With one of the first swings of her life, China’s Ruoning Yin nearly ended her major-championship-winning career before it could begin.

Ahead of this week’s U.S. Women’s Open, the newly minted KPMG Women’s PGA champion recalled the time her father took her and her mom to the driving range for the first time. It was 2006, and Ruoning was just 4, standing beside her father while he was showing her mom how to swing a club. In the moment, dad warned Ruoning to wait her turn, but the impatient youth had other ideas.

“He goes, ‘Don’t swing,’” Yin said. “I did one swing anyway, and I just hit his head and he got I think four stitches. It wasn’t very fun.”

The crisp contact kept her from the game until she turned 10½. Instead, Yin swam, ran and played basketball. It took Yin’s mom offering to take her to a movie if she signed up for a summer camp in China to give golf a second chance.

Three months later, the competitive bug returned. Ruoning’s dad took her to her first tournament, a 27-hole affair where Yin posted a 103-46 to finish in third place. After the event, she and her dad were preparing to leave until a tournament staffer told Yin she won a trophy, setting her on a path that led to the success she’s had in the first half of 2023.

After winning her first LPGA title in April at the DIO Implant L.A. Open, Yin claimed win No. 2 two weeks ago with a birdie on the 72nd hole at Baltusrol Golf Club.

“I think that trophy motivated me to chase my dream,” Yin said.

Upon arriving at Pebble Beach, the 20-year-old Yin noting this isn’t her first time visiting the Monterey Peninsula. As a youth beginning in 2015, Yin participated in annual golf camps in the United States, including a trip to Pebble Beach eight years ago. Yin recalled hitting a 3-wood short on the famed par-3 seventh from how windy it was.

While practising basketball twice as much as her golf at the time, Yin realized her 5-foot-2 frame wouldn’t quite lead her to turn pro on the hardwood. Acknowledging her love of competition led to a focus on golf.

Yin’s sudden surge is encapsulated by the calmness she tries to emulate from her NBA idol, Stephen Curry. Yin put that into practice at Baltusrol on the final hole, having heard a roar up by the green that was Yuka Saso making a birdie to grab the clubhouse lead. Undeterred, Yin concentrated on what she could control rather than what failure might lurk.

“I know, OK, maybe I’ve got a chance to make a birdie and close the game,” Yin explained. “Yeah, it happened.”

Armed with a mentality forged through the major fire, Yin is already planning on making a legendary career for herself. That, she explained, includes winning five majors. That’s rare company on the LPGA as only 16 players in tour history have reached that mark.

Yin also eyes surpassing her inspiration, Shanshan Feng’s 10 tour wins to become the all-time winningest LPGA player from China. Yin shows no exhaustion from the major victory as she’s maintained the same workout and practice routine this week. Drawing inspiration from other legends, Yin watched highlights of Tiger Woods’s dominant 15-stroke victory at Pebble Beach during the 2000 U.S. Open.

It’s another mountain for Yin to climb in order to etch her name alongside legends of golf this week. Yet Yin’s presence displays self-belief in her ability and mentality to hold up under the duress of Pebble Beach.

“For me to be a major champion is pretty exciting, but that’s the past,” Yin said. “I’m looking forward for the next one.”

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China’s Ruoning Yin got her breakthrough LPGA win in March. Three months later, she’s now a major champion.

With a 10-foot birdie on the par-5 18th hole on the famed Lower Course at Baltusrol Golf Club, Yin closed out a bogey-free four-under 67 to reach eight-under 276 and defeat Yuka Saso by one shot at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Ruoning Yin birdies No. 18 to take the outright lead!!!#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/LXr9NYGNiV

— KPMG Women's PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 25, 2023

Yin started Sunday in Springfield, N.J., three shots off the lead held by Leona Maguire. She then played a methodical final round, a round interrupted for nearly two hours by a passing thunderstorm.

When play resumed, Yin was at five under through eight holes, trailing countrywoman Xiyu Lin and South Korea’s Jenny Shin by two shots. From there, Yin made 13th and 14th holes to grab a share of the lead, before claiming it outright with her birdie on the closing hole.

At the DIO Implant L.A. Open, the 20-year-old became just the second golfer from China to win an LPGA event, joining Shanshan Feng. Yin is also now the second to win a major championship.

Saso, the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open champion, made a birdie on the 18th to get to seven under for the tournament, closing out a five-under 66 and hoping she’d done enough to get into a playoff.

With the victory, Yin claimed the first-place prize money payout of $1.5 million from the record-breaking $10 million purse.

Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer who made the cut at Baltusrol. Come back shortly after the tournament’s finish and we’ll update the list with individual names and specific paydays.

Win: Ruoning Yin, -8, $1,500,000
2: Yuka Saso, -7, $875,130
T-3: Carlota Ciganda, -6, $423,070
T-3: Megan Khang, -6, $423,070
T-3: Xiyu Lin, -6, $423,070
T-3: Stephanie Meadow, -6, $423,070
T-3: Anna Nordqvist, -6, $423,070
T-8: Rose Zhang, -5, $214,811
T-8: Ayaka Furue, -5, $214,811
T-8: Jenny Shin, -5, $214,811
T-11: Nanna Koerstz Madsen, -4, $168,170
T-11: Leona Maguire, -4, $168,170
T-11: Perrine Delacour, -4, $168,170
14: Grace Kim, -3, $147,571
T-15: Allisen Corpuz, -2, $125,531
T-15: Lauren Coughlin, -2, $125,531
T-15: Sarah Schmelzel, -2, $125,531
T-15: Jodi Ewart Shadoff, -2, $125,531
T-15: Brooke M. Henderson, -2, $125,531
T-20: Linn Grant, -1, $104,451
T-20: Hyo Joo Kim, -1, $104,451
T-20: Minjee Lee, -1, $104,451
T-20: Jin Young Ko, -1, $104,451
T-24: Gabriela Ruffels, E, $86,483
T-24: Mina Harigae, E, $86,483
T-24: Ariya Jutanugarn, E, $86,483
T-24: Mel Reid, E, $86,483
T-24: In Gee Chun, E, $86,483
T-24: Marissa Steen, E, $86,483
T-30: Cheyenne Knight, +1, $68,115
T-30: Esther Henseleit, +1, $68,115
T-30: Narin An, +1, $68,115
T-30: Lee-Anne Pace, +1, $68,115
T-30: Angel Yin, +1, $68,115
T-30: Celine Boutier, +1, $68,115
T-36: Daniela Darquea, +2, $56,538
T-36: Haeji Kang, +2, $56,538
T-36: Amy Yang, +2, $56,538
T-39: Madelene Sagstrom, +3, $45,217
T-39: Pajaree Anannarukarn, +3, $45,217
T-39: Celine Borge, +3, $45,217
T-39: Yuna Nishimura, +3, $45,217
T-39: Danielle Kang, +3, $45,217
T-39: Pornanong Phatlum, +3, $45,217
T-39: Ashleigh Buhai, +3, $45,217
T-39: Lindsey Weaver-Wright, +3, $45,217
T-47: Nasa Hataoka, +4, $35,071
T-47: Jeongeun Lee6, +4, $35,071
T-47: Yu Liu, +4, $35,071
T-47: Min Lee, +4, $35,071
T-47: Lexi Thompson, +4, $35,071
T-52: Samantha Wagner, +5, $29,705
T-52: Alison Lee, 5, $29,705
T-52: Mariah Stackhouse, +5, $29,705
T-52: Emily Kristine Pedersen, +5, $29,705
T-52: Hye-Jin Choi, +5, $29,705
T-57: Linnea Strom, +6, $25,395
T-57: Gina Kim, +6, $25,395
T-57: Moriya Jutanugarn, +6, $25,395
T-57: Lydia Ko, +6, $25,395
T-61: Maria Fassi, +7, $22,040
T-61: Albane Valenzuela, +7, $22,040
T-61: Gemma Dryburgh, +7, $22,040
T-61: Alexa Pano, +7, $22,040
T-61: Stephanie Kyriacou, +7, $22,040
T-61: Soo Bin Joo, +7, $22,040
T-61: Eun-Hee Ji, +7, $22,040
T-68: Hannah Green, +8, $19,644
T-68: Lauren Stephenson, +8, $19,644
T-68: Jasmine Suwannapura, +8, $19,644
T-71: Morgane Metraux, +9, $18,685
T-71: Elizabeth Szokol, +9, $18,685
T-71: Stacy Lewis, +9, $18,685
74: Annie Park, +10, $18,206
75: Charlotte Thomas, +13, $17,987
76: Aditi Ashok, +14, $17,759
T-77: Sung Hyun Park, +15, $17,422
T-77: Matilda Castren, +15, $17,422
79: Lucy Li, +18, $17,089

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It was all worth the wait.

With a 10-footer for birdie on the par-5 home hole of the famed Lower Course, the 20-year-old from China closed out a final-round 67 to post an eight-under 276 total, one stroke clear of 2021 U.S. Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso. In turn, Yin had claimed her second career LPGA title and her first major championship victory, joining Shanshan Feng (2012 Wegmans LPGA Championship).

“I’m glad that I can be the second Chinese player after Shanshan won a major. She is the person who inspired me the most,” Yin said. “I think it’s going to push a lot of kids to play golf.”

Yin, a second-year LPGA Tour pro who won for the first time in March at the DIO Implant L.A. Open, was statistically the best ball-striker in the field this week. Two of her four rounds were bogey-free, including her Sunday performance, no small accomplishment given the two-hour rain delay that she and the field had to endure. The six bogeys she did make—four in her second round and two in her third—each came on three-putts.

Yin’s winning score was largely due to her performance on Baltusrol’s nine par 5s, which she played in seven under for the week. That final birdie on the 72nd hole came after her second shot failed to carry the ridge in the middle of the green, sending her ball some backwards some 30 yards short of the green. With Yin’s third shot settling 10 feet away, and Saso in the clubhouse at seven under after a closing 66, a playoff look likely.

Until Yin’s putt rolled squarely into the middle of the hole.

Ruoning Yin birdies No. 18 to take the outright lead!!!#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/LXr9NYGNiV

— KPMG Women's PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 25, 2023

“I actually kind of felt that I was going to make it, and I made it,” she said. “It’s a very weird feeling, but I felt it on that putt.”

Much like Scottie Scheffler’s recent performances on the PGA Tour, it was the kind of hot ball-striking/lukewarm putting display that is often good enough for a high finish, but not necessarily a victory. But you don’t win major championships without a bit of luck, the saying goes, and for that, Yin had those around her on the leaderboard to thank.

Andy Lyons

Leona Maguire, who won on the LPGA Tour the week prior, had been leading most of the tournament and took a one-shot advantage into the final round. She had hit 83 per cent of her greens in regulation in her previous seven rounds and was the player many expected to capture her first major at Baltusrol. But perhaps suffering under the scrutiny of playing in the final group for the first time of her career, or maybe just tired from a busy two-week stretch, Maguire never got comfortable. Her three-over 74 dropped her to T-11.

Instead, it was Maguire’s playing partner and longtime friend Stephanie Meadow—“I’ve known her since she read Harry Potter books,” Meadow said of Maguire coming into Sunday—who mounted the more formidable challenge. Meadow has yet to win on the LPGA Tour, but she was flirting with the lead for most of the day after a birdie on the par-5 seventh hole. Another one from off the green on the par-5 17th, and a combination of late blunders from other players, meant Meadow could match Saso’s score with a birdie on the 18th and book her place in the presumed playoff. When Yin’s birdie putt drop in the group ahead, Meadow’s task became making an eagle to tie, and that’s where her luck ran out.

“Sometimes the golf gods are in your favour and sometimes they’re not,” she says. “Obviously it’s not the outcome that either Leona or I wanted today, but we fought hard, and we did our best.”

Rose Zhang and Xiyu Lin, playing in the group ahead of Yin, each made charges of their own, but both stumbled on the 72nd hole. Needing birdies to post seven and eight under, respectively, both Zhang and Lin pulled their drives into the hazard left.

It was an uncharacteristic mistake for Zhang, in particular, but the player who came into this year’s tournament with so much attention managed to save par anyway. Her final round 67 was enough for her first major top 10.

“It’s been incredible,” she said of the tournament. “I felt so much support and love from the crowds out here. It’s super special, and I took it all in for sure.”

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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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