Amy Yang wins Women’s PGA Championship for first major title

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SAMAMMISH, Wash. — Standing within the 18th fairway, Amy Yang leaned over to caddie Jan Meierling and acknowledged the nervousness and nerves she carried for the earlier 17 holes.

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“This has been the longest 18 holes I’ve ever played in my career,” Yang informed Meierling.

After years of near-misses within the majors, Yang lastly loved the celebration she’d lengthy sought: Standing on the 18th inexperienced, doused in Champagne by her friends as a major champion.

“At one level I believed, ‘Will I every win a major championship before I retire?”‘ Yang said. “And I finally did it and it’s simply superb.”

Steady over 4 days at demanding, tree-lined Sahalee, Yang constructed an enormous lead and survived a few late errors to win her long-awaited major title on Sunday, a three-shot victory within the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Yang closed with an even-par 72 to complete at 7-under 281. She was almost flawless for the first 15 holes and reached 10 below for the match for a seven-shot lead earlier than working into a little bit little bit of hassle. But none of her pursuers was capable of mount a big cost.

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At age 34, Yang is the oldest major winner on the LPGA Tour since Angela Stanford gained the 2018 Evian Championship at age 40. Anna Nordqvist had lately turned 34 when she gained the Women’s British Open in 2021.

This was Yang’s seventy fifth major begin, essentially the most earlier than a participant’s first major title since Stanford, who was enjoying her 76th. As she spoke to reporters, a bunch of kids waited outdoors the interview tent, chanting “Amy, Amy,” and in search of an autograph from the latest major champ.

“It’s been incredible all this week. Everyone was rooting for me. I want to go sign some autographs for them,” Yang mentioned.

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Yang’s sixth LPGA victory was her first since final 12 months’s CME Group Tour Championship, which was additionally the newest victory by a South Korean participant. She earned a spot within the Paris Olympics, the place she is going to symbolize South Korea for the third time.

“The first half of the year she was kind of like in between. Motivation is kind of a roller-coaster ride for her because she’s done a lot of things, but there’s definitely some goals she wants to accomplish, this being one of them,” Meierling mentioned. “These weeks get her reinvigorated.”

Lilia Vu and Jin Young Ko every shot 71 to tie for second at 4 below. Vu shot three rounds below par, however couldn’t overcome a 75 within the first spherical.

“If (you) hit like Amy, you can win, too,” Ko mentioned.

Twice earlier in her profession, Yang held the 54-hole lead in a major solely to fall brief. At the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst, Yang was tied with Michelle Wie going into the ultimate spherical, however shot 74 as Wie gained. A 12 months later in the identical match at Lancaster Country Club, Yang had a three-shot benefit, however In Gee Chun shot 66 to win by one.

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Nine instances, Yang completed second, third or fourth in a major with out a title. Until now.

“Golf is really just like a fight against myself. I think I proved to myself that I can compete and I can do this,” she mentioned.

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Yang was remarkably regular till her last few holes. She made 5 bogeys over her first 69 holes earlier than she three-putted the sixteenth. Then she pushed her tee shot on the par-3 seventeenth properly proper and it bounced right into a lake, resulting in double bogey.

Yang steadied herself with an ideal tee shot on the par-5 18th, resulting in a two-putt par and the Champagne celebration.

Yang held a two-shot benefit when she stepped to the first tee on a cooler Sunday after three straight days of above-average temperatures. The entrance 9 noticed breezes whistle via the towering bushes to the purpose play needed to be paused so pollen buds could possibly be blown off the greens.

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Yang was unfazed. By the time she made the flip, she led by 5. Yang birdied the first gap, chipped in for birdie from 23 yards off the inexperienced on the fifth and dropped a 7-foot birdie putt on the eighth — the hardest gap on the course — to maneuver to 9 below.

When she hit into the bushes on No. 10 and made bogey, Yang responded with a birdie on the eleventh and made her last birdie on the thirteenth.

Playing within the last group with Yang, Lauren Hartlage had an opportunity to tie the lead at 8 below, however her 5-foot birdie strive on the par-5 sixth gap caught the left edge, spun across the cup and stayed out. Hartlage made double bogeys at Nos. 7 and eight and made the flip six photographs behind. She tied for fifth at 3 below, her greatest profession end.

There was just one spherical within the 60s on the ultimate day — Japan’s Mao Saigo shot 67 to complete at 2 below, tied for seventh.

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