There’s a new top dog in women’s golf.
Ruoning Yin, the reigning KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner, officially became No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings after her solo third finish at the Queen City Championship this past weekend. Her 14-under total left her two shots out of a playoff with Charley Hull and Minjee Lee.
“I got goosebumps,” Yin said. “I think, yeah, world No. 1 is the big step on the way to chasing Shanshan [Feng]. Yeah, I’m just — I got brain blank right now. I don’t know what so say.”
The 20-year-old is just the second player from China to reach world No. 1 in the women’s game. Shanshan Feng, the 2012 Women’s PGA winner, sat atop the Rolex Rankings from November 2017 to April 2018.
“It means a lot,” Yin said. “For me it’s like dream come true. I think I didn’t get a lot of chance to chat with Shanshan, but I’m looking forward to back to China and play the Asian Game and spend more time with her.”
Yin, who needed a top-four result at the Queen City Championship to overtake American Lilia Vu as the No. 1-ranked player, fired rounds of 68, 66, 73 and 67 for a 274 total in Cincinnati. Her solo third finish is her third top-three finish in a row and her fourth in her last five starts.
With the result, Yin becomes the 18th different player to reach No. 1 in the world. She is also the fifth different player to hold the No. 1 spot this season.
At the age of 20, Yin is the third player in history to hold the No. 1 spot at the age of 20 or younger, joining Atthaya Titikul and Lydia Ko.
