Ruoning Yin shot her highest round of the tournament, but the 1-under 70 was good enough for her first LPGA Tour victory by one stroke Sunday at the DIO Implant LA Open.
Yin, in her second season the LPGA Tour, had an adventurous round with six birdies and five bogeys at Palos Verdes Golf Club. She carded rounds of 68-64-67 to share the lead after two rounds and alone atop the leaderboard after the third round in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.
Yin said she knows she can make birdies and told herself to be patient. After she followed a birdie at No. 2 with three bogeys, she ran off four straight birdies to close out the front nine.
“I fought so hard today, and I just made three bogey in a row on the front nine,” Yin said afterward. “I’m so happy that I fought back, and, yeah, from holes 6 to 9 it was great four-birdie (run) out there.”
She is the second player in history from China to win on Tour, following Shanshan Feng (10 career victories), who last won in 2019 at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic.
“That means a lot, not just for me, also for China,” Yin said. “And Shanshan is always my goal here, and I think she got 10 tour win here, and, yeah, it’s just my first one. She’s definitely the person I look up to.”
Yin, a resident of Orlando, Florida, bogeyed Nos. 10 and 13, then birdied the par-5 14th hole to get back to 15 under. She made par on her last four holes.
She edged England’s Georgia Hall, who had a bogey-free round with birdies at Nos. 4, 5, 7 and 16 but also parred the last three holes to finish with a round of 67 for 14 under.
Hall also placed second a week earlier at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain. She lost in a one-hole playoff to France’s Celine Boutier in Gold Canyon, Ariz.
Patty Tavantanakit (65 on Sunday) of Thailand and Hyo Joo Kim (71) of South Korea tied for third at 12 under, with Carlota Ciganda (66) of Spain and Nelly Korda (67) tied for fifth at 11 under.
“A lot more confident than where I was even a week ago,” Tavantanakit said. “To be able to close it off and post a really good round today, I was really proud of myself. I had so much scarring tissue from the course. I played here in college and, you know, coming down especially the back nine, it’s not easy: 11, 12, 13. … I was really being patient, and I think that helped a lot.”
Yin made seven of 16 cuts as a rookie last season, including a tie for 33rd at this event in 2022 at Wilshire Country Club.
She is, at 20 years, 6 months and 5 days, the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour since Atthaya Thitikul at the 2022 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship (19 years, 7 months, 5 days).
–Field Level Media