Ruoning Yin capped a scintillating week in her hometown, shooting a 64 to win the Buick LPGA Shanghai and set the tournament scoring record.
Yin made the Qizhong Garden Golf Club course her personal playground with rounds of 70-66-63-64 for a 25-under 263. She entered play Sunday one stroke behind rookie Mao Saigo of Japan, whose 71 in the final round left her six strokes back and in a tie for second with South Korea’s Sei Young Kim (68).
Paired in the final group, Yin tied Saigo at 18-under with a birdie on hole No. 1. Another birdie at the fifth hole gave her a one-shot lead at the turn.
But the Shanghai native wouldn’t be caught. She recorded six birdies on the back nine in a dominant showing to win her fourth career LPGA event and pocket $315,000.
Back-to-back birdies on the final two holes resulted in her career-best 72-hole score. Her 263 obliterated the tournament scoring record of 272, set by Danielle Kang in 2019.
“It’s amazing to be able to win at home,” Yin said. “This tournament really mean a lot to me, and to be able to have this trophy, to keep this trophy in China it’s just, I mean, phenomenal.”
Saigo couldn’t muster any momentum. A birdie on No. 8 followed a bogey on the previous hole, and she didn’t birdie again until No. 17.
Her top-10 finish was her seventh of the season without a victory.
Kim, who led after the first round, was three shots off to begin the day and rang up six birdies and two bogeys. She now has three top-10 finishes in her four appearances in Shanghai.
Yealimi Noh shot a 68 to finish fourth at 18-under.
“Very solid week. My best finish of the year, so it’s been really nice,” she said. “I just hit it really well, which was really surprising and I was grateful for, because I had some back problems coming into the week.”
Hye-Jin Choi shot 62 to move from 26th place to a tie for fifth, and she tied the course-record for 18 holes, set in the first round by Kim. Joining her in the T5 was Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand.
–Field Level Media
