SAMMAMISH, WASHINGTON | There’s a reason why Amy Yang would dismiss the thoughts of retirement that occasionally would ring through her head. She would tell people golf no longer meant enough to her to keep playing.
Her caddie knew better. She still cares. Deeply.
It was this moment, this exact one in particular, unfolding before Yang's eyes on the 18th green of Sahalee Country Club on Sunday afternoon, in the final round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. This is why Yang still plays a month shy of turning 35. She always knew she had what it takes to become a major champion, to join some of the heroes who inspired her as a girl. Finally, the title was hers. Seventy-five majors was all it took.
As a bonus, Yang, who shot even-par 72 on Sunday to finish 72 holes at 7-under 281, winning by three, will now be part of the three-player team to represent South Korea at the Olympic Games at Le Golf National near Paris on August 7-10.
It was a lot to take in. In an afternoon, she became a major winner and an Olympian.
Yang grabbed a share of the lead at Sahalee late Friday afternoon with a birdie at the 18th hole, and on a tree-lined test that continued to grow in difficulty, she never let go of it. The record books will show that it was close, that Yang won by three shots over a threesome of pursuers, but in reality, it was a fairly easy walk.
She stretched her lead to seven shots at one point in the middle of the back nine, and once Sahalee had been conquered, there was only one more foe to vanquish – herself. Playing golf all these years, Yang realizes that although she travels the world to play different venues, the game never really changes. It is Amy Yang vs. herself. And during the past week, she prevailed.
“You know, at one point I thought, 'Will I ever win a major championship before I retire?’ And I finally did it, and it’s just amazing.”
Amy Yang
“Some days,” said Yang, now a six-time winner on the LPGA, “golf feels so easy and feels so fun; other days, it feels like I want to retire very soon.”
This was a day when she did not want to go anywhere. Dozens of children lined a metal, waist-high barrier outside of where Yang did her winner’s interview, and they were every bit as relentless as she had been over four days outside Seattle.
“Amy! Amy! Amy!” they chanted.
Yang, who wears a happy face drawn on her bucket hat, smiled shyly. “I just want to go out there and sign for them,” she said. “Best fans ever.”
Yang was thorough in her performance all week at Sahalee. Her caddie of four years, Jan Meierling, figured it was going to be a good week when he saw how difficult Sahalee would play for the world’s best women. There simply was no letup in the golf course, and very few green-light birdie opportunities.
“This course forces you to visualize shots, commit to those shots, and that’s essentially all she really needs to do,” Meierling said. “She can get a little ‘space-cadety,’ if that’s a word. And this week, she can’t do that. That’s been the biggest thing.”
Yang did her best to stay in the moment, even when she briefly lost the plot on the way in. With five birdies in her first 13 holes, she got to 10 under par, and had grown the lead to seven. Players finishing their rounds on Sunday looked at the board beside the 18th green and wondered whether she might be playing someplace else.
Ah, but she would miss a short par putt at 16 and make a wild double bogey at the par-3 17th, finding water with an errant tee shot, at least making the final hole interesting. By then, American Lilia Vu and South Korean Jin Young Ko were making birdies at 18 to post 4-under 284s; Japan’s 22-year-old Miyu Yamashita soon would join them in a tie for second.
Yang led by three, and even then, she did not want to back away, taking a rip at reaching the final par-5 hole in two. Her approach, hit with a 3-wood, bounded around the trees along the left side, and from there, she pitched on for a two-putt par to seal the deal. Major champion. It was a title she had chased for more than half of her life, since she won on the Ladies European Tour as a 16-year-old amateur.
Funny, but Yang had won four times on the LPGA through 2022, though not in the U.S. Then she got hurt, injuring her left elbow doing – of all things – rock climbing. She thought her career might be over at that point, and that might have been fine.
But in seven months, she now has collected the two biggest triumphs of her life. First came the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, in November. That victory paid $2 million. Sunday, she added another $1.56 million with her first major championship. Watching Yang, it was clear that the title meant much more than the money.
Just when she thought she was winding down, Yang now finds her career winding up. She smiles. It is a great problem to have. Now she adds the Olympics to her busy summer schedule. Onward.
“You know, at one point I thought, Will I ever win a major championship before I retire?” Yang asked. “And I finally did it, and it's just amazing.”
Jeff Babineau