How a long-distance phone led to a runaway victory for this major champion at the Buick LPGA Shanghai

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[PHOTO: Zhe Ji]

The opening event of the LPGA Tour’s four-tournament Asia swing belonged to China’s Ruoning Yin. The former world No.1 closed the Buick LPGA Shanghai with a rousing 63-64 at Qizhong Garden Golf Club, going bogey-free for her final 50 holes in front of her hometown fans to shatter the tournament-scoring record by nine shots. Here is how the 22-year-old took over in Shanghai, storming to a six-stroke victory with a 25-under 263 performance for her fourth career LPGA title.

Leaderboard

Win: Ruoning Yin (-25)
T-2: Sei Young Kim (-19)
T-2: Mao Saigo (-19)
4: Yealimi Noh (-18)
T-5: Hye-Jin Choi (-16)
T-5: Jeeno Thitikul (-16)

How it happened

Yin’s weekend run started with a phone call. After her two-under 70 on Thursday, where she only hit nine fairways to sit T-30 and eight off Sei Young Kim’s lead, she called her coach, Holton Freeman, in Los Angeles, for advice on fixing her driving. The conversation worked, as Yin hit 81 percent of fairways the rest of the tournament, a 17-percent improvement from the first round.

“If I can put my ball on the fairway it’s just going to make easier for myself,” Yin said. “So I think I just putted really well, and my approach shot is pretty good and tee shot is really good. I pieced everything together.”

Yin made the turn in the final round at 19-under, only one stroke ahead of 54-hole leader Mao Saigo. The 2023 rookie of the year leader stalled on Sunday with only two birdies after a third-round bogey-free 65, fading further away from Yin as the current world No.4 remained relentless on the back nine.

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Mao Saigo held the 54-hole lead but couldn’t keep pace with Yin down the stretch on Sunday in Shanghai. [Photo: Zhe Ji]
Kim, a 13-time LPGA winner, got within one shot of Yin with eight holes to play when she made three birdies in four holes. But on the 11th hole, Yin started her closing run with a birdie to take a two-stroke lead before separating with three straight birdies on holes 13 to 15 to jump to a four-shot advantage. She celebrated making a left-to-right curling 15-footer with a right-hand hook-turned-fist-pump as Yin all but assured her victory.

Despite Kim having history of impressive scoring runs, including the all-time 72-hole LPGA scoring record of 31-under at the 2018 Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic, the South Korean couldn’t keep up as Yin capped a closing 30 with a pair of birdies on the final two holes.

After Yin secured the largest margin of victory on tour this season, she seemed to encounter her only struggle of the day: deciding whether or not the win at home meant more to her than her KPMG Women’s PGA title.

“I would say… I’m not answering this question,” Yin initially answered. “I would say it’s same. I love to win a major and I just love to win at home as well. Just all the crowds, all the fans, all my family, words can’t express my feelings right now.”

What it means

Yin continues to separate herself as the second-best player from China in LPGA history in only her third season on tour and is maintaining an early pace to surpass Shanshan Feng, a 10-time LPGA champion, as the best ever. She became the first Chinese woman to win on home soil since Feng won the Blue Bay LPGA in 2017. Feng and Yin are the only two world No.1s, major champions and owners of multiple-win seasons from their homeland.

Yin won twice last year, earning her maiden title at the DIO Implant LA Open before winning her lone major, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She teamed with Jeeno Thitikul in the Dow Championship in June for her first 2024 victory but then took two months away from the LPGA to heal a wrist injury she sustained during the Mizuho Americas Open back in May. Before this week, she had played in only three events since – the AIG Women’s Open, the Olympics, the LET’s Aramco Team Series stop in Shenzhen last week. Even with her injury limiting Yin’s schedule, she is now the only player with active back-to-back multiple-win seasons on tour.

The primary difference between Yin and Feng thus far in their careers is how much Yin is winning early on compared to her predecessor – it took the now-retired Feng five seasons to win for the first time on tour.

Quotable

“It gives me goosebumps when I think about it right now. I mean, all the fans, the energy, it’s just phenomenal. I can hear people shouting my name and rooting for me. I think I’m just really happy that I put on a show and that everybody enjoys it.” – Ruoning Yin

Aussie watch

Minjee Lee closed with a 69 to take eighth place, 11 shots behind the winner. Hannah Green (T-47) and Hira Naveed (T-53) were the only other Australians in the limited-field tournament.

Best of the rest

Defending champion Angel Yin’s closing eight-under 64 jumped her from 19th to seventh for her third top-10 in her past five starts, returning to form after an ankle injury plagued the start of her 2024 season. Yin’s first event was in April at the T-Mobile LPGA Match Play in Las Vegas, before withdrawing after the first round of the Chevron Championship later that month. The world No.33 wouldn’t crack the top 35 in an event until the Portland Classic in August, where her T-2 started Yin’s current run of five consecutive top-20 finishes.

The American moved from 57th to 53rd in CME points, giving her some breathing room for the top-60 cutoff to qualify for the Tour Championship and its $US11 million purse, the LPGA’s largest of the year.