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Amy Yang holds a two-shot lead heading to Sunday on the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship.
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SAMMAMISH, Wash. — Amy Yang solely thought-about the query for a second.
Is it honest to say the rationale you’re nonetheless taking part in on tour in spite of everything this time is to win a significant championship?
“Sure,” she stated.
Yang didn’t count on to be right here final yr, when a weird rock-climbing accident left her with an elbow harm and an unsure future. She didn’t count on to be right here based mostly on this yr’s play, both; she has but to file a high 20 on the LPGA Tour this season. However then she performed her means right into a share of the 36-hole lead on the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship — and on Saturday, as her competitors faltered round her, she seized the lead for herself. Now she leads by two coming into the ultimate spherical at Sahalee Country Club. And she or he’s very actually residing the dream.
“I imply, I grew up watching so many nice gamers up to now, and I noticed them successful all the main championships,” Yang stated. “I dreamt about taking part in out right here due to them. I work arduous for this. It’d imply loads — however we’ve nonetheless acquired 18 extra holes on the market and that’s lots of golf left for a significant championship.
“So simply going to attempt to deal with every shot and simply be affected person.”
Be affected person. That’s one thing Yang has carried out nicely for 3 days; she’s plotted her means round Sahalee’s tight corridors and difficult situations extra successfully than anybody else within the discipline. She cited dedication as the important thing.
“Crucial factor was how dedicated I used to be on every shot,” she stated. “At any time when or no matter I made a decision to hit, I attempted to not factor about what was going to occur as a result of it’s very tight and taking part in robust on the market.”
Be affected person can be one thing Yang has needed to faucet into for her whole profession. The South Korean is simply 34 however she’s performed the LPGA Tour since 2008. She’s racked up 21 top-10 finishes in majors. That is her seventy fifth begin. However she hasn’t gotten throughout the road.
Yang’s newest shut calls got here with a pair of T4 finishes ultimately yr’s majors. She’s completed runner-up twice and has a dozen top-fives. Meaning she is aware of she will do it — however she is aware of how robust it’ll be, too, even with a two-shot lead.
Requested what it was like taking part in within the closing group of the day, Yang admitted it was robust to remain within the second.
“I strive not to consider it, nevertheless it does get into my head and I get nervous, actually nervous on the market, as a result of it’s getting nearer to the ultimate spherical,” she stated. As for tomorrow?
“In all probability the identical, however simply going to do the identical issues and see what’s going to occur.”
Yang battled by way of a again harm throughout Friday’s spectacular four-under 68. She obtained remedy earlier than Saturday’s 71 and nonetheless skilled “somewhat little bit of ache and tightness.” It didn’t maintain her again from pars on the primary seven holes. And after a bogey at No. 8 she caught her strategy to eight ft at No. 9. Yang added a birdie on the par-5 eleventh after which, after one other bogey at No. 16, added the spotlight of the day: a 37-foot birdie bomb on the picturesque par-3 seventeenth.
She’ll have a mixture of opponents in her rearview. Miyu Yamashita, an everyday winner on the Japanese LPGA, sits one spot forward of Yang within the Rolex Rankings at No. 22 and two photographs behind her on the leaderboard.
“I’m not eager about a lot of successful. I’m simply specializing in like every shot,” she stated.
Lauren Hartlage is tied with Yamashita; she’s No. 278 on the earth and excited to be this shut.
“I’ve by no means been on this place earlier than and that is one thing that I dreamed about rising up as a child, so it’s actually superior to be on this place and simply form of see the way it goes and be taught from day by day, each spherical,” she stated.
Sarah Schmelzel sits one shot additional again; she started Saturday as co-leader however struggled with a chilly putter and made 4 bogeys towards simply two birdies.
And a star-studded contingent sits at three beneath, headlined by World No. 2 Lilia Vu, former World No. 1 Jin Younger Ko and Lexi Thompson, who’s introduced her plans to retire however has discovered one thing particular in her sport.
“I’m simply going to play inside myself. That’s all I can do. Yeah, could be my final one; may not,” Thompson stated. “Who is aware of. It’s simply daily. Simply going to go on the market, embrace the followers, love the stroll and see the place it goes.”
Circumstances are anticipated to shift on Sunday; cooler temperatures and better winds promise to make Sahalee a correct final-round take a look at — and crown a worthy winner.
