PINE NEEDLES, N.C. — A lasting memory from the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open is that of Lexi Thompson losing a five-shot lead down the back nine at Olympic Club, causing her to miss out on a second major title and her first U.S. Women’s Open championship in 15 starts.

“I always say there’s really no feeling,” Thompson said. “You’re always learning. Every time I tee it up, there’s something to be processed, to learn. Yeah, it didn’t go my way. It was frustrating, but it happens. I’m here.”

Thompson wasn’t the only past major champion to let a five-shot lead slip in nine holes on the Sunday of a major championship last year.

Heading into the final round of the Amundi Evian Championship in July, Jeongeun Lee6 led the pack by five shots despite experimenting with changes to her backswing in the two months leading up to the tournament. Lee6 unraveled early that Sunday, shooting a four-over par 39 on the front nine and making room for Minjee Lee to catch her with a three-under 32.

Lee6 fought back into contention with three birdies in a row to close her final 18 and force a playoff with Lee. That’s when Lee6 took a swing she still wishes she could have back.

Setting up for her second shot on the playoff hole from 181 yards out in the center of the fairway, Lee6’s five iron found the water in front of the par-5 18th green, sinking any hope of a second major title. After Lee6 missed a par putt, her final opportunity to put pressure on Lee, the Australian completed the seven-stroke comeback to win her first major championship.

“I didn’t want to remember that shot, that second shot. It’s not easy,” Lee6 said. “I can’t do nothing, so I just practice.”

Morgan Pressel, a major champion herself and witness to two five-shot collapses last summer, put Lee6’s performance at Evian into perspective that day.

“It’s just not easy to play under major championship pressure with a five-shot lead,” Pressel said. “Everyone expects you to win, you expect yourself to win, and when things start going sideways, you get tight and tense, and we saw that from Lee6 today.

“The way she battled back, even to get into this playoff, she has to be proud of herself because she showed a lot of heart today.”

From there, Lee6 took about a month to reset and spend time with friends, family and coaches. Her mental coach reinforced the positives from the runner-up result, notably how well she’d played while working on her swing.

“I won U.S. Open, so you have a lot of talent,” Lee6, the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open champion, said her mental coach reminded her. “You have talent, trust myself, just keep going.”

2019 #USWomensOpen champion Jeongeun Lee6 with a beauty of a shot at @TheOlympicClub's iconic par-3 8th hole. pic.twitter.com/sVkVNdhySI

— U.S. Women's Open (USGA) (@uswomensopen) June 5, 2021

The South Korean continued to focus on getting her hands higher in her backswing during the time she spent away from the tour. And her team reminded her that, with her talent at age 26, she’d have more opportunities to win as long as she kept working on her game.

Once Lee6 let the playoff shot go, the consistency she showed during her 2019 Rookie of the Year campaign returned. She rattled off three straight top-10 finishes from September through early October, and concluded the year with a T-15 at the CME Group Tour Championship.

After getting in more swing training in Palm Springs during the offseason, Lee6 started the 2022 season again with three top-10 finishes in a row from February through March. Even after missing the cut at the Chevron Championship and failing to advance out of pool play at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play last week, Lee6 said her backswing feels much better now than it did a year ago.

Lee6 brings her improved swing to what’s arguably been her best tournament on the LPGA circuit. In five career starts at the U.S. Women’s Open dating back to 2017, she’s hoisted the Harton S. Semple Trophy in 2019, finished in the top-6 in 2017 (T-5) and 2020 (T-6), and posted a T-17 finish in 2018 and a T-12 at Olympic Club last year. The challenge the USGA presents with its tournament every year brings out the best out in Lee6.

“I like tricky golf courses because easy golf courses, we have to make a lot of birdies. Difficult course, we just play for par. If we have chance to make birdie, I like that. I like that playing,” she said.

“That’s why U.S. Open, a lot of majors, that’s why I like it.”

Lee6 has a chance this week to become the first player to win two U.S. Women’s Opens in a four-year span since Karrie Webb won back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001. With much attention being paid to Thompson and whether she can rebound from last year’s collapse, Lee6 will look to apply the patience she learned across the Atlantic Ocean to another winning campaign at the U.S. Open.

“I need to just wait for my second win,” Lee6 said. “I think this year, if I try my best, I am going to have a chance.”

Kent Paisley is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering golf and the LPGA. He also contributes to Golf Digest. Follow him on Twitter @KentPaisley.

The grass court chaos of Wimbledon didn't disappoint this week, as the unpredictable surface claimed more than one surprise victim in the 2025 Grand Slam's first round.

A full 10 of the London tournament's 32 seeded players fell in the competition's first round, including four of the WTA's Top 10: World No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 6 Qinwen Zheng, and No. 9 Paula Badosa.

"I should just play no tournaments, get no wins, then roll into Wimbledon, and maybe I'll have better results," US star Pegula joked after her two-set Tuesday loss to Italy's No. 116 Elisabetta Cocciaretto, referencing her recent wins.

Gauff's short Wimbledon outing also represented a new challenge for the 21-year-old standout, as the top-ranked US tennis player struggled to bounce back after winning the 2025 French Open last month.

"I feel like mentally I was a little bit overwhelmed with everything that came afterwards," Gauff told ESPN. "So I didn’t feel like I had enough time to celebrate and also get back into it."

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The upsets continued as Wimbledon entered its second round on Wednesday morning, claiming several more seeded players like world No. 5 Jasmine Paolini and No. 15 Diana Shnaider, though both No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and unseeded fan favorite Naomi Osaka cruised into the Slam's third round on two-set wins.

No. 8 Madison Keys now leads the US contingent, with fellow US contender No. 12 Amanda Anisimova joining the 2025 Australian Open champion in snagging their own two-set, second-round victories on Wednesday.

How to watch the 2025 Wimbledon Championships

Second-round play at the 2025 Wimbledon women's singles tournament continues on Thursday, as seven US players — including No. 10 Emma Navarro and No. 28 Sofia Kenin — look to advance to the competition's third round.

Live continuous coverage of the London Grand Slam airs on ESPN.

The world No. 1 USWNT will close out their summer international break against a familiar foe on Wednesday night, facing North American rival No. 8 Canada for the first time this year.

"It's never friendly, you know? It's always like a final," US midfielder Sam Coffey told media earlier this week. "We all know each other super well."

"I'm really excited to be a part of it again for our younger, newer players," she continued. "I think it's going to be a huge learning opportunity on what representing this crest means."

The Northern neighbors are the USWNT's most frequent opponent, with the US entering the pair's 67th meeting with a 53-4-9 all-time record against Canada.

Wednesday's matchup will also mark Canada's first US clash under new head coach Casey Stoney, who joined the team in January following her abrupt June 2024 dismissal by the NWSL's San Diego Wave FC.

As for US boss Emma Hayes, she'll be looking for yet another refreshed set of starters on Wednesday after swapping out all 11 players between the team's two friendlies against Ireland last week.

"It's a testament to players and staff alike that we can rotate to different groups like we did last game, and everybody's understanding [the tactics] to varying degrees," Hayes said on Tuesday.

With months to go before the next USWNT camp in October, Wednesday's showdown serves as the last chance for bubble players to prove their worth, all while the team aims to cap the summer window with a big win over their longtime rivals.

How to watch the USWNT vs. Canada on Wednesday

The USWNT will cap their three-friendly summer break against Canada at 7:30 PM ET in Washington, DC.

Live coverage of the clash will air on TNT.

The Indiana Fever lifted their first trophy since 2012 on Tuesday night, winning the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup with a 74-59 upset victory over reigning Cup champs Minnesota — all while injured star guard Caitlin Clark watched from the sidelines.

To snag the win, Indiana leaned on balanced scoring, with forward Natasha Howard's 16-point, 12-rebound double-double leading the Fever's five double-digit shooters.

At the same time, the Fever employed a shutdown defense, limiting the Lynx to their lowest point total of the season.

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Beyond the $500,000 payout, Tuesday's win gives the 8-8 Fever a momentum boost as the team continues contending with both high-profile departures and the limited availability of their floor general.

"We have a resilient group, you know?" Indiana head coach Stephanie White said after the game. "They're tough, mentally and physically, they pull for one another. I'm just really proud."

"It felt good to get a win under gut-check circumstances," echoed guard Kelsey Mitchell. "To have so much going on and still stay consistently for each other, it was beautiful. It felt really amazing."

As for the league-leading Lynx, the Commissioner's Cup loss won't impact Minnesota's regular-season WNBA standings — and they’ll hope to build on the learnings from last night's ego blow.

Minnesota also has a bit of history one their side, as the last two Commissioner's Cup runners-up went on to win the WNBA Championship in the same year.

"We have to take this game to heart and learn from the mistakes we made, the way we showed up, the way we prepared, and make sure we don't do it again," said Lynx center Alanna Smith.

How to watch the Indiana Fever, Minnesota Lynx this week

Neither 2025 Commissioner's Cup contender will have much time to reflect on Tuesday's game, as both Indiana and Minnesota will dive back into regular-season WNBA play on Thursday.

The Fever will host the Las Vegas Aces at 7 PM ET, airing on Prime, before the Washington Mystics visit the Lynx at 8 PM ET, with live coverage on WNBA League Pass.

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham turned heads on Tuesday, criticizing the latest WNBA expansion plans in light of ongoing WNBPA CBA negotiations.

Cunningham drew ire from some fans after expressing skepticism about the WNBA awarding expansion teams to Detroit and Cleveland over other possible cities, while also suggesting that the league might be growing too quickly.

"You want to listen to your players, too. Where do they want to play?" she told reporters ahead of Indiana's Commissioner's Cup win. "I'm not so sure what the thought process is there, but at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you're not expanding our league too fast."

"It's kind of a hard decision-making situation. But man, I don't know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or [Cleveland]."

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Elsewhere, Phoenix Mercury forward Satou Sabally also voiced her expansion concerns on Tuesday, calling on the WNBA to keep player support at the forefront when adding expansion teams.

"We really have to put an emphasis on the players that are in our league right now," she told reporters. "Maybe focus on the teams that find excuses continuously to lack investment in their players before we focus on adding more to the grain of people that can't really be sustained."