It is a great feeling to win. Victory brings a sense of satisfaction that allows us to go the whole hog. That’s how KPMG Women’s PGA Championship 2023 winner Ruoning Yin felt as a young girl. It drove her to become a household name today.
But when did she accomplish it and how was she inspired to play golf in the first place? What is it about the sport that drove her to greatness? To claim the title over so many other competitive female golfers, especially Rose Zhang who had taken home the Mizuho Americas Open title a few weeks before… Let’s find out.
Ruoning Yin talks about her inspiration to chase the greens
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Ever since winning the title at KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Ruoning Yin or Ronni, as she is fondly called, has become the talk of the town. Her maiden win came after only a year of being on the LPGA Tour even though the Chinese golfer went pro in 2020.
Now, with a huge accomplishment under her belt, Yin is prepared to take on the US Women’s Open with gusto. USGA took this opportunity to learn a little more about what drives the 20-year-old golfer on the course.
When asked why she started pursuing golf after years of sabbatical, Ronni shared, “There’s a summer camp in China, and my mom just said, ‘maybe you should go try it. If you go, I’ll take you to a movie.’ I was like, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ Yeah, that’s why I really started.” She was ten years and nine months old at the time.
The life-changing moment is embedded in her memory as though it was yesterday. From then on, Ronni never turned back. She played multiple sports when in school, and she says she’s a very good shooter in basketball. Aside from golf, that’s what she loves to play. So when asked why she went for pro golf instead of pro basketball, the Championship winner responded, “The first thing is because I’m too short to become a basketball player, and the second thing is I love the way — I love the feeling that I play in a tournament and compete and be the champion.”
And speaking of tournaments, Ronnie got a taste for winning at a very early age. Even if it wasn’t first place, the sense of accomplishment stuck with her. “I love the feeling of competing in a tournament because the first tournament I played is when I was — I just started to play golf for three months, and my dad just took me to a tournament. I finished third place,” the LPGA golfer said.
“But I didn’t know that until one of the tournament staff told me, and my dad was like, ‘Okay, let’s pack it up and go home.’ I was like, ‘Wait a second, I finished third place, I have a trophy.’ He goes, ‘Okay.’ I think that trophy motivated me like to chase my dream.”
Looking back, Ronni credits her parents in many ways for ending up as a pro golfer in the prestigious Ladies Professional Golfers Association. Her mother’s movie incentive and her father’s passion for golf may have resulted in her natural talent breaking all barriers.
Ronni shared a traumatic experience that almost drove her away from golf
As the US Women’s Open is about to begin, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner is in high spirits. She also reminisced about a scary incident that almost drove her away from ever picking up a club again.
Children are impressionable and Ruoning Yin was only 4 years old when she first visited the golf course with her parents. She recollected that her father may have been trying to teach her mother when Ronnie picked up a club. “He was standing behind me, and he told me, don’t swing,” she said.
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Ronnie did not heed his advice. “I did one swing anyway, and I just hit his head and he got I think four stitches. It wasn’t very fun. After that, I didn’t touch a club at all until I was 10 and a half.”
To think, the Pro golfer wouldn’t have been playing on the LPGA circuit, much less win a major championship if she hadn’t overcome that hurdle!
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Do you think Ronni can win the US Women’s Open? What do you think of the Pro golfer’s swing? Share your thoughts with us below.
Watch this story: From Nelly Korda to Atthaya Thitikul all world-class LPGA players who ruthlessly failed the majestic Baltusrol test