Yu Hae-ran, 25, lifted her first LPGA major trophy. It marks the first time in two years, since Amy Yang, that a Korean player has won an LPGA major. Yu secured her first victory of this LPGA Tour season and the fourth of her career. She has won at least once every year since making her LPGA debut in 2023.
Notably, Yu trailed first-round leader Yoon Yi-na by a full 10 strokes, but steadily climbed through the next three rounds to ultimately complete the come-from-behind victory. In LPGA Tour major history, it is the first time in 62 years that a player has won despite being 10 strokes behind the leader after the first round, since Carol Mann of the United States at the 1964 Western Women's Open.
At the 18th hole (par 4) of the season's third major, the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, held Saturday at Hazeltine National Golf Club (par 72) in Chaska, Minnesota, Yu sank a short par putt to clinch the win by two strokes at 13-under-par 275. She then stood still and burst into laughter.
The tournament's total purse was 13 million dollars, the largest in the LPGA. The winner's prize was 1.95 million dollars (about 2.99 billion won), the second-largest after the U.S. Women's Open (2.5 million dollars). Yu's win raised Korean players' LPGA Tour victory total this season to four (Kim Hyo-joo two wins, Lee Mi-hyang one win). Yoon Yi-na, who led after the first and second rounds, finished as sole runner-up at 11-under, two strokes behind Yu, recording her best result since coming to the United States.
Yu carded a 1-over in the first round, leaving her tied for 70th, 10 strokes behind 9-under leader Yoon. But she trimmed 12 strokes over the second and third rounds to jump to a one-stroke sole lead. In the final fourth round, she shaved off two more strokes with five birdies and three bogeys to complete the victory. After losing two strokes through the first five holes with bogeys on the opening hole and holes 4 and 5, Yu showed her resilience by adding four birdies the rest of the way. She sank a birdie putt of just over 4 meters on the 12th hole (par 4) to widen her gap over runner-up Brooke Henderson of Canada to two strokes, and reserved the victory when Henderson bogeyed the 14th hole (par 4).
After the round, Yu said, "It's amazing and makes me happy that from now on I'll be called 'major champion Yu Hae-ran.'" She added, "After the first round, my only goal was to play through the weekend, but in the second round I made eight birdies and finished with no bogeys, an amazing round. It still feels like a dream." She also said, "After the first round, my coach told me, 'Trust your shots, trust your caddie, and trust yourself on the course,' and that advice was a great source of strength."
Yu, ranked 12th in the world, returned for this tournament after skipping four events following her sole runner-up finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship in the middle of last month. She even withdrew from the U.S. Women's Open, which offered women's golf's largest winner's prize (2.5 million dollars), raising questions. During this period, Yu underwent a procedure in Korea and focused on rehabilitation. Skipping a major was not an easy choice, but she judged that cleanly resolving the abdominal pain that had long affected her performance was the priority.
The judgment proved correct. Her steps were heavy on the first day, but she easily cleared the risk of missing the cut with a surge on the second day, then overcame fierce title competition with a much lighter body. Before the second round began, "70th-place" Yu's chances of winning were a mere 0.2 percent. At the season's opening major, the Chevron Championship, in both 2024 and last year, Yu held the third-round lead but failed to reach victory both times; this time, she held on to the end.
Yoon Yi-na, who finished runner-up, took home 1,169,108 dollars (about 1.805 billion won) in prize money. In her second year since making her LPGA debut last year, she is showing a clear upward trend this season. Yoon said, "This week I played the best golf of my golfing life," adding, "I love majors. They make me more nervous than regular tournaments." The remaining majors this season are the Evian Championship and the AIG Women's Open.
Among other Korean players, Kim A-rim and Kim Sei-young finished tied for eighth at 6-under. Four of the 11 players who finished in the top 10 were Korean. World No. 1 Nelly Korda of the United States, who was aiming for three consecutive major victories, finished tied for eighth.
The KPMG Women's PGA Championship is a "tournament of promise" for Korean women's golf. Pak Se-ri won it three times (1998, 2002, 2006), and Park In-bee won it three years in a row from 2013. Park Sung-hyun in 2018, Kim Sei-young in 2020, Jeon In-ji in 2022, and Amy Yang in 2024 also stood atop this tournament. Over the 14 years from 2013, Korean players have won eight times. The Korean major title also comes for the first time in two years, since Amy Yang.
This was the second time the tournament was held at Hazeltine National Golf Club, a private course, following 2019 (won by Hannah Green of Australia). This course is also where Yang Yong-eun beat Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA Championship to become the first Asian male player to win a major. Yang overturned a two-stroke deficit on the final day, handing Woods his first come-from-behind defeat in major appearances. Yang lifted a golf bag emblazoned with the TaylorMade logo above his head in his victory celebration, and as it happens, Yu's equipment sponsor is also TaylorMade.
