Amy Yang has been playing on the LPGA Tour for nearly 20 years, but she had never won a Major until now!
Going into the final day of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with a two-shot lead, she stayed calm and finished with a level-par round of 72. This gave her a three-shot victory and her first Major win after 75 tries.
On Saturday night, Yang shared that Se Ri Pak’s achievements inspired her to keep chasing a Major title. “I dreamed about playing here because of them. I work hard for this. It’ll mean a lot, but we still got 18 more holes out there, and that’s a lot of golf left for a Major championship,” she said.
Final Day Drama:
Scoring at Sahalee Country Club was tough. On Sunday, only a few players were under-par. Yang started strong with a birdie on the first hole .
She bogeyed the fourth hole but bounced back with birdies on the fifth (a chip-in) and eighth holes. This gave her a two-under front nine and put her five shots ahead going into the back nine in Washington.
Fans might think it’s amazing how she kept her cool under pressure.
Despite challenges from Lilia Vu, who won last week, Yang held firm even after bogeys at the tenth hole. She birdied both the eleventh and thirteenth holes to extend her lead to seven shots with just four holes left.
Yang parred both the fourteenth and fifteenth holes but then made mistakes: three-putting for bogey on sixteen and hitting water on seventeen…
Her double bogey reduced her lead from six shots to three. However, an excellent drive on eighteen calmed any nerves until she pulled her second shot into trees .
Luckily for Yang, she recovered well from there—pitching up steadily—and two-putted for par to secure victory by three shots over Vu, Jin Young Ko, and Miyu Yamashita.
After winning, an emotional Amy Yang said: “All our team’s hard work paid off! All four rounds were so tough out there; I trusted our preparation.”
“I always wanted this! I doubted if I’d ever win before retiring… But now I’m so grateful!”
What do you think about Amy’s big win?
