SAMMAMISH — “Some days, golf feels so easy, and so fun, and other days it feels like I want to retire really soon.”
That was Amy Yang after winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship by three strokes at Sahalee on Sunday. The South Korean had previously finished in the top 10 in 21 major championships and in the top five a dozen times.
Given her post-victory euphoria — accentuated by a Champagne bath involving at least a dozen people — Yang likely won’t be retiring anytime soon. But when she does decide to hang ’em up, she might have a future in poker.
The 34-year-old, you see, was teeming with anxiety throughout the round. She said the nerves began bubbling the night before, and just before finishing her round, had told her caddie that this was the longest 18 holes she had ever played.
It’s just that … it was impossible for anyone on hand to know that. On a golf course that graffitied score cards all week, hers stayed almost completely blemish-free.
Before the leaders teed off on Sunday, this Women’s PGA looked as though it wouldn’t be decided until the final hole or two. Yes, Yang held the 54-hole lead at 6-under par, but had two players within two shots and five within three.
At one point in the final round, however, Yang’s lead grew by as many as seven. Part of that was because of a birdie-fest that took her score to as low as -10, but it was mainly a function of her competitors succumbing to Sahalee.
Take Lauren Hartlage, for example, who was within one stroke of Yang through six holes Sunday. Then came back-to-back double bogeys. Or Lexi Thompson, who began three strokes off the lead before posting four bogeys and two double bogeys through the first eight holes. We saw Sarah Schemlzel drop off as well, and Miyū Yamashita shoot even. But nobody was going to chase down the unflappable Yang, who didn’t, um, flap, until the tournament was in hand.
The only regrettable putt of the day for Yang came on the 16th, when she missed a three-footer for par to reduce her lead to five strokes. Then she put her tee shot on the par 3 17th in the water, which led to a double bogey and a three-shot lead. No worries. Well, no significant worries. Yang pulled her second shot on the par-5 18th, but stuck her approach to within 12 feet of the hole and tapped in for par and her first major championship.
What we saw Sunday was a study in serenity despite all the stress Yang was feeling. To finish in the top 10 in 21 majors beforehand, the top 5 in 12, and second in two U.S. Opens — it seemed as though golf was much more of a tease than it was a treasure.
Then Sunday happened. Seven under for the tournament, seventh heaven with the win.
“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,” Yang said.
Perhaps the most heartwarming moment of Yang’s post-tournament interview was when she found out she had qualified to represent South Korea in the Olympics. After all, she had missed the cut in her previous two events and three of her previous four. But Sunday’s victory lifted her world golf ranking just enough that she was able to slip onto the squad.
“It’s a great honor to be representing South Korea where I’m from. People love golf and support women’s golf there a lot. I’d love to be on the team,” Yang said.
You would be.
“I would be?!” responded Yang before putting her hands over her mouth.
Probably not quite accurate to say that Yang was the best LPGA player to have not won a major before Sunday, but she was in the conversation. In addition to all those top tens and top fives, she had won five times on tour … but just once since 2019. Now she’s back in the center of the conversation — major champion and Olympian.
Anxiety be damned. Yang held herself together all week, and got to hold a trophy in the end.
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