Amy Yang captures 1st LPGA major title

South Korean veteran Amy Yang has claimed her first LPGA major title in her 75th try.

Yang shot a seven-under 281 to win the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship by three strokes at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington, a suburb east of Seattle, on Sunday (local time).

Yang started the final round with a two-shot lead and shot an even-par 72, while other contenders fell by the wayside.

Yang, whose Korean given name is Hee-young, is the first South Korean to win on the LPGA Tour this year and the first player from the country to win an LPGA major since June 2022, when Chun In-gee won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Yang, 34, now has six LPGA wins. She had gone more than four years between her fourth and fifth victories, ending that drought at the CME Group Tour Championship in November 2023.

With this major title, Yang could crack the top 15 in the world rankings and grab a spot in the Olympic tournament in Paris next month.

The Olympic field of 60 players will be determined based on world rankings
after the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Players inside the top 15 are eligible, with a maximum of four players per country. Countries can then send up to two players ranked outside the top 15, as long as they don’t already have two players qualified.

Prior to this tournament, South Korea had two players ranked among the top 15 — Ko Jin-young at No. 7 and Kim Hyo-joo at No. 12. Yang entered the week at No. 25 and wouldn’t have been eligible for the Olympics since South Korea already had Ko and Kim inside the top 15.

Earlier this month, Yuka Saso of Japan soared from No. 30 to No. 6 in the rankings after winning the U.S. Women’s Open, the previous major tournament. This makes it likely that Yang will also move inside the top 15 with her major title.

Source: Yonhap News Agency