The two combined to make just five bogeys over four rounds. In the end, it was Yang, 34, emerging the champion—and taking home the $2 million first-place prize money payout—by grabbing her fifth career victory but first since 2019.

Leaderboard

Win: Amy Yang -27 (final-round 66)

T-2: Nasa Hataoka -24 (69)

T-2: Alison Lee -24 (66)

4: Lilia Vu -21 (65)

5: Atthaya Thitikul -20 (66)

How it happened

Hataoka and Yang began the day tied at 21 under, with Hataoka separating herself early, taking a three-stroke lead through the first five holes. Yet Yang fought back with three birdies in a four-hole stretch, from the seventh through 10th holes, to knot things up at 23 under.

Yang then took the lead outright with Sunday’s shot of the day, a hole-out eagle on the par-4 13th from about 80 yards to move to 25 under.

“I saw it landed really close to the pin,” Yang said. “And just like a split second, I thought, oh, it’s going to go in. That definitely was good momentum.”

Amy Yang is putting up a fight at @CMEGroupLPGA ?

Watch now on NBC! pic.twitter.com/jmLPeXBya3

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 19, 2023

While Hataoka tied Yang on 14 with a birdie, the six-time LPGA winner’s putter failed her down the stretch. Hataoka missed a pair of looks inside 10 feet on the 16th and 17th, after carding her second bogey of the tournament on the par-3 15th.

Yang, meanwhile, birdied the 17th to take a two-shot lead to the home hole, playing the last as even-keeled as her swing’s tempo. Her birdie on the last gave her a closing 66 and a three-stroke victory, with several tour friends popping open champagne bottles before the ball even found the bottom of the cup, then stormed the green to greet Yang with a meaningful champagne shower.

Amy Yang and Nasa Hataoka (left) turned the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship into a (mostly) two-player affair – Michael Reaves

What it means

It wasn’t until her 16th season on the LPGA Tour that Yang finally won a tournament on American soil, breaking through in her adopted home state of Florida. Yang had been a consistent force on the LPGA since her rookie season in 2008, posting 21 top-10s at LPGA majors, including a pair of T-4s at this year’s Chevron Championship and AIG Women’s Open. But she was never able to claim a breakout win.

While the Tour Championship isn’t a major, it pays like one. The $2 million prize, the largest paycheck of Yang’s career, squeaks her just past Minjee Lee to 11th on the career money list with $13,882,919. Yang is now second among all South Korean golfers in LPGA career earnings, behind only LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park ($18.3 million).

Yang won convincingly, shattering the previous scoring record at the CME by four strokes, besting Jin Young Ko’s 23-under victory in 2021.

Best of the rest

Only the end of the season could stop Lee’s electric run of play. The American finished tied with Hataoka for second with a bogey-free 66, ending her year with only three players beating her in her final three LPGA events along with a record-setting victory at the Ladies European Tour’s Aramco Team Series event in Saudi Arabia. With PGA Tour legend Fred Couples as her new cornerman, Lee unlocked a level of self-belief that has her playing some of the best golf on the planet and putting her on an early track to make the 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup team. It would be the first time Lee has played Solheim since her rookie season in 2015.

Atthaya Thitikul, Amy Yang and Lilia Vu pose with their respective hardware after the end of the CME Group Tour Championship – Michael Reaves

Meanwhile, the Vare Trophy and Player of the Year leaders going into the Tour Championship won their respective season-long awards. Atthaya Thitikul (69.53), with her 13th top-10 of the season after a fifth-place finish this week, won the Vare by a mere 0.13 scoring average over Hyo Joo Kim (69.67), who ended up T-13. Lilia Vu, with a fourth-place finish at the CME, became the first American to win Rolex Player of the Year since Stacy Lewis in 2014, beating Celine Boutier by 34 points.

Main Image: Michael Reaves

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“This membership, I earned on my own,” Inami told Japanese media in a press conference on Nov. 8. “After discussing it with my team, I knew that playing the U.S. Tour will be big for my future. The team agreed with me and said they would support me, so I decided to give it a try.”

After her victory, Inami declined immediate membership to the LPGA, but the 13-time JLPGA winner declined and had until Nov. 27 to decide if she would take up full-time membership for next year. In now doing so, Inami will have a one-year exemption for her victory.

The LPGA said Inami will be eligible to compete in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January.

Had Inami, a silver medalist at the 2020 Olympics, not accepted her card, she would have been the third Japanese player since 2019 to decline LPGA membership after a victory. Both 2019 AIG Women’s Open winner Hinako Shibuno and 2019 Toto champion Ai Suzuki declined LPGA membership that season. Shibuno, now a tour member, earned her card by qualifying through Q-Series in 2021.

Main Image: Yoshimasa Nakano

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LPGA Tour Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan confirmed during her “State of the LPGA” press conference Thursday at the CME Group Tour Championship that the Ladies European Tour player body will vote next week on a proposal to merge the two tours that has already received unanimous approval from both the LPGA and LET boards.

The Nov. 21 vote will take place at an annual meeting of LET players ahead of their tour’s season finale, the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open De España, with the LET board recommending to players that they vote in favor of the merger. The proposal requires a 60-percent approval of the LET membership to pass. If it does, Marcoux Samaan said there would be some final details to iron out, but LET players have been told the deal is expected to become official by the end of the year.

Under the initial three-year period of the merger, the two tours would continue much like they do today. The Ladies European Tour would retain its name and maintain its own tournament schedule independent of the LPGA Tour, with a handful of co-sanctioned events continuing to be operated during the year. The LET would maintain a headquarters in Europe.

However, the two would work jointly in oversight of the LET and in developing revenue opportunities that could be mutually beneficial to all. The LPGA intends to pursue enhanced commercial opportunities with existing and new tour sponsors.

Since Marcoux Samaan took over as LPGA commissioner in 2021, she has openly discussed the potential benefits of a merger as the next step between the LPGA and LET after they entered into a strategic alliance four years ago.

“I think we’ve been in this joint venture with the LET since 2019. That was obviously before my time, but the goal was to be able to work together to have a collaborative women’s golf ecosystem and to build women’s golf in Europe,” Marcoux Samaan said. “It’s been really successful.”

Marcoux Samaan did not reveal specifics of what a merger would entail, but the terms, which would be in place for the initial three years, were laid out in detail in a memo sent to LET players on Nov. 3 ahead of the vote, a copy of which was obtained by Golf Digest.

According to the memo, LET assets, including all intellectual property, would be put into the previously created Ladies European Golf Venture Limited (LEGV) created and operated by the LPGA since 2019. The LET, however, would keep its current cash. In turn, the LPGA would ensure that $1.25 million annually is available to the LET during the first three years of the partnership “for tournament prize funds, television, player support services and growth.”

The memo also states that the LET will target a minimum of 30 events annually, focused in Europe and supported by other events in the rest of the world, with a targeted minimum prize fund of €300,000 per event. The schedule would be developed by the LET CEO, subject to the approval of the LPGA commissioner.

In terms of administration, the LPGA Board would establish an LET Committee composed of four LET representatives and five LPGA representatives. There will be two LET player directors, two LET independent directors, two LPGA player directors, two LPGA independent directors, and the LPGA Commissioner. The LET Committee will “provide advice and guidance on the tour’s business, to provide recommendations regarding the operation of the tour (such recommendations will be given due consideration by the LPGA Board).”

After the initial three years, the memo notes that the LPGA “will have the freedom to determine its preferred governance structure in relation to the LET.” The memo states that the LPGA Board intends to diversify its board with representatives from Europe and “continue with the structure of the Players’ Council and the LET committee for as long as the LPGA deems them to be effective and appropriate to support the tour.”

As Golf Digest previously reported, the top four players on the LET Order of Merit at the end of the year who don’t already have status on the LPGA Tour would earn tour cards for the next season. The top 15 would also receive entry into LPGA Q Series, where they would have the opportunity to earn LPGA tour cards.

According to the memo to LET players, the current practices for “the management, qualification and selection of Team Europe” for the Solheim Cup would remain in place with the LET Committee having “oversight of the promoter and location section for European editions of the event. Net proceeds from when Europe hosts the Cup would be reinvested into the LET.

Under the strategic alliance between the LPGA and LET agreed to in 2019, the two tours have run the LET on a 50-50 basis through LEGV. During that time, the LET has experienced rapid growth. Marcoux Samaan recounted that the LET’s total purse in 2019 was £11 million, with less than 20 events. This year, they’re at more than £30 million with more than 30 events.

The successful alliance, however, does not guarantee that the vote of LET members will pass. If the LET did not approve the merger, and either came up with new terms or remained in the current strategic alliance, Marcoux Samaan would not speculate on what happens then.

“The expectation is we hope that they will. I think this makes sense for everybody,” Marcoux Samaan said. “If not, we’ll get back together with the LET board and figure out next steps. I think at this point we’re looking forward to getting that done and moving forward.”

Image: Ramsey Cardy

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A year later, Vu arrives at the CME on the verge of completing one of the best American LPGA seasons in the last 30 years. The No. 1 player in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings is the heavy favorite over Celine Boutier to win LPGA Player of the Year honors after a four-victory breakout season. If she can close things out, the 26-year-old would become the first American to claim the award since Stacy Lewis in 2014 and only the third since Beth Daniel won in 1994—three years before Vu was born. A T-7 finish or better by Vu, or Boutier not winning the tour championship, locks up the award for Vu.

“I think it’s just been wild,” Vu said when asked about the difference between last year and this on Tuesday ahead of the LPGA finale. “I don’t think I expected this at all. I have said this before. I came in with no expectations because last year I had too many and was too hard on myself. I’m trying to enjoy every moment and be grateful I’m out here.”

Vu’s journey to four wins—two of them being major championships—and a 27-point Player of the Year lead began with a promise to herself after last season’s CME. Should she win an event, Vu said she would buy herself her dream car, a Mercedes G 550. Vu broke that promise and purchased it before her first start of the year at the Honda LPGA Thailand in February.

“I was like, oh, it’s because I knew I was going to win,” Vu said.

In April, Vu took the next step in her career by claiming the title at Chevron Championship. Winning her first career major in a playoff over Angel Yin for her first major title also led to her signing with her first sponsor. After finding herself in a slight lull, missing four consecutive cuts from late April through the U.S. Women’s Open in July, Vu won the AIG Women’s Open in August after recognizing once more the mindset she was taking to the course wasn’t conducive to playing her best golf.

“I came into that week just soggy diapers and not feeling great about how I played at the Scottish Open,” Vu said. “I think just putting a lot of pressure on myself just post Chevron, and I was just kind of on this decline, just trying to make my way back up just post U.S. Open. So I remember my team just sitting me down and saying, all we need to do is be in contention, as I said before. That was my goal that week. I don’t know, just from there got into contention and then the weekend just came by and worked out really well.”

In a sign of her ascending stardom after winning at Walton Heath, Vu signed with Wasserman, represented by Chris Mullhaupt and Cosette Chaput. Mullhaupt is the agent for the sisters Jessica and Nelly Korda.

The victory catapulted Vu into historic American golf company. She became the World No. 1 for the first time, joining Stacy Lewis, Nelly Korda and Christie Kerr as the only four from the U.S. to earn that spot since the rankings were created in 2006. Vu became the first American to win two majors in a year since Juli Inkster in 1999. She also won the Rolex Annika Major Award, one of two Americans to earn that honor alongside Michelle Wie West in 2014. Vu took the Player of the Year lead as well.

With victories at the Cheveron Championship and the AIG Women’s Open, Vu became the first American to win multiple LPGA majors in one year since Juli Inkster in 1999

However, Vu explained to the media that she doesn’t pay attention to the season award standings, only aware that she had won the Annika since that award concluded after the British.

“I don’t really know how any of the points system works, to be honest,” Vu said. “I just kind of hear and [the media] tell me.”

Vu held the lead in the Player of the Year race until Boutier passed her with the Frenchwoman’s fourth win of the season at the Maybank Championship in late October. That gave Boutier a three-point lead with two events remaining. While a three-point lead may seem small on paper, points are only earned for top-10 finishes. It would have taken a T-8 at last week’s Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican to tie Boutier heading into the CME. Instead, Vu ripped the lead from Boutier by winning the Annika to reclaim a substantial points margin headed to the CME.

“I was just honestly very impressed [of Vu’s win],” Boutier said. “Being able to pull it off under the circumstances and pressure, I’m like, yeah, she deserves it. We’ll see what happens. Like I said, she’s had such an amazing season. Even if I don’t get it, I’m very happy for her. It’s hard to beat four wins and two majors, so whatever happens I’ll be happy.”

Last week’s victory gives Vu an opportunity to cement herself in the LPGA record books this week in Naples. A win at the CME, and its $2 million first-place check, would deliver not only POY honors but also allow her to crack $5.2 million in single season earnings, surpassing Lorena Ochoa’s LPGA record for the most in a year ($4,364,955 in 2007).

Instead of imagining what those additional accolades could mean for her season resume, Vu is sticking to her simple, consistent week-to-week goal.

“I think if I stay to my normal trying to win I think it’s just going to solve itself and it’ll happen,” Vu said.

Main Image: Richard Heathcote/R&A

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1. The right “approach” pays off

Hyo-Joo Kim and Xiyu Lin shared the Day 1 lead with matching four-under 68s. Kim and Lin were also first (4.48) and third (3.77), respectively, in SG/putting. Only Nasa Hataoka (eighth) of the six players at T-3 is in the top 10 of SG/putting.

However, the majority of players in the top 10 on the leaderboard are also in top 12 in SG/approach with amateur Aine Donegan in first (4.35), Allisen Corpuz in fourth (3.78), Bailey Tardy in fifth (3.58), Hae Ran Ryu in sixth (3.58), Leona Maguire in eighth (3.28), and Hataoka in 12th (3.05). Surprisingly, the leaders trail by a decent margin, with Kim in 25th (1.9) and Lin in 38th (1.43).

2. Annika Sorenstam’s still got it … around the green

Ezra Shaw

Posting an 80, even for Sorenstam at 52, seems inconceivable for one of the game’s all-time greats. Sorenstam finished in last in SG/off the tee, making sense, given she only hit one fairway. A lone bright spot was ending up with 2.51 SG/around the green, the sixth-best in the field. While her capabilities on a major venue are different from what they were in her prime, the 72-time winner needed no data to know the best part of her game Thursday.

“I’m disappointed in that [80], but I fought really hard,” Sorenstam said. “I thought I made some great saves. It sounds funny when you have this score, but I did.”

3. An amateur leads the field in this SG stat

Donegan, an amateur from Ireland who plays college golf at LSU, posted a 69 despite her clubs not arriving until Tuesday. That makes her 4.35 SG/approach stat even more impressive, particularly too considering she hit only 12 greens in regulation. The Irishwoman bested defending US Women’s Open champion Minjee Lee in the category, with the Australian sitting at 4.05 SG/approach.

Donegan’s driver clubhead also arrived smashed to Pebble Beach, but she raved about the replacement one she put into her bag this week, saying it fueled her ability to play well into the greens by outperforming the field from the tee box as well. Donegan sits in second in SG/off the tee (1.58).

4. One of the most consistent US Women’s Open performers leads SG/off the tee

Harry How

Megan Khang has rattled off three consecutive top-10s at the US Women’s Open and is lurking at five shots off the pace after the first round. Her secret sauce might lie in her ability from the tee, as finding 13 of 14 fairways contributed to her leading 1.84 SG/off the tee. That’s .26 ahead of Donegan. In a reminder of how distinct SG/off the tee is, compared to driving distance, the longest player in the field Thursday, Amelia Garvey, sits in 114th in SG/off the tee at -.39.

5. Michelle Wie West didn’t lie—she doesn’t like putting drills

Entering Wie West’s final competitive start, she shared the thing she won’t miss the most.

“The putting drills that I’m doing, you’d best believe I’m not going to do another putting drill for the rest of my life if I don’t need to,” Wie West said.

Fitting, then, that the 2014 US Women’s Open winner finished last in the field in SG/putting at -4.18. Wie West carded a 79, sitting T-126. Impressively, she kept her touch, finishing 11th in SG/around the green (2.01).

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This week’s US Women’s Open, making its maiden visit to Pebble Beach, is an unprecedented opportunity for professional women’s golf. With it comes 12 hours of weekend coverage that lasts into primetime on the East Coast, an alchemy that provides the LPGA Tour a first-of-its-kind opportunity to reach new audiences.

“Our Golf Channel broadcast from our West Coast [tournaments] are some of our most highly viewed events, and then to have that on NBC Network television in primetime for the first time ever, it’s really, really special,” Golf Channel commentator and former US Women’s Open champion Morgan Pressel said.

MORE: Michelle Wie West prepares to say farewell at Pebble Beach

“Then you put the two of them together. People are going to tune in because they’ve heard of Pebble Beach. They might have never watched an LPGA event in their life, but they’ve heard of Pebble Beach, and here it is on Sunday evening and they’re flipping through channels and they’re like, ‘Wow, this is really amazing; this is some incredible golf. What an exciting event.’”

Building towards this moment, players have clamoured for years about the importance of playing at prestigious venues to entice casual fans to watch them compete. Pebble Beach fits the bill, as golf fans can picture some of the game’s most iconic holes with their eyes closed.

With a simple search on YouTube, you can relive the images of Jack Nicklaus’ 1-iron on 17 at the 1972 US Open, Tom Watson chipping in on the same par 3 to best Nicklaus a decade later, or Tiger Woods’ world-shattering 2000 performance, among many historic golf moments. The LPGA’s players can now benefit from the memories evoked from the six US Opens held at Pebble.

“I think being on iconic venues is a more sustainable improvement for the tour, because it increases the media value, and you have to increase media value to attain more money,” Michelle Wie West, the 2014 US Women’s Open champion, said.

MORE: Rose Zhang owns Pebble Beach scoring record, but US Women’s Open offers different challenge

Visiting heralded golf courses isn’t a one-off trend for the LPGA. Only two weeks ago, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was held at New Jersey’s Baltusrol Golf Club, the first time a women’s major was played there since 1985. The AIG Women’s Open was at Muirfield last year, which held 16 Open Championships before the women made their debut, female members were finally admitted in 2019. They’ll return to St. Andrews next year, the second appearance there along with 2007. On its first trip to Southern California, the US Women’s Open goes to Riviera Country Club in 2026. The women return to the West for a major again next year at Sahalee in Sammamish, Wash., for the Women’s PGA.

Two of golf’s biggest attractions, Michelle Wie West and Rose Zhang, walk together during a practice round at Pebble Beach ahead of the US Women’s Open. Kathryn Riley

Visiting West Coast venues paid off recently for the US Women’s Open. Two years ago at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, with seven hours on NBC, the event averaged 600,000 viewers, for a 62-percent increase in viewership year-over-year.

The West Coast boost occurred just two weeks ago at the men’s US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, where ratings averaged 3.4 million viewers across NBC’s platforms. It’s the best ratings since … wait for it … 2019 when it was on the West Coast at Pebble Beach.

The USGA strongly believes that women also will see a ratings jump from playing at Pebble. “It wouldn’t surprise me if we were 50 per cent higher than Pine Needles,” USGA Chief Commercial Officer Jon Podany said.

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For all of the right reasons, there will be plenty said and written this week about Amy Olson competing in the 78th US Women’s Open. The 30-year-old is 31 weeks pregnant and will traverse on foot the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links. With a few steep climbs along the cliffs, it’s not an easy stroll—about four miles if you walked in a straight line, which nobody does. “We’re calling it ‘Mission Waddle,’” Olson said with a laugh on the phone last week.

The attention now will be about how Olson feels; how she can possibly swing and putt with her belly literally growing by the day; how she views the opportunity to join other LPGA Tour moms and professional athletes who have walked this path.

But let’s not forget or underplay how Olson got here. That’s the truly remarkable part of the story.

On May 22, Olson showed up at Somerset Country Club in Mendota Heights, Minn., with no idea how she would play in the 36-hole US Women’s Open final qualifier. “Everyone who plays golf knows that you go to the golf course and ask yourself, ‘What do I have today?’ Olson said. “That [thought] is on steroids when you’re pregnant.”

She had dreaded these exhausting marathon days in the past and only made it through US Open qualifying once. Only two players among the field of 45 in Minnesota would secure a spot in the first women’s major to visit Pebble Beach, and Olson debated whether it was even worth a try, given how far along she would be in her pregnancy when the Open’s first round arrived on July 6. Not to mention, she had only played four competitive rounds in the 2023 LPGA season.

“When I found out I was pregnant, I texted some of the moms on tour,” Olson recalled. “I asked about what the sweet spot was for them and when was their cutoff. I kept hearing from people who played from 28 to 30 weeks. Beyond that was pretty borderline. I thought, OK, I’m going to be 31 weeks when Pebble rolls around.”

Among those she spoke to was Brittany Lincicome, who went into labour with her first child in 2019 after flying to Illinois to play in a Monday pro-am. She also played the 2022 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at 30 weeks pregnant with her second child. “She really pushed it, as far as how long she played,” Olson said.

Olson’s decision? This wasn’t any Open; it was Pebble Beach, and she was just enough on the borderline to give it a shot. “It’s very difficult to try to qualify for the Open,” Olson said. “You have to have the right round on the right day. I thought, If we qualify, we’ll deal with it then.”

Olson asked her mom, Twyla Anderson, to caddie for her for at the qualifier, and the beautiful symmetry was not lost on them. “It really was sweet to think about—three generations walking down the fairway,” Olson said.

Olson played solidly on the first 18 at Somerset and birdied her last hole to post an even-par 72. There were a couple of three-under scores, however, and she figured she might have to double that by shooting 66. Daunting for anyone, pregnancy notwithstanding. And sitting down for an hour at lunch between rounds didn’t help.

“One of the hardest things for me during my pregnancy was stopping and starting,” Olson said. She later added, “It used to take me five balls to warm up. Now, it takes me 50 to 55, and by then I’m tired.”

Beware, however, of the woman living and playing for two. Studies have shown that pregnancy requires the endurance of marathon runners or Tour de France cyclists, and Olson found another gear that afternoon. She shot the lowest round of the event—her target 66—and earned medalist honours by two shots.

Daughter and mom celebrated their triumph with a trip to a nearby Culver’s restaurant, where the treats were appropriately indulgent: cheeseburgers and Concrete Mixers.

Amy Olson and her mom, Twyla Anderson, celebrated reaching the US Women’s Open with a trip to Culver’s for burgers and custard.

As fate would have it, Olson entered the Meijer LPGA Classic in the second week of June, and playing on a sponsor’s exemption was Wake Forest star Rachel Kuehn, who is truly a golf baby. Her mother, Brenda Corrie Kuehn, was 36 years old and 39 weeks pregnant with Rachel when she played in the 2001 US Open at Pine Needles. Brenda accompanied Rachel to the Meijer, giving Olson the opportunity to have lunch with her.

“She was worried,” Brenda Kuehn recalled on the telephone last week from her home in Ashville, N.C. “I said no, ‘Heck, I did it farther along. You’ll be fine. You’ll be in good shape and you’re hardly showing.’

“These girls are in so much better shape now than we were 20 years ago,” Kuehn later added. “They work out. Though it’s not like I was sitting around. I did walk and play golf [while pregnant]. I played golf on the day before each of my three kids was born.”

A pregnant Brenda Corrie Kuehn competed in the 2001 US Women’s Open with her husband Eric Kuehn as her caddie. LUKE FRAZZA

Kuehn was an amateur when she qualified for the 2001 Women’s Open, and with little experience facing the media, she said he was overwhelmed by the attention. She handled most of it well, but an interview got heated when a reporter suggested that Kuehn could have given up her spot to a player who was more capable. Translation: not pregnant.

“That really pissed me off,” Kuehn said. “I’m usually pretty polite, but I was, like, Excuse me, I earned my spot here. I beat whoever it was. Nancy Lopez was in my qualifier, and she didn’t make it. I don’t have to pass on playing because you think I can compete or not.”

Kuehn has plenty of other memories about her experience, including the contractions she had while competing and the awful clothes she wore, because there were few options for pregnant women at the time. “What was I thinking wearing my husband’s extra large golf shirt with the horizontal stripes?” Kuehn said with a laugh.

Ultimately, Kuehn didn’t come close to making the cut in the Open at Pine Needles, where Karrie Webb won by eight shots. Nine days later, Rachel Kuehne arrived. “To me,” Olson said, “that’s completely insane!”

Last week, Olson and her husband, Grant, retreated to a place his family owned on Lake Florida in Minnesota. It was the beginning of Grant’s four-week vacation from his coaching job at his alma mater, North Dakota State, and they got a chance to unwind before the attention becomes intense at Pebble Beach. At home in Fargo, N.D., Amy’s home state, a room awaits for the first child of the family—the gender will be a surprise—but the couple has plenty of work to do, considering the space currently is filled with golf clubs and pickleball paddles.

Amy Olson and her husband live in Fargo, N.D., where Grant is an assistant football coach at North Dakota State.

As much as Olson has tried to maintain a practice routine, she’s feeling like her swing is changing by the day as her belly gets bigger. She can’t stand over the ball as much as she’d like, and she laughed when admitting that she didn’t realize how much her right arm would bump into her stomach while putting. Kuehn warned her about how much distance she’d lose, and that’s become a reality. And, of course, Olson and the field of 156 won’t be playing a normal LPGA course for the week, but one that is supposed to be the biggest challenge the women face all year.

“I know what it takes to play at the elite level and play in a major championship,” Olson said. “Realistically, my ball-striking is not there right now. Do I think I can post a good score? Yes. But to say I can be competitive, that’s probably a stretch. With the weight gain, I don’t think this is going to be anybody’s formula for success.

“That’s OK,” she added. “This is just so much bigger than golf. Golf has been a dream of mine for so long, and so is being a mom. I get to do both of these things, and I don’t want to put them at odds with each other. Both are really special, and I’m excited.”

Amy Olson, shown while playing the Meijer LPGA Classic, is embracing all of the challenges the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach will present her. David Berding

Winless in 10 years on the LPGA, Olson had a shot at capturing the 2020 US Women’s Open that was postponed to Houston in December because of the pandemic. Contending through the final stretch on a finish delayed by weather into Monday, she ultimately lost by one shot when A Lim Kim rallied with birdies on the last three holes to win. The defeat has hardly deemed a heartbreak for Olson, whose father-in-law, Lee Olson, died unexpectedly on the Saturday night of the Open.

“We’re walking through the opposite spectrum of losing somebody who was very close to us, and this time, we’re about to gain a family member,” Olson said. “The irony is not lost on me.”

This week at Pebble Beach, she said, is a celebration of women and of life.

“This is a gift,” Olson said. “There is a narrative in our culture that women can do everything, and I think that puts a lot of pressure on women to be good at everything all at the same time. There are different seasons in life, and you have to embrace each season, be grateful and joyful in each of those seasons.”

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Now she gets set to embark on another pursuit: radio show host.

Tuesday night on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, Sorenstam, 52, debuts a new program titled “Annika.” Alongside her co-host, husband Mike McGee, Sorenstam will take calls from listeners, discuss her experiences in golf and business, provide instruction tips and break down today’s game and players on the men’s and women’s tours.

“I am really looking forward to hosting the show with Mike,” she said. “We will discuss the latest happenings in golf, including women’s, amateur and junior golf. We look forward to having guests join us and to talking about what the listeners want as the phone lines will be open. Of course, we will also touch on our Foundation and family.”

The program is scheduled to air twice a month, and the launch coincides well with one of the more memorable moments of Sorenstam’s playing career. Later this month, Sorenstam celebrates the 20th anniversary of when she competed against men’s professionals at the Bank of America Colonial.

Annika Sorenstam is joined by her husband Mike McGee and her children Ava and William after winning the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship. Rich Schultz

This isn’t the first time Sorenstam has had a program on SiriusXM. In 2014, along with former Golf Digest writer Ron Sirak, she co-hosted “The Annika Hour.”

The opportunity to offer commentary about the game is something that seems particularly appealing at this moment in time. “It’s an exciting time in the golf world, especially in women’s golf. Look at the great ratings the Chevron Championship got. That is fantastic.”

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Nine miles from Palos Verdes Golf Course sits the Port of Long Beach, a primary trade point between the United States and Asian countries. Fitting, then, that it served as the backdrop to the latest import of Asian talent to the LPGA Tour. With a one-under 70 on Sunday, Ruoning Yin claimed a one-shot victory at the DIO Implant L.A. Open, the heralded 20-year-old become the second winner from China alongside Shanshan Feng in the LPGA’s history.

“That [win] means a lot, not just for me, but also for China, I think,” Yin said. “And Shanshan is always my goal here, and I think she got 10 tour wins. … She’s definitely the person I look up to.”

Yin hung on during an up-and-down Sunday as she fended off four major champions, including Georgia Hall and Hyo Joo Kim playing with her in the final group. She carded five bogeys on the day, including three straight early on the front nine, but offset them with five birdies, including four in a row to close out her opening nine.

“I’m so happy that I fought back, and, yeah, from holes six to nine it was great four birdie out there,” Yin said.

Redemption for Hall will have to wait. The 2018 Ricoh Women’s Open winner lost in a playoff last week to Celine Boutier at the Drive On Championship. She kept the momentum going into Palos Verdes Estates, posting a tournament-record nine-under 62 during Saturday’s third round. Starting Sunday four back of Yin, hall put herself five feet away for a chance to catch her on the 72nd hole. Instead of playing in back-to-back playoffs, Hall missed her birdie putt on the home hole wide left. She wiped away tears following the lost opportunity as her closing bogey-free 68 led to a 14-under finish and a second straight second place.

“I felt a little like Seve out there, so just have a chance on the last hole and gave myself the best opportunity,” Hall said. “Unfortunately, the greens this time of day are very bobbly, and it was tough to know what was the right line to pick. Unfortunately, just bobbled off line.”

It’s Hall’s third top-10 in four starts this season. The Englishwoman has shot even par or better in 11 of 12 rounds to begin 2023.

Patty Tavatanakit’s 12-under T-3 finish revived confidence within the Thai star. The 2021 ANA Inspiration winner hadn’t finished in the top 10 since a T-4 at last season’s Chevron Championship in April. Her Sunday 65 was the payoff to six months of working on her technique and mental game.

“This is Patty 2.0, I think. Nothing can really be the same,” Tavatanakit said.

Hyo Joo Kim matched Tavatanakit at T-3 but was the only other player to grab the lead at any point Sunday. The 2014 Evian Championship winner started two back of Yin. Then, as Yin bogeyed, Kim took the lead on the fifth. The South Korean birdied the seventh to get to two under for her round. She stalled from there. The 27-year-old posted an even par 71, with three bogeys the rest of the way, taking her out of contention.

Nelly Korda, the 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner, joined Carlota Ciganda at 11-under to finish T-5. It’s Korda’s fourth top-10 of the season in five starts.

Yin secured her spot on the Chinese team that will compete in the Hanwha Life Plus International Crown, the tour’s team event, at TPC Harding Park in early May. Yin will lead her team as the only player with a victory, giving them confidence as the country makes its second appearance in the tournament’s fourth running.

“I think for me, it’s my first tour win, and I think it’s kind of motivation for them, too,” Yin said.

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When Jin Young Ko claimed the HSBC Women’s World Championship title a year ago, she left Singapore on top of women’s golf world. With her two-stroke win, it marked the sixth straight year in which she had grabbed an LPGA Tour victory. Her closing-round 66 was her 15th consecutive round in the 60s, a new LPGA record. It was her 29th round in the 60s over her last 30. The then Rolex Women’s World Rankings No. 1 seemed primed for another spectacular season, the potential to overtake Lorena Ochoa for the most weeks as the top player in the rankings was within her sights.

In hindsight, that Sunday in Singapore was no springboard, but rather a plateau that Ko is still coming to terms with. In the months to follow, the 27-year-old South Korean star suffered another wrist injury setback that caused her to endure the worst stretch of her tour career, one she’s still navigating.

“There were some tough times last year,” Ko said Tuesday during a pre-tournament press conference at Sentosa Golf Club. “But because of those times, I learned that I needed to practice the right away, what I needed to do, and what I needed to work on. It was an important year for me.”

Ko missed back-to-back cuts for the first time in her six-year career last August at the AIG Women’s Open and CP Women’s Open. She did not defend her title at the Cambia Portland Classic, resting her wrist instead.

Her return in October continued with wrist pain. Ko’s best finish over her last four tournaments came at the limited-field CME Group Tour Championship, a T-33. In the offseason, she returned to her old coach, Si Woo Lee, to find answers as Ko remained physically and mentally tired.

In a text exchange with Golf Digest, Lee noted that Ko’s body and rotation patterns “had broken a lot,” getting smaller compared to her swing in previous years. The two spent a month working together in Vietnam, emphasizing building stamina and fixing her swing mechanics. “So I keep asking her [to use her] upper and lower body turn rather than use of the wrist and arm.”

Ko saw some progress a week ago at the Honda LPGA Thailand, her first start of 2023, where she shot a closing 64 to finish T-6. Ahead of that event she shared that her wrist feels better and that she’s working out to protect it more. Her coach more precisely described where her injury is now, stating she’s at “70-80 per cent free from wrist injuries.”

While Lee and Ko have been working together to put a new swing in place, there’s also been working rebuilding Ko’s mental stamina. Judy Rankin once described the 13-time winner as being as good under pressure “as anybody we’ve ever watched.” To restore that, Lee and Ko have turned to meditation to start solving her mental exhaustion. Ko now meditates every morning and night. The routine alleviates some of the pressures the two-time player of the year has and helps keep her present on the course.

“All the players have high expectations, and that makes it [easy to become] tired,” Ko said. “So I don’t want to [put] high expectations myself. Just look the ball and just hit it and just walk and then hit again, that’s it.”

The proof started showing in her final round in Thailand. It’s was her lowest round from the now World No. 5 player since last May at the Palos Verdes Championship. The T-6 finish was her first top-10 since the Amundi Evian Championship in July.

“I don’t have word to describe what went down on that last round,” Ko said. “I feel that I’ve managed to show true moments and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

Putting more of those moments together can start returning Ko to where she was at the end of last year’s HSBC Women’s World Championship. Right at the top of her game.

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