Haeran Ryu opened the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with a 73. It left her tied for 70th, ten shots behind Ina Yoon, who had just set a tournament record with a 63. Four days later Ryu held the trophy.
She finished at 13-under 275 at Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minnesota, two strokes clear of Yoon. It was her first major, and nobody had come back from that far behind after a first round to win this event. The last player to recover from ten back to win any women’s major was Carol Mann, at the 1964 Women’s Western Open.
“I mean, it just feels like a dream right now,” Ryu, a 25-year-old South Korean, said.
The climb
Her own account of Thursday night is short. “I just thought like this is the comeback tournament,” she said. “I just want to play on the weekend.”
Friday brought a 64. Saturday brought a 68, which put her at 11-under and one stroke in front going into Sunday.
Sunday began badly. Ryu made three bogeys in her first five holes and dropped to 9-under, level with Brooke Henderson and a shot behind Dewi Weber, who had eagled the seventh.
She did not drop another shot. Over her last 13 holes she played 4-under, and the swing came at the ninth and 10th. She and Henderson each holed from about 14 feet at the par-4 10th, Ryu first, which kept her a stroke ahead at 12-under. A birdie at the 12th, after an approach to 14 feet, made it two. Six pars finished the job.
Others slipped. Henderson bogeyed the 14th after a wayward drive. Weber dropped shots late. Yoon, who had set the record for the lowest 36-hole score to par, made too many pars on the back nine when she needed birdies.
Ryu hit 10 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens on Sunday, and for the week she led the field in Strokes Gained: Total, Greens in Regulation and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green.
The field behind her
Yoon ended at 11-under 277, her best result on the LPGA Tour. “Haeran played unbelievable today,” she said. Henderson and Weber shared third at 10-under 278. For Weber it was the best major finish by a player from the Netherlands, and for Henderson a ninth career top five in a major.
Nelly Korda arrived chasing a third straight major title and tied for eighth. Her streak of top-10 finishes in official stroke-play events to open 2026 stands at nine.
The winner’s check was $1.95 million from a record $13 million purse. It was Ryu’s fourth LPGA Tour victory. Only six players before her had won in each of their first four seasons on tour since 1990: Karrie Webb, Grace Park, Yani Tseng, Henderson, Sei Young Kim and Jin Young Ko.
“I’m so happy I got the major title and then now, at the next tournament, they will introduce me (as) major champion Haeran Ryu,” she said.
Nicole Felce, an assistant pro at Countryside CC in Clearwater, Florida, took Low PGA of America and LPGA Professional honors at 11-over 299. She was the only member of the eight-player Corebridge Financial Team to make the weekend.
