no idea,” Henseleit said afterward when asked if she saw what had happened. “I thought it was farther left to be honest. Must have gotten some kind of bad bounce. At least I still had a shot, I guess, and could kind of get a good angle going into the green and didn’t have to take an unplayable or something.
“But, yeah, probably a bit unlucky there. That’s just links golf.”
Henseleit was able to advance the ball but couldn’t get up and down with her wedge shot, as Kuwaki won with par.
“I mean, you just have to focus on the next shot,” Henseleit added. “She made a great up and down on the first playoff hole and we just said, ‘OK, let’s try to get this back into the fairway and give ourselves a chance.’ Yeah, didn’t manage to save par in the end, but, yeah, you just have to focus on the next putt. We play under pressure every week. Of course, it’s maybe kind of a bigger stage, but it’s still only golf.”