Haeran Ryu was so far back after Thursday’s first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship—10 shots with an opening 73—that she changed her putter in the middle of a major.
Then, she made history.
The 25-year-old South Korean thrived with her new (old) flat stick, methodically working her way back into contention on Friday (64) and Saturday (68) at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. Come Sunday, she was pumping her fist a plenty, one of four different leaders on a day that started ominously for the entire field.
By late afternoon Ryu took the lead for good on the back nine. And after holing a one-footer for par and a two-shot victory on the 18th hole, she rejoiced with a smile and a laugh. A two-under-par 70 gave her a 13-under 275 total and left her the second player in women’s golf to rally from 10 or more shots back after 18 holes to win a major (and the first since 1964).
“It feels like a dream, and I cannot trust it right now. It felt like a dream and that’s why I laughed a lot on the last hole,” Ryu said. “And then a lot of players waiting for me next to the green and I saw the Amy [Yang] is there, so she’s like, ‘Let’s go, Haeran, with the two bottles of champagne.”
After that first round, the 12th-ranked player in the world surely couldn’t have imagined hoisting the trophy and being doused with champagne; her win probability was just .2 percent. And, surely, she wasn’t aware of what Carol Mann did at the 1964 Women’s Western Open. Mann started that major with an 83 in the first round at Scenic Hills C.C. in Pensacola, Fla., 10 back of Ruth Jessen, only to go on and beat Jessen after 72 holes by … wait for it … two shots.
But Ryu, putting in a Scotty Cameron putter she had used when finishing second in the LPGA’s Cincinnati stop, shot the low round of the day Friday and then tied for the low round of the day. She led by one shot heading into the final round, the third time she led a major after 54 holes.
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Sunday didn’t get off to a good start for anybody, a 3½-hour delay from a storm requiring everybody to bring a little extra patience with them. With three holes left, Ryu led by three shots, easing to her fourth career LPGA title, with victory in each of her first four seasons on the LPGA Tour. The last player to accomplish that was Jin Young Ko from 2017-2020.
The victory came with an impressive payday, as the 2023 LPGA Rookie of the Year grabbed $1.95 million from the $13 million purse, an all-time LPGA record.
History made by Ryu meant history denied for World No. 1 Nelly Korda. Seeking a third straight major win after having won the Chevron Championship in April and U.S. Women’s Open last month, Korda’s putter had other ideas on Saturday, leaving her four off the lead with 18 holes to play. It continued early Sunday, a missed six-foot putt on the first hole dropping her six back. While the 27-year-old American star battled to pull within two shots on the back nine, she couldn’t get closer, shooting a closing two-over 73 and finishing seven back of Ryu in a tie for eighth. The LPGA Hall of Fame, which she would’ve gotten earned a place in with a victory, will have to wait.
“You guys made that such a big thing. I didn’t think about that, no,” Korda said of winning three straight majors. “I was kind of disappointed in the way that I played this week, not that I came up short, really. I was just thinking about the way that I played, not like the realistic big picture that everyone is talking about.”
Andrew Wevers
While Korda was the player many hoped would be victorious Sunday, she was not among the four who held the lead at one point during the final round. Ina Yoon shot a scorching nine-under 63 in the first round, which was the lowest round in the history of the Women’s PGA Championship. Her three-over 75 in the third round took her out of the lead but she still had a strong showing in the final round with a two-under 70 and finished the tournament at 11 under in solo second.
Then there was Dewi Weber, a 30-year-old from the Netherlands who was playing in just her third major championship of her career. Her best previous major finish was a T-30 at the 2025 Chevron Championship. When she eagled No. 7 she held the solo lead, but bogeyed the next two holes. Still, she stuck around despite being the 210th ranked player in the world and having earned less than $740,000 in her career, all that and more ($752,090) by finishing T-3. She’s the first Dutch women’s golfer to finish top 10 in a major, and she will become a mom this year with her wife expecting their first child.
Canada’s Brooke Henderson was also in the mix before finishing tied for third. She had a heartwarming storyline going all week as she became an aunt to a girl named Sahalee earlier in the week. Her sister Brittany—her longtime caddie—named the baby after the place where Brooke won her first major, the 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA. Henderson hung in there with Ryu. After Ryu made a 15-foot birdie and pumped her fist on No. 10 to go up by two, Henderson, playing with Ryu in the final group, made a 10-foot birdie to stay within one. But Henderson bogeyed the 14th and that was the difference as Ryu didn’t make any mistakes down the stretch.
Kate McShane
Ryu’s performance was made even more impressive by the fact that she was coming off recent surgery that caused her to miss six weeks of competition, including the U.S. Women’s Open. (She declined to say what the surgery was for.) Before that, she had finished second at the Kroger Queen City Championship in May, one of six top-10s this season.
Perhaps, the rest was a good thing, and she got to hang out with her mom in Korea. Her mom was there Sunday to watch her daughter win her first major.
“On the first round I just thought, ‘this is the comeback tournament so I just want to play on the weekend,” Ryu said. “But in the second round, it was amazing play because I had eight birdies and then I was bogey-free round. It just feels like a dream right now.”
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