Amy Yang (-6) was eight years old when Se Ri Pak became an icon in South Korea. It was May 1998. Pak won the LPGA Championship and turned her country’s sport upside down. She was the first South Korean in history to win a major golf tournament. Just a month and a half later, she also won the US Open. Brutal. National myth. That day, little Yang, from Ilsan, an artificial city built just over 20 kilometres from North Korea, pointed at the TV and told her parents: “I want to be like her when I grow up”. This Sunday she has achieved it.
Yang has conquered the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship held at the Sahalee Country Club in Washington. She has had to wait almost fifteen years more than her idol (Pak won at 20 and Yang has done it at 34), but the happiness is the same or almost greater. No one has to explain to her how difficult it is to win a tournament of this magnitude. Between the girl who pointed at the TV and today’s champion, there have been 21 top 10s in majors, twelve top 15s and seven top 4s. She deserved it. Yang has finally found the peace she was looking for.
No one did more than Yang to win at Sahalee. She started as the leader with a two-stroke lead and dominated the situation from start to finish. She was a sledgehammer. Without mistakes. Showing a fabulous recovery capacity. With four holes to go, she had a seven-stroke lead over the second-placed player and only at the end did she add some excitement, with a bogey on the 16th and a double bogey on the 17th. Probably due to early relaxation and nerves. She had been waiting a long time. She saw the tournament won and made two major mistakes, three putts on the 16th and a ball in the water on the 17th.
Even so, she went to the 18th with a two-stroke lead over Lilia Vu (-4), Miyu Yamashita (-4) and Jin Young Ko (-4), who had already finished their round. She had it done. She still suffered with a bad second shot to the rough that cost her a last bogey, but it didn’t matter, the victory was already in the bag. She deserved a glorious walk on that final par 5. Glorious and exciting. It showed in her expression.
Amy’s peace is also South Korea’s peace, which ends a nine-year drought without winning a major, curiously the longest since the Se Ri Pak era. There was no one better to close the circle. And in what a way, winning over two multiple major champions and two world number ones like Vu and Ko. It is her eleventh professional victory and, without a doubt, the most important.
Beyond Yang’s victory, it is worth highlighting the comeback of Lexi Thompson. She started with a score of eight over in the first eight holes and from there she signed six birdies for a total of 74 strokes. A comeback that allowed her to finish in the top 10 and under par in the tournament.
For her part, Azahara Muñoz (+15) said goodbye with a round of 75 strokes, with a solitary birdie and four bogeys. It has not been a good weekend for the Malaga native.
Final results of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
