Ruoning Yin started her day well and ended it even better.
With a birdie on the first hole of her final round at the Buick LPGA Shanghai, the Chinese golfer was hot from the get-go on and never cooled off, shooting an 8-under 64 and cruising to victory in her home country. Her scorching round, which included birdies on six of her last eight holes, pushed her to 25-under for the event, six shots clear of runner-up Mao Saigo of Japan, who began the day with a one-shot lead. Sei Young Kim of South Korea finished in a tie with Saigo in second place.
The win was the fourth career LPGA title for the 22-year-old Yin, a precocious talent who captured the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and briefly held the top spot in the Women’s World Golf Rankings at the end of last season.
She was not the only golfer to go low on Sunday. On a soft and vulnerable Qizhong Garden Golf Club, Hye-Jin Choi of South Korea carded a 62, the low round of the tournament, to finish fifth, while Yealimi Noh of the United States posted a 67 to place fourth, the highest showing for an American in the field.
Nelly Korda, the top-ranked player in the women’s game, did not make the trip to Shanghai. Neither did another big name, Lydia Ko. Both Korda and Ko are slated to be back in action next week at the BMW Ladies Championship, in South Korea.