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Amy Yang wins the 2024 Women’s PGA with ease

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7 hours ago

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The only way that a four-stroke victory can be considered a blowout, is when it was a seven-shot advantage, with three holes to play. Sunday at Sahalee was an at-last, coming-out party for Amy Yang. The veteran LPGA champion had avoided victory in a major championship for over 15 years. At last, she played the round of her life (or at least, most of a round) when the stakes were highest. Even when her advantage was a single stroke, midway through the final 18, Amy Yang never wavered.

The eventual champion made a first-hole statement on day four, with a fortunate bounce from the far-right shoulder to within two feet of the hole. Hey, a little luck is always welcome. The stroke saved was returned two holes later, when the trees of Sahalee (SahaTREE?) reached out and grabbed her approach shot. Unable to get up and down from forty yards shy of the putting surface, Yang suffered her only bogey of the outward half. Two holes later, Amy Yang secured birdie number two, to return to red figures. This wasn’t any old birdie; whether she misclubbed or misgroooved, Yang had to pitch from ten yards in front of the green, and she holed it! Moments later, her closest competition, Lauren Hartlage, matched the birdie, also from off the green.

The birdie at five, unfortunately, was Hartlage’s last gasp. After par at six, she stumbled away with back-to-back, double bogeys. Hartlage ultimately finished tied for fifth, her top finish on the LPGA circuit. From holes eight to thirteen, Amy Yang added three birdies and a bogey, to reach three-under par on the day. There was only one other golfer on course that was remotely close to Yang’s brilliance, and that was Mao Saigo.

Saigo began the day outside the top thirty, and turned in two-under par 34. After six pars on the inward half, Saigo finished with a trio of birdies, to rise all the way to seventh place, with the day’s only, sub-70 round. Her 67 was three shots better than any other card turned in on Sunday.

Back to Amy Yang. After fifteen holes on Sunday, she looked to be on track for a fourth, sub-par round for the week. After Hartlage left contention, the only ones within a half-dozen shots of the leader would peak at four-under par for the week. Jin Young Ko and Lilia Vu each made birdie at the final green, to finish tied for second with newcomer Miyu Yamashita.

With three holes to play, the leader stood at 10-deep, the only golfer to reach double-digits under par all week. On 16, her drive was played perfectly up the right side, took the leftward slope, and caromed entirely across the fairway, through the first cut, into the deeper rough. Her approach was safely in the center of the green, and her longish approach putt settled some 30 inches from the hole. Whether it was a misread, a peek-before-you-connect, or a microscopic organism, Yang’s putt for par missed low, and she dropped to nine-under par. No concern; six shots in hand with three to play.

At 17, Yang perhaps gave a glimpse into why winning a major title is nigh impossible. There are times when you play toward the flag, and there are others where green center is the only play. With water short right, and the flag deep right, Yang’s tee ball somehow leaked rightward, landed shy of the putting surface, and trickeled into the pond. Her third from the drop zone found the frog hair, and she took two putts for double bogey. A massive lead was no longer so immense, but just one hole remained for negotiation.

If a child ever has trouble sleeping, consider having the baby watch Amy Yang’s golf swing. It is so at-ease, never accelerating nor slowing, always on tempo. With any number of demons, doubts, and distractions about, Yang slashed one more tee ball into the final fairway. With the confidence of a warrior, she eschewed an iron lay-up for the heavy metal, and promptly tugged her second shot left, into one final crown.

The ball might have ended up anywhere. It might have even stayed in the tree. What matters is, it did not. It dropped into the clear, and Yang pitched inside fifteen feet with her third. Two putts later, a journey had ended, and after 74 major championship starts, one low amateur medal, 16 missed cuts, 20 top-tens, and ten top-tens, Amy Yang finally acquired a green box on her Wiki page. Her victory total at Sahalee, in the tenth playing of the Women’s PGA Championship, stood at seven-under par 281. She was three shots clear of the third-place trio of Vu, Ko, and Yamashita.

At long last, the train had reached its intended station.

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Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

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Tom Kim WITB 2024 (June)

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1 hour ago

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Jun 24, 2024

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Driver: Titleist GT3 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 60 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Atmos Tour Spec Black 7 X

Hybrid: Titleist TSR3 (19 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD Prototype

Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: Project X 120 6.0 (4-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 50-12F, 54-12D), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60-L)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Putter: Scotty Cameron TourType Timeless GSS Prototype

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

 

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Tour Rundown: In non-major news…

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3 hours ago

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Jun 24, 2024

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In non-major news (read about Amy Yang’s PGA Championship win here), the pros got together for some early, northern hemisphere-summer golf. They met in southeast but upstate New York, Connecticut, Oklahoma, and Holland. On Saturday in Cromwell, Cameron Young saved par at the last hole to post a score of 59. He began Sunday with four consecutive birdies, and we thought he might never make another par. He cooled off, sadly, but did secure a top-ten finish.

Let’s be honest: after a major-championship week with a dearth of birdies, we should always have a birdie-fest where scores approach 30-under par. 59 should always be possible. Travelers gives us that relief. It’s the miracle drug we crave, after watching far too many putts and approach shots trickle off greens, into bunkers and scary places.

I normally don’t put together a Tour Rundown the week of a major championship, but with golf camp ending last Friday, I had some time on my hands. Time to get down with Rundown for this third week of June.

PGA Tour @ Travelers: Playoff? Scottie gets number six

Some golfers just win. 2024 should go down as one of the top-fifteen, great years on the PGA Tour. Scottie Scheffler has six wins so far, including one major title. He still has the Open Championship ahead of him, plus other events, plus the playoffs. It seems unlikely that he won’t secure another win or two. Imagine an eight-win season. Imagine that people forget about what happened in Louisville. Wowzers.

This week’s win was Scheffler’s first playoff of 2024, and the third of his career. He’s two and one in overtime, which means little to nothing in the long game. Scheffler came to 18 at River Highlands with a one-shot advantage over Tom Kim. Scheffler’s approach should have downslopped, but didn’t. He had a tricky putt for three to end it all, and left it three inches shy, in the jar. Kim’s approach might have been two inches to the right, dropped in for eagle, and ended things right there, but instead, it spun back to ten feet. He jarred it. Playoff.

The brief extra session saw both golfers find fairway, then Kim went for the win and found the sand. His fried egg left him zero chance of a close up and down, and his long putt for par went astray. Scheffler played for the center of the green, took two putts, and walked off with career win number fifteen. After the two at -22, Tom Hoge and Sungjae Im tied for third place at -20.

DP World Tour @ KPMG: Playoff?? Migliozzi can’t miss

If we’re going after translations, miglio in Italian is mile, so migliozzi would be a heap of miles. It’s odd that we would have a translation for miles, in a land where the kilometer is king, but that’s humanity for you. We do know that Guido Migliozzi has walked many miles, in pursuit of golfing greatness. He won a pair of DPWT title in 2019, then grabbed another, post-pandemic, in 2022. After a stirring week in the Netherlands, Migliozzi now has a quartet of championship trophies to his name, and a bit of impetus in the trek toward the year’s final major.

Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard held the lead on Saturday evening, but he and Andrea Pavan came up one shot shy of the three-man playoff. Hojgaard posted 70 on day four, but a 16th-hole bogey did him in. Pavan moved way up on Sunday with 65, but even a birdie at the last was not enough to extend his day. You see, all the cool kids were throwing fours at the par five closer: Hojgaard, Pavan, Migliozzi, and Joe Dean. The only one to make par was Marcus Kinhult. If the Swede had made four, we’d be writing about him.

Migliozzi made six birdies on the 18th hole this week. He had four during regulation play, and two more in act five. He, Dean, and Kinhult owned the hole on the first go-round, but only Migliozzi made four at 18 during the second extra hole. If the KLM organizers and The International club members are savvy, they’ll christen the closing hole as, what else, the Migliozzi Mile.

Korn Ferry Tour @ Compliance Solutions: No slack from Pak

John Pak had what is known in medical circles, as a large-posterior lead, with 18 holes left to contend. Some tour golfers love an advantage, while others are well-aware of the onset of complacency. Pak did himself few favors when he made bogey at Sunday’s second hole. The last direction he needed to head was north. Fortunately, he righted the ship and played three-under the rest of the way. He finished on 23-under par, and liked his position.

Jackson Suber and Davis Shore found the fire that lit Pak’s first three rounds. Pak had a 66, a 65, and a 64 over the first three days. Suber and Shore went one better. Each signed for 63 on day four, and shout up the leader board. Suber’s card was clean, with nine birdies on the day. He had seven on his inward half, for a closing 29. Shore inked eight birdies, a bogey, and an eagle over his final 18 holes. For their efforts, Suber earned solo second place and Shore, a T4. Pak won in 2023 on PGA Tour Canada, and now has a KFT win on his dossier.

PGA Tour Champions @ DSG: Irish eyes are smiling, again and again

It’s a safe bet that property values in Endicott, New York, will go up when Padraig Harrington takes up residence. In 2022, the great champion won the Dick’s SGO by three blows. Last year, he eaked out a one-stroke win. This year, Harrington won his third consecutive DSGO, again by one slim shady shot.

Harrington held the 36-hole lead after Saturday’s festivities, and he was nearly chased down by one of the 2022 runners-up, Mike Weir. On Sunday, Paddy was all over the board, with an eagle, a pair of bogeys, and some birdies. He was not at his consistent best, but he was good enough. A four-under 68 came his way, and brought him to 15-under par.

Try as he might, Weir could not close the final gap. He had six birdies on the day, but his bogey at 13 was his undoing. He eclipsed the third-place trio of Mark and the Kens (Hensby, Duke, and Tanigawa) but could elevate no higher. The victory was Harrington’s eighth on the senior circuit. For a man who still relishes junior tour competition, there’s no end in site for the workhorse from Dublin.

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5 Things We Learned: Saturday at the Women’s PGA

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1 day ago

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Jun 23, 2024

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The last 2024 round of the regular-tours, USA-based, major championships is upon us. Sure, we have both British Opens and the Evian Championship still to come, but the US Opens, the Invitationals (Chevron and Masters) and PGAs will be in the rearview mirror after Sunday evening. We should savor this final day at Sahalee for that reason and many others.

The dominant theme at this year’s, grand slam events has been consistency. No competitor will have the final-round charge as an option. No one is returning from five shots off with a 63 for the win. That’s the case at Sahalee as well, so the number of contenders has whittled to a handful.

The land of timber gave us another lesson in strategy on Saturday. Lapses in attention or execution were punhished with small cuts. One shot here, another shot there, and away went opportunity. Sunday should present more of the same, although hidden hole locations might force some into the mistake of chasing after them, and result in larger shot losses. Today’s installment of Five Things We Learned bids farewell to a few challengers and welcomes a smaller number of new faces to consideration.

1. Amy with a Y in the A Position

Amy Yang doubled her one-shot advantage with a timely birdie at the 53rd hole on Saturday. She made two bogeys on day three, and followed each with a par-three birdie on the subsequent hole. Who knows what that means, beyond an ability to recover quickly and forget transgression with immediacy. Yang has totaled 10 birdies (3-4-3) over the first three days of competition. She isn’t harvesting the stroke-savers in bushels, but she is also avoiding large numbers of bogeys and others.

This is the prize recipe, the winning formula, for major championships. The prescription for Sunday is written, and one more opportunity for Amy to collect the elixir has arrived. She has played the outward nine in par figures or better each day. If she is able to secure one more, she should head to the stretch with the lead.

2. Here comes Lilia

With the torrid six months of 2024 Korda, the achievements of Lilia Vu fell away from the public eye. It didn’t help that she was away from competition, recuperating from injury. Lilia Vu was a top-ranked amateur before training on the Epson and LPGA circuits. She is one of the world’s best now, with two major titles in her dossier. On Saturday, she was the best player on the course, and another performance like that one will be hard to restrain by her competition.

Vu began with a stumble on Thursday, posting three-over par. She began to make up ground on Friday with 70, and climbed back into contention on Saturday, with a six-birdie 68. The difference between her round and Yang’s was a pair of birdies. She’ll need more than that pair of birdies to summit Sahalee on Sunday, but another six stroke-savers on day four will provide the chance.

3. Sarah and Lexi have work to do

Sarah Schmelzel and Lexi Thompson entered round three with hopes of making a statement. The microphone turned off for both. Schmelzel doubled her two birdies with four bogeys, while Thompson made four bogeys that she could not afford, against three birdies. Both golfers will need the round of their lives on Sunday to hold off Vu and chase down Yang.

Fairways and greens is wished subconsciously as we pass fellow competitors on our way to different points on the course. It’s such a simple form of encouragement, but it will define the final day at the 2024 PGA Championship. If either Schmelzel or Thompson is able to reach 15 or more greens in regulation figures, she will find herself in contention. The putts will fall, and the finish line will reveal itself.

4. Could it be Lauren or Miyu?

Logic and wisdom say No, but logic and wisdom are not match for hope and opportunity. If Lauren Hartlage or Miyu Yamashita lifts the championship trophy (which should be called the Didrikson, or the Wright, or the Gunderson) on Sunday, it will put punctuation on the ultimate, outsider story. Neither one has a tour title to her name, and neither one has a top-ten finish in a major professional event. That’s the point where hope and opportunity need to knock.

Hartlage has posted consecutive 69s, after opening with 73. Yamashita has been under par each day, with 71-70-70. That’s some terrific golf for players with games suited to Sahalee. For the record, Sunday at a major is like none of the first three rounds. What Lauren and Miyu encounter on day four, paired with Amy Yang in the final game, will demand something they haven’t faced. It’s called, simply, the next step.

5. Prediction Time!

The penultimate game features Lilia Vu and Sarah Schmelzel, and welcomes Caroline Inglis to the conversation. Inglis had her hiccough on Friday, when she dug but one birdie out of the round. Saturday brought a pair of birdies and a par-five eagle, and moved her to within four shots of the leader.

On Sunday, I predict that Inglis will duplicate Pajaree Anannarukarn’s hole-in-one, and that she’ll hole her tee ball on the par-three fifth hole. With that sort of start, Inglis will reach 66 on the day, an entirely-unexpected score, and will sneak past the field to claim her first LPGA and major titles.

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