Shortly after her 22nd birthday, Ruoning Yin was a five-time LPGA winner including a major. The sky seemed the limit for the Chinese star.
But sometimes golf has other plans, and for nearly two years Yin failed to notch win No. 6. So one could understand why the tears began to flow Sunday afternoon after she closed out the FM Championship, her first win in 672 days, shooting a final-round 70 to win by two shots over Hyo Joo Kim and by three over Allisen Corpuz.
“It’s just been so long since my last win. I worked hard,” Yin said. “This one definitely boosts my confidence a little bit more.”
Yin had a shaky start with two bogeys opposite one birdie in the first four holes, but made consecutive birdies at Nos. 6 and 7 to settle in. She birdied the 12th and then the 18th for an extra style point; her 24 birdies for the week led the field.
Yin, sixth in the Race to CME Globe standings, became the sixth player in the last 15 years to have six wins and a major before her 23rd birthday; Nelly Korda had done it most recently. And this was her first start in the FM Championship at TPC Boston; Chinese players now own two of the three wins in the event as Miranda Wang won last year.
The LPGA Tour is off next week, then the Solheim Cup is Sept. 11-13 in the Netherlands as the U.S. hopes to keep the Cup after winning on home soil two years ago. The European team will be captained by Anna Nordqvist; the 39-year-old Swede announced her retirement as player earlier in the week in Boston and finished T38 in her last event.
Regular tournament play on the LPGA resumes Sept. 25-27 with the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G.
