Andy DevaneyThe Women’s PGA Cup 2026 ended with a familiar flag at the top of the leaderboard, but little else about the margin felt routine.
The United States closed with a five-under-par team score of 214 at Carden Park in Chester to finish 19 under and beat Great Britain & Ireland by 30 shots — more than doubling their previous record winning margin of 12. Four editions, four American victories. This one also travelled rather well: it was their first overseas win.
A record Women’s PGA Cup margin built without fuss
Thirty shots is the sort of winning margin that turns a final leaderboard into an audit. Great Britain & Ireland finished second at 11-over 668, with Canada third on 671. South Africa and Australia shared fourth at 685, while Sweden closed sixth on 690.
The more telling American number was three. Sandra Changkija and Kim Paez both returned two-under 71s on Saturday, while Stephanie Connelly Eiswerth supplied the third counting score with a 72.
There was no late rescue act and no dependence on one spectacular card. Playing captain Ashley Grier had the rare pleasure of overseeing a side that appeared to understand its brief with almost suspicious efficiency.
Sandra Changkija answers a bogey with an eagle
If the team victory was comprehensive, Changkija still provided the day’s neatest piece of theatre.
For the second successive round she bogeyed the par-three first. Her response at the par-five second was considerably more useful: a driven tee shot left her around the 200 marker, her approach used the contours beyond a bunker to reach the green, and she holed from 21 feet for eagle.
“I made sure to smoke my drive, and I did, so that got me to the 200 plate,” explained Changkija. “It helped that the flag was up front. There was only a bunker to carry that was 170. Everything else downsloped towards the front of the green and the ball rolled onto the green, next thing you know it was 21 feet, and I rolled it in.”
A birdie at the seventh helped her turn in 35. She balanced two back-nine birdies with two bogeys for a 71 and finished six under for the week, securing Brittany Kelly Medalist Honors. Connelly Eiswerth and Great Britain & Ireland’s Sian Evans shared second individually at one under.
Kim Paez looks entirely at home on debut
Paez was playing her first Women’s PGA Cup, although her final round showed little interest in behaving like a debut.
She birdied the second and ninth, then responded to a bogey at the 12th by holing birdie putts from eight to 10 feet at the 13th and 14th. Four closing pars completed another 71.
Carden Park did not offer much invitation to switch off. Paez described a course on which none of the holes allowed players to relax, while Changkija’s own prescription was simpler: start from the fairway. With the eventual margin so emphatic, discipline rather than bravado proved the useful currency.
Connelly Eiswerth adds another steady card
Connelly Eiswerth, making her third appearance for the United States, opened with seven consecutive pars before her only bogey at the eighth. Birdies at 16 and 18 turned a controlled round into a one-under 72.
That left her tied second individually and underlined the depth behind the team score. Allie Knight finished tied sixth at three over, while Grier was eighth at six over. The Americans did not require every player to contend for medalist honours; they simply kept producing enough good golf in enough places.
Four editions, four American wins
The scale of this victory is clearer against the competition’s short history. The United States won the inaugural event in 2019 by four shots over Canada, edged Canada by two in 2022, then stretched the margin to 12 at Sunriver Resort in 2024.
At Carden Park, that progression became rather less subtle.
The 30-shot win was not merely a fourth consecutive title. It was the United States’ first Women’s PGA Cup victory outside home soil, achieved at the first edition hosted by Great Britain & Ireland. The venue changed and the outcome became more emphatic.
For an event built around PGA Professionals who spend most of their working lives teaching, developing players and doing the daily business of golf, Paez’s description of the week explains why the result matters beyond the trophy.
“This experience has surpassed everything that I could have hoped for,” said Paez. “The feeling of camaraderie here, and not just within our U.S. Team, but with all the women here. We’re all golf professionals.
We work full time. The fact that we can come together to do what we love as far as competing and developing friendships with everybody from all over the world, I think that is huge for women’s golf in general. For me to be a part of that, it means the world to me. It’s something that I’m never going to forget.”
The friendships may travel home with everyone. The cup, once again, is going in only one direction.
