Korean veteran Amy Yang has claimed her first LPGA major title in her 75th try, while also grabbing a last-minute spot in the upcoming Olympic tournament in Paris.
Yang shot a seven-under 281 to win the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship by three strokes at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington, a suburb east of Seattle, on Sunday (local time).
Yang started the final round with a two-shot lead and shot an even-par 72, while other contenders fell by the wayside.
Yang, whose Korean given name is Hee-young, is the first South Korean to win on the LPGA Tour this year and the first player from the country to win an LPGA major since June 2022, when Chun In-gee won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
This was the 16th tournament of the 2024 season, and South Korea had its longest LPGA title drought to start a season since 2000 before Yang’s breakthrough.
Yang had also been the last South Korean to win on the tour, with her victory at the CME Group Tour Championship in November to end the 2023 season.
Yang, 34, now has six LPGA wins. She had gone more than four years between her fourth and fifth victories, ending that drought at last year’s CME Group Tour Championship.
In her 74 previous major appearances, Yang had 21 top-10s, including a pair of fourth-place finishes last year.
“All the hard work our team did together, I am so grateful for that,” Yang said in a televised interview on the 18th green. “All four rounds, it was really tough out there. But I just trusted what I prepared. I did my best all week. I’ve always 토토 wanted to win a major. I came close several times. I started doubting myself if I was ever going to win a major before I retired. I am so grateful. I am very, very happy to win a major.”