Twenty-year-old Ruoning Yin won her maiden major at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship with thrilling last-minute clutch points while Leona Maguire wilted under the pressure and Rose Zhang's sensational game disappointed in the penultimate moments.
Up until the last few holes of the 2023 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, all the attention had been on two other women: Ireland's Leona Maguire and wunderkind Rose Zhang in her major debut.
Maguire had led the field the first three rounds and looked like she might be closing in on her first major victory. But the pressure of the final day proved too much for the 28-year-old, who split four bogeys on the front and back nines, with only one birdie on the 13th hole giving a clue to the talent she had displayed up until that day. It was with bitter disappointment that she hugged her good friend—and serious contender—Northern Ireland's Stephanie Meadow, who maintained her nerves and thrilled with a birdie on the 17th to finish tied for third.
At age 20, Zhang's eagle at the end of the third round set the Baltusrol golf course aflutter. The excitement continued to build as the player most-talked-about thrilled with four birdies on the front nine on Sunday. Having just debuted as an LPGA professional last month (yep, you read that right), she won her first LPGA title at Mizuho in a sudden-death playoff just before heading to Springfield Township, New Jersey. It looked like she was going into superwoman mode and was on the precipice of collecting her first major hardware just a few weeks after that breakthrough win. Sure, we were all thinking, Rose Zhang is just unstoppable.
But alas, Zhang's miracle run was halted with two bogeys on holes 13 and 16 and bad luck on the 18th, where her ball landed in the water, allowing just a par to finish T8 at five under.
But what a run it was. Before her nerves kicked in on the back nine, Zhang was hitting bombs like this one.
Ruoning Yin wins maiden major at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship
But it would be another 20-year-old, Ruoning Yin who would come up with the goods in the end. Yin handled the pressure last points by making no mistakes. She secured her second LPGA victory of the season with a bogey-free 67, handling the weather delay on Sunday, and securing her lead by one with a confident birdie on the 18th hole, propelling her to eight under.
Talk about nerves of steel!
"I mean, when I was on the 18th tee and I saw the leaderboard, and I know I have one-shot lead, but once I'm on the — after the tee shot, I saw Yuka [Saso, who came in second] make an incredible birdie here, and I know I have to make birdie at this hole to win the championship," said Yin during her post-victory interview.
"I'm glad I did it [laughter]."
Yin's victory comes with a $1.5 million check, making up the bulk of her $2,008,768 this season. She is also the third player to win multiple times this year, and the second player from the People's Republic of China to win at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, in her second season on the tour.
Three-time major winner and Solheim Cup star Anna Nordqvist impressed by tying for third at six under.
The second women's major of the year proved to be a thriller, with many LPGA names who fascinated during the nail-biting last day. It will also be interesting to see if the two 20-year-olds Yin and Zhang (see what I did there?) will become a budding rivalry in the years to come. That could prove electric.
