CLIFTON, NEW JERSEY | Sometimes it just takes time. Time to mature and get your sea legs. Time to let your off-the-course life catch up with the talent you’ve displayed inside the ropes for years. Time to see the big picture.
Time is what Angel Yin needed. Now that she has it, we finally might be seeing the blossoming potential from a player whom many had expected to win early and often. Yin had her best week in a couple of years at the Cognizant Founders Cup, putting together one of the steadiest performances in the entire field with rounds of 70-67-68-67 to finish at 16-under-par 272 and tied for third with Madelene Sagstrom, three shots short of Minjee Lee’s impressive win. But for Yin, this could mark a turning point. She has missed as many cuts as she has made in 2022 and hadn’t sniffed a top-20 before last week.
What many people forget is she is only 23 years old. She came out on the LPGA Tour so young and was so impressively long, everyone assumed we had another Baby Boomer on our hands. But the wins didn’t come, and the distractions seemed to mount. Now with a few more birthdays under her belt, Yin could be on the cusp of the career many expected.
“I'm proud of myself, honestly,” Yin said after the final round in New Jersey. “I stayed pretty steady the whole entire week – not too many emotions. I didn't really feel much pressure on the last day, even going into the last back nine.
“I think that's the part I was most proud of with myself today. I just didn't really change much, just stuck with my plan and stayed consistent emotionally and on the golf course game consistent, too. When you see your name up on the leaderboard with No. 1 next to it (after) not making a lot of cuts, it’s nice to say that I stayed pretty steady, so I'm proud of myself.
“I thought I was going to lose my card this year, but now I'm not going to lose my card, hopefully. So it's a big change. A big confidence booster. I'm looking forward to the (Bank of Hope LPGA) Match-Play, and then the U.S. (Women’s) Open coming up.”
Steve Eubanks