Haeran Ryu came back from a historic ten-shot deficit after the first round to win her first career major title: the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Ryu began the final round with a one-shot lead over Canada’s Brooke Henderson and a two-shot lead over Korea’s Ina Yoon. She played her first two rounds masterfully, making only one bogey and jumping out to a five-shot lead. Yoon fell to third place to begin her final round after a 75 (+3) on Saturday. Dewi Weber and A Lim Kim started their final round three shots back of the lead.
The leaderboard shuffled many times on the front nine, with Ryu making three bogeys in her first five holes and Yoon making three birdies and a double bogey. Ryu settled down after her rough stretch and made three birdies on the front nine to shoot 36 (E). She added two more birdies to finish her round at 70 (-2). With only Yoon, Henderson and Weber in range to chase Ryu, they were all unable to close the gap in their final nine holes. After the round, Ryu couldn’t believe she won her first major title.
“Wow. It’s awesome. Major champion Haeran Ryu, awesome. I’m so happy that I got the major title, and now, in the next tournament, they’re introducing me as major champion Haeran Ryu; it’s amazing for me,” she said.
It has been a great season for Ryu this year. Coming into this week, she had finished inside the top 10 six times in ten starts, but her last start was a month ago at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. Ryu said her break was worth it.
“I don’t have to stress for the golf and then just hang out and then just eat some great food from my mom. So it was a good sign for me, and I had a good rest, and I can play well this week,” she said.
With her win, Ryu earned $1,950,000 from the highest prize pool in LPGA Tour history. She also earned 650 points in the season-long competition, Race to CME Globe. Ryu moves into third place in the standings, with Nelly Korda remaining in first place.
PGA and LPGA Professional, Nicole Felce, secured the lowest teaching professional recognition this week. This was her second appearance at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, and she had a 2-under round on Friday to make the cut going into the weekend.
Yoon’s runner-up finish was her best career finish on the LPGA Tour so far. After playing in her rookie season last year, she has played well this season, finishing in the top 10 five times in 12 starts. She was also atop the leaderboard the first two days. Yoon was emotional in her press conference after the tournament.
“I’m really grateful. I don’t know why tears are coming out. But, yeah, it’s going to be really, you know, a big lesson for my golf life. Yeah, I try to embrace positively, and I think I need some time to, you know, get okay,” she said.
After winning the Chevron Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open, Nelly Korda finished T8 this week. Korda had plenty of external pressure during the final round today but said she wasn’t concerned with the narrative coming into this week. Riding on this tournament was becoming the third player to win a third major in one season and enough points to enter the Hall of Fame.
“That was definitely — you guys made that such a big thing. I didn’t think about that, no. Like not — I was just kind of disappointed in the way that I played this week, not that I came up short, really. I was just thinking about the way that I played, not like the realistic big picture that everyone is talking about,” she said.
The LPGA Tour will have the week off next week, as the players prepare for the fourth major of the season, the Amundi Evian Championship. The tournament will be held from July 9-12, 2026, at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France.
