On a stormy afternoon at Baltusrol Golf Club, it was Ruoning Yin lifting the trophy on the 18th green, victorious in the 69th playing of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The day began with Ireland’s Leona Maguire leading the way at 7-under, but Jenny Shin quickly added her name to the conversation, making birdie on the first after an unbelievable second shot from the trees that she hit to three feet to tie the lead. Things were quiet until Maguire bogeyed the par-4, 6th hole to drop back to 6-under and Xiyu Lin began to charge, going out in 30 after recording five birdies on the front nine to move to 7-under and share the lead with Shin. Play was suspended at 1:02 p.m. for 1 hour and 52 minutes, resuming at 2:54 p.m.
Shin and Maguire both bogeyed the par-4, 8th hole after the restart, dropping to 6-under and 5-under, respectively, giving Lin the solo lead. A slew of players were in a share of second at that point, including Lin’s groupmate and Mizuho Americas Open winner Rose Zhang, who birdied the par-4, 11th to get to 6-under, and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who was charging late, working on a 7-under round that would tie the lowest single-round score of the week. But a watery tee shot on the 18th was ultimately the end of the line for the Spaniard, whose 64 just wasn’t enough to capture her first major title.
Zhang dropped a shot on the 13th, bouncing back straight away with a birdie on 14 to remain one back of the lead at 6-under, and then hit her second shot tight on 15. But Zhang left her birdie try on the edge, tapping in for par to remain in a five-way tie for second with three holes to play. She would ultimately bogey the par-3, 16th hole after she was unable to get up and down for par out of the bunker, parring in, even with a tee shot in the water on 18, to fire a 4-under, 67 and record her first top-10 finish in a major championship.
While she was in the conversation early in the week, it was still a surprise to see Yin quietly climbing up the leaderboard late on Sunday. She birdied No. 7 early to move to 5-under and two back of the lead, then turned on the heat in the middle of the back nine, recording back-to-back birdies on holes 13 and 14 to tie her good friend and landlord, Lin, at 7-under. Japan’s Yuka Saso was another player who put the pedal down late, making four birdies in six holes, including one on the par-4, 15th to move into a three-way share of the lead with Lin and Yin.
Lin hit her drive in the water on the par-5, 18th, making a bogey to drop back to 6-under and put herself out of it. Meanwhile, Yin’s putt for birdie on the par-5, 17th to move to 8-under just eked by and after Saso made birdie on the 18th with an impressive shot from the bunker to move to 7-under, Yin came to the 18th hole needing a birdie to win. She hit it in the right rough off the tee, laid up on her second shot and left herself a birdie try inside 15 feet for the victory. Just like she did at the DIO Implant LA Open earlier this season, Yin poured it into the heart to win her second LPGA Tour title and first major championship by one shot.
“When I was on the 18th tee and I saw the leaderboard, and I know I have one-shot lead, but after the tee shot, I saw Yuka make an incredible birdie here, and I know I have to make birdie at this hole to win the championship. I’m glad I did it,” said Yin. “Today, I didn’t think too much. My goal was just no three-putts because the last couple days I made five bogeys, and four of them is made by three-putts. Today just no three-putts.”
CARLOTA CIGANDA CLOSES WITH CRACKING 64 AT KPMG WOMEN’S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
It was her tee shot on the par-5, 18th hole that ultimately spelled the end for Carlota Ciganda at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship after an impressive 7-under 64 that put her in the conversation on Sunday. The Spaniard went bogey-free, carding five birdies and an eagle on the par-5, 7th hole to post at 6-under overall and finish T3, tying her second-best finish in a major championship as Ciganda also finished T3 at the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the 2022 Amundi Evian Championship. While she certainly regrets her choice of line on that final tee shot, Ciganda was still feeling plenty positive about how she played over the weekend at a challenging Baltusrol Golf Club and will carry plenty of momentum with her as she looks ahead to the next major championship in a couple of weeks.
“I wanted to be aggressive today. I thought I could have a low round on this golf course. I’ve loved it since the first time that I came here. It’s tricky, but I think after the rain we had, I thought it was gettable, and I was trying to hit as many greens as possible,” said Ciganda, who hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation on Sunday. “Today the putter was pretty hot, so very good start with those two birdies on 4 and 5. Great eagle on 7. Really long putt on 9 that I think that’s almost a little bit of luck.
“Then, great shot on 10, made the putt. Great birdie on 13. Then 14, 15, we had the rain delay, so I had to come back and play the last three, which I thought a couple birdies I thought was going to be good to be there, maybe a playoff.”
According to KPMG Performance Insights, this is Ciganda’s seventh top-five finish in a major championship since 2015, the second-most of any player in that span behind Lexi Thompson who has 11. This week’s T3 is also her eighth top-10 finish of the last two seasons, with two coming this year at the DIO Implant LA Open (T5) and Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards (5). In short, she’s more than due to capture her third LPGA Tour victory and first, since the 2016 CitiBanamex Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Aeromexico and Delta. Ciganda is confident it will happen and will continue to knock on the door as much as she can until it’s her time to push it open.
“I love playing. I love competing. It’s not an easy game,” she said. “I think you just have to keep going, and I think the more opportunities you create, it will happen eventually, so I’m just trying to be patient, keep playing. I know my game is good enough to win and to be up there. I love the majors. I love the challenge. I love tough courses. Hopefully, I can win one one day.”
ANNA NORDQVIST’S HOT PUTTER LEADS HER TO BEST FINISH OF THE SEASON
Sitting at an unwieldly 6-over, Anna Nordqvist needed a birdie to play the weekend at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Though it took her a whopping 35 putts to get around the Lower Course at Baltusrol Golf Club on Friday, she found the birdie she needed on the 7th green and managed to get up and down on the par-3, 9th hole to finish at 5-over and make the cut on the number.
It was also what Nordqvist needed to get her game back on track. On Sunday – just two days later – the Swede walked into scoring at 6-under overall which was good enough to finish in a tie for third at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
“This is my fifth week in a row and I feel like I’ve been burning edges for four and a half weeks,” Nordqvist told the media on Sunday. “It was finally nice to see some putts go in over the weekend.
“I would say it’s been a frustrating couple weeks on the greens. Don’t feel like I necessarily have been putting that bad. I’ve been hitting good putts; they just haven’t been dropping. I think finally seeing that putt on the last hole to make the cut when it matters the most – I don’t know if it lit up a little spark in me – but definitely the last two days, just making those important putts has been the difference.”
In fact, Nordqvist’s putter was the only club in the bag that seemed to make a difference in her game and that could be the catalyst for her improved scores as everything else she did from tee to green remained consistent. In the first and second rounds, the 36-year-old hit 33 and 35 putts respectively, but on Saturday and Sunday, Nordqvist made quick work of Baltusrol Golf Club, needing just 27 and 28 putts respectively to fire rounds of 66 and 65.
Nordqvist’s T3 result is her best of the season by far and the first time she has come close to hoisting a trophy. Before Sunday, she had just barely cracked the top 10, finishing in a tie for 10th at the Honda LPGA Thailand and ninth at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play presented by MGM Rewards.
Last season, Nordqvist only found two top 10s and didn’t record a top-five finish until the final event of the season, a solo third place that came at the CME Group Tour Championship. Now, she’s hoping that finishing well much earlier in the season will create some momentum going forward.
“We’ve got a busy summer ahead,” Nordqvist said. “I usually don’t play five in a row, so I’m a little beat. But very excited to finish on a good note. I think it just tells me I’m doing the right thing.
“It’s been a lot for me this spring but been trying to keep fighting and do the best I can every day. I’ve had a lot of supportive people around me every day telling me to just keep fighting and do my best because that’s all I can do. That’s the motto I’m taking into the summer: Work hard, you never know when it’s going to pay off.”
It will indeed be a very busy summer for Nordqvist and some good vibes from her finish this week will certainly go a long way. Besides the final three majors coming up and the slew of tournaments in between, Nordqvist will also be preparing for the Solheim Cup as a vice captain…hopefully a playing one.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Nordqvist said of the biannual match play competition between Europe and America. “I’ve been very fortunate to be picked as a vice captain this year. I love Suzann (Pettersen), she’s awesome. She’s one of my closest friends, and just being able to be a vice captain under her is a true honor.
“But I want to play this one. All my family is coming. My nieces and nephews haven’t really seen me play, so they’re very excited for the opportunity. I think they have a lot planned as far as their costumes. They missed out on ’21, so I think they saved a lot of energy for this one.”
If she’s lucky, the summer sun will keep Nordqvist’s putter red hot so she can put on a show for her family at Finca Cortesin in September.
