Yin Ruoning wins Women’s PGA Championship to become the 2nd Chinese woman to claim a major title

Becoming the second woman from China to win a major championship left Yin Ruoning in awe even an hour after being awarded the Women’s PGA Championship trophy at Baltusrol in Springfield, NJ

“When I walked up to this place, I just said, ‘Oh, wow, big winner!’ It’s amazing. It’s just unreal,” Yin said on Sunday.

Yin made a birdie putt from about 10 feet on the final hole, beating Yuka Saso by one stroke. The 20-year-old finished with a 4-under 67 to finish 8-under 276 and take a place in Chinese sports history alongside Shanshan Feng.

“I would say she’s definitely the target I’m chasing,” Yin said. “But I think she’s the person who inspired me the most.”

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Now national golf coach in China, Feng won 23 events worldwide, including 10 on the LPGA Tour.

Yin wasn’t even playing golf when Feng won this event – then known as the LPGA Championship – in 2012. She was nine years old and only started playing golf after 18 months. Her main sport was basketball and she idolized Stephen Curry, but her shorter stature led her to turn to golf.

Yin has really turned it around in the past two years. She picked up her first LPGA Tour win earlier this year in Los Angeles and is now the third player to win twice this season, joining Lilia Vu and World No. 1 Jin Young Ko. This came with a US $1.5 million paycheck.

Yin made it with her fourth birdie in a bogeyless day.

After Saso birdied her on the par-5 18th hole to tie for the lead, Yin found the rough with her tee shot, hit her third shot into an ideal spot and curled right to left. breaking putt, pumping her fist after it fell.

“I actually felt like I was going to make it, and I made it,” said Yin, who hit a tournament-best 66 greens in regulation and 48 of 56 fairways. “It’s a really weird feeling.”

Rose Zhang, who won in her professional debut three weeks ago, also in New Jersey, made a charge with a final round of 67 to finish tied for eighth, three shots back.

Saso, the 2021 US Women’s Open champion, shot 66. The championship was delayed by nearly two hours midway through the round due to severe weather, and Yin made three of her birdies after the restart.

Saso, of Japan, thought she had squandered her chance to win when she missed a 10-foot birdie attempt to tie the lead at No. 17. She went up and down from a greenside bunker to birdie the last hole.

“After missing the birdie on 17, I wished I didn’t hit my drive in the water on 18,” she said. “But glad I didn’t. Hit a good shot and the second shot hit it in the left bunker. It wasn’t an easy bunker shot, but it was manageable and I managed it pretty well.”

Xiyu Lin, who led or shared the lead for most of her back nine, found the water with her drive on the 18th and bogeyed to shoot 67 and finish two shots alongside Carlota Ciganda (64), Anna Nordqvist (65), Megan Khang (67) and Stephanie Weide (70).

“Unfortunately I didn’t make a good tee off on the last hole,” said 27-year-old Lin, who is winless on the LPGA Tour but ranked 14th in the world. “But it could have happened on any other hole. I think I gave myself good chances overall. It’s still a really good Sunday to take a lot from.”

Lin, also from China, rents a house in Florida to Yin and jokes that she is going to raise the rent.

Yin was asked about it after winning.

“Oh wow. I’m actually thinking about buying her house right now,” she said laughing. “Yes, just think about it.”

Leona Maguire, who won last week and led after the second and third rounds, shot 74, ending a run of eight rounds in a row in the 1960s. She attempted to become the first woman from Ireland to win a major and finished four shots back. Maguire did not speak to the media.

Baltusrol delivered just 16 rounds under par on Thursday, but with the course softened by the rain, 35 players broke par in the final round, including tournament-low rounds of 64 from Ciganda and Perrine Delacour. No one had shot better than 66 before Sunday.

Zhang, who turned pro after winning her second straight NCAA individual title, started the round at 1 under and reached 6 under at No. 11 with her fifth birdie of the round. She never got closer, with bogeys on Nos. 13 and 16 with a birdie on 14. She hit her tee into the water on the last hole and saved par.

“It’s really cool to see that I’m good at it and I just have to work a little harder to play better,” said the 20-year-old.

The next event on the LPGA Tour is another major event, the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach July 6-9.