Yang, 34, wins Ladies's PGA for first main title

SAMAMMISH, Wash. — Amy Yang constructed an enormous lead and survived a few late errors to win her long-awaited first main title Sunday, a three-shot victory within the KMPG Ladies’s PGA Championship.

Yang closed with an even-par 72 at Sahalee to complete at 7-under 281. She was almost flawless for the primary 15 holes and reached 10 below for the match for a seven-shot lead earlier than working into a bit of little bit of bother. However none of her pursuers was capable of mount a major cost.

At age 34, Yang is the oldest main winner on the LPGA Tour since Angela Stanford gained the 2018 Evian Championship at age 40. Anna Nordqvist had lately turned 34 when she gained the Ladies’s Open Championship in 2021.

This was Yang’s seventy fifth main begin, probably the most earlier than a participant’s first main title since Stanford, who was taking part in her 76th.

“I at all times wished to win a significant and I got here shut a number of instances, and I began doubting myself if I am ever going to win a significant earlier than I retire, as a result of I have been on tour fairly some time,” Yang stated after her win. “I’m so grateful and really, very comfortable to win a significant.

“It is all of the onerous work our workforce did collectively and I am so grateful for that. All 4 rounds it was robust on the market, however I simply trusted what I ready and I did my greatest all week.”

Yang’s sixth LPGA victory was her first since final yr’s CME Group Tour Championship, which was additionally the latest victory by a South Korean participant. She earned a spot within the Paris Olympics, the place she is going to signify South Korea for the third time.

Twice earlier in her profession, Yang held the 54-hole lead in a significant solely to fall quick. On the 2014 U.S. Ladies’s Open at Pinehurst, Yang was tied with Michelle Wie going into the ultimate spherical, however shot 74 as Wie gained. A yr later in the identical match at Lancaster Nation Membership, Yang had a three-shot benefit, however In Gee Chun shot 66 to win by one.

This time, Lilia Vu and Jin Young Ko every shot 71 to tie for second at 4 below. Vu shot three rounds below par, however could not overcome a 75 within the first spherical.

Yang was remarkably regular till her closing few holes. She made 5 bogeys over her first 69 holes earlier than she three-putted the sixteenth. Then she pushed her tee shot on the par-3 seventeenth nicely proper and it bounced right into a lake, resulting in double bogey.

Yang steadied herself with an ideal tee shot on the par-5 18th, resulting in a two-putt par and an enormous celebration on the inexperienced, the place she was doused with champagne by a number of gamers.

“I do know she’s a very stable participant and is aware of tips on how to win,” Vu stated. “Clearly it is working for her and she or he’s performed so nicely, so congrats to her.”

Yang held a two-shot benefit when she stepped to the primary tee on a cooler Sunday after three straight days of above-average temperatures. The entrance 9 noticed breezes whistle via the towering timber to the purpose play needed to be paused so pollen buds may very well be blown off the greens.

Yang was unfazed. By the point she made the flip, she led by 5. Yang birdied the primary gap, chipped in for birdie from 23 yards off the inexperienced on the fifth and dropped a 7-foot birdie putt on the eighth — the hardest gap on the course — to maneuver to 9 below.

When she hit into the timber on No. 10 and made bogey, Yang responded with a birdie on the eleventh and made her closing birdie on the thirteenth.

Taking part in within the closing group with Yang, Lauren Hartlage had an opportunity to tie the lead at 8 below, however her 5-foot birdie strive on the par-5 sixth gap caught the left edge, spun across the cup and stayed out. Hartlage made double bogeys at Nos. 7 and eight and made the flip six pictures behind. She tied for fifth at 3 below, her greatest profession end.

The Related Press contributed to this report.