A weather delay, plenty of drama, and a little history. It all happened Sunday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Ruoning Yin, just 20 years old, won for the second time on the LPGA Tour this season and captured her first major championship.
She finished at 8 under at Baltusrol Golf Club, topping Yuka Saso by one.
“When I was on the 18th tee and I saw the leaderboard, and I know I have one-shot lead, but […] after the tee shot, I saw Yuka make an incredible birdie (on 18), and I know I have to make birdie at this hole to win the championship. I’m glad I did it,” Yin said with a laugh.
Fist pump-worthy 💪
Ruoning Yin with the HUGE birdie on 18 to take the lead at -8!!! pic.twitter.com/hVMEuClRBZ
— LPGA (@LPGA) June 25, 2023
Yin became just the second women’s major championship winner from China with her KPMG Women’s PGA triumph. Shanshan Feng captured this same major 11 years ago. Yin won the DIO Implant L.A. Open earlier this year on the LPGA Tour, and in the process joined Feng as the only LPGA Tour winners from China.
Yin, Jin Young Ko, and Lilia Vu are the only two-time winners so far this season on the LPGA Tour.
Yin, who was in the second-to-last group Sunday, made one birdie on her front nine before adding birdies on Nos. 13, 14, and 18. There was chaos around her – in all, six other golfers finished within two shots of her winning total – but her birdie on the par-5 18th from about 15 feet away to get her to 8 under was right in the heart.
Saso, who won the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open, got up-and-down from a greenside bunker on 18 to make a closing birdie and shoot 66. She finished at 7 under.
This is Saso’s best result of the season, and her fourth top-10 finish.
“I’m happy, but I feel like I still need to work on many stuff, so I’m not really fully satisfied, but I’m happy that I was able to show some of the work that I’ve been putting in,” Saso said.
Stephanie Meadow, Megan Khang, Xiyu Lin, Anna Nordqvist, and Carlota Ciganda finished at 6 under and tied for third. Ciganda shot a 7-under 64 Sunday, tied for the low round of the tournament with Perrine Delacour. Lin, funny enough, is technically Yin’s landlord in Orlando. She had a chance to tie her countrywoman late before her tee shot on 18 found the water.
Rose Zhang, golf’s next big superstar, finished tied for eighth in her major-championship debut. Zhang, who won everything there was to win in college golf, captured the Mizuho Americas Open in May becoming the first golfer on the LPGA Tour since the 1950s to win in her pro debut.
Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson finished tied for 15th after a 2-under 69 in the final round – a solid bounce-back effort after shooting over par in her second and third rounds.
While Brooke ended up six shots back of the winning total, she notched yet another very impressive result at a major championship.
Brooke has not finished outside the top-25 at any major since 2020, and this marked her 22nd top-20 finish at a major since 2016. Brooke’s opening-round 67 was her 17th round of 67-or-better at a major since 2015 – tied for the most of anyone on the LPGA Tour.
Brooke said earlier in the week this was the start of a very important run on the LPGA Tour – four of the five major championships on the LPGA Tour are contested over the next three months, not to mention the CPKC Women’s Open at the end of August – and a solid result like this will do wonders for her confidence as she looks to win a third major championship title.
The LPGA Tour takes a week off before heading to the iconic Pebble Beach for the U.S. Women’s Open, the next major on the calendar.
Play was suspended in the final round at 1:02 p.m. ET due to dangerous weather. It resumed at 2:54 p.m.
The 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will be contested at Sahalee Country Club where Brooke won the 2016 edition for her first major title.