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June 23, 2024, 07:19 pm ET
SAMAMMISH, Wash. – Amy Yang built a big lead and survived a pair of late mistakes to win her long-awaited first major title on Sunday, a three-stroke victory in the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship.
Yang closed with an even-par 72 at Sahalee to finish at 7-under 281. He was nearly flawless through the first 15 holes and reached 10 under par for the tournament for a seven-stroke lead before running into some trouble. But none of his pursuers were able to mount a significant charge.
At 34, Yang is the oldest major winner on the LPGA Tour since Angela Stanford won the 2018 Evian Championship at age 40. Anna Nordqvist had recently turned 34 when she won the Women’s Open Championship in 2021.
This was Yang’s 75th start in a major tournament, the most before a player’s first major title since Stanford, who was playing in her 76th match.
“I always wanted to win a major and I came close a few times, and I started to doubt whether I would ever win a major before I retired, because I’ve been on the tour for quite a while,” Yang said afterward. gain. “I am very grateful and very, very happy to win a major.
“It’s all the hard work our team put together and I’m very grateful for that. The four rounds were tough, but I trusted what I prepared and did the best I could all week.”
Yang’s sixth LPGA victory was her first since last year’s CME Group Tour Championship, which was also the most recent victory by a South Korean player. She earned a place at the Paris Olympics, where she will represent South Korea for the third time.
Twice earlier in her career, Yang held a 54-hole lead in a major but came up short. At the 2014 US Women’s Open at Pinehurst, Yang was tied with Michelle Wie in the final round, but she shot 74 and Wie won. A year later, in the same tournament at Lancaster Country Club, Yang had a three-shot lead, but In Gee Chun she shot 66 to win by one.
This time, Lilia Vu and Jin Young Ko each shot 71 to tie for second place at 4 under par. Vu shot three rounds under par, but couldn’t beat a 75 in the first round.
Yang remained remarkably stable until his final holes. He made five bogeys in his first 69 holes before three-putting at the 16th. He then pushed his tee shot on the par-3 17th well to the right and bounced into a lake, resulting in a double bogey.
Yang steadied herself with a perfect tee shot on the par-5 18th, leading to a two-putt par and a massive celebration on the green, where several players doused her with champagne.
“I know she’s a really solid player and knows how to win,” Vu said. “It’s obviously working for her and she’s been playing really well, so congratulations to her.”
Yang had a two-stroke lead when he took the first tee on a cooler Sunday after three straight days of above-average temperatures. The front nine players watched as the breeze whistled through the tall trees to the point that play had to be stopped so pollen buds could be blown off the greens.
Yang didn’t flinch. When he turned around, she was ahead by five. Yang birdied the first hole, chipped in for birdie from 23 yards off the green on the fifth and rolled in a 7-foot birdie putt on the eighth, the toughest hole on the course, to move to 9 under par.
When he hit the trees on No. 10 and made bogey, Yang responded with a birdie on No. 11 and made his final birdie on No. 13.
Playing in the final group with Yang, Lauren Hartlage had a chance to tie for the lead at 8 under, but her 5-foot birdie attempt on the par-5 sixth hole caught the left edge, spun around the cup and missed out. . Hartlage made double bogeys on Nos. 7 and 8 and turned six shots behind her. She tied for fifth place at 3 under par, the best finish of her career.
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