Seeking elusive first major title, Amy Yang leads by two at KPMG Women's PGA Championship

SAMMAMISH, Wash. - No player at Sahalee Country Club this week has done a better job of navigating its tight fairways and challenging greens than 34-year-old LPGA veteran Amy Yang.

Yang has five victories on the LPGA Tour and multiple top 5 finishes in majors, but she's never had a major championship triumph throughout her 15-year career on tour. Two second-place finishes in the U.S. Women's Open, and a victory in last December's CME Group Tour Championship serve as the best results on her resume.

But Yang has made just three bogeys through 54 holes at Sahalee – including a bogey-free 3-under 69 on Friday that moved her to the top of the leaderboard. She backed that up with a 1-under par 71 to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship on Sunday.

Yang said that the pursuit of a major championship is one reason she's still playing on the LPGA Tour well into her 30s. She'll have one of the best chances of her career on Sunday.

"I grew up watching so many great players in the past, and I saw them winning all the major championships. I dreamed about playing out here because of them. I work hard for this. It'll mean a lot, but we still got 18 more holes out there and that's a lot of golf left for major championship," Yang said after her round on Friday.

Yang mentioned Se-ri Pak, who is one of the most accomplished Korean players in LPGA history with 25 tour victories and five major titles. Yang has come close to a major title multiple times. The 2015 U.S. Women's Open at Lancaster Country Club was maybe her closest attempt. She entered the final round with a three-shot lead over Stacy Lewis, and four shots ahead of In-Gee Chun. But a 1-over par 71 from Yang, coupled with a terrific final round 66 from Chun left her a shot back in solo second place.

Yang admitted she still feels nervous in situations like these, but she hopes to follow the same game plan that has been successful all week.

My mindset for tomorrow is just like today. Like I've been really -- I did really well. Just follow my decisions, and be really disciplined about it. I'm just going to embrace the moment and not going to expect the result. Just see what's going to happen," she said.

Yang continued to excel by keeping bogeys off her scorecard. In fact, for each of her two bogeys during Saturday's round, she immediately followed it up with a birdie to erase the blemish from her car.

"Most important thing was how committed I was on each shot," Yang said. "Whenever or whatever I decide to hit, I try to not think about what's going to happen because it's very tight and playing tough out there. I just when I decide to hit, okay, let's hit this little fade off the tee. There is no doubt anything else than just hit that shot. I think I did that pretty well all through the round."

While Yang continued her steady play, most of the players that started the day near her on the leaderboard gave shots back on Saturday. Co-leader Sarah Schmelzel lost over three shots to the field putting on Saturday, the worst mark of any of the 73 players to make the cut. She hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation, but just couldn't get the ball to drop with the putter.

"Gave myself a lot of opportunities just on the green in general. Really didn't putt as well as I wanted to," Schmelzel said. "But happy that I hit it well enough on Saturday in a major, and hopefully just clean up some speed stuff on the greens before tomorrow and take it into tomorrow."

Schmelzel finished with a 2-over par 74 and sits at 4-under par, three shots back of Yang.

Lexi Thompson, Jin Young Ko, and Hinako Shibuno all finished with rounds of 73 playing out of the final two groups of the day. Playing together for the third straight day, Thompson and Ko each finished with closing birdies on the 18th to put themselves four shots back of Yang. 

"Overall, solid day," Thompson said. "I made some bogeys out there, some not-so-great shots I guess on the back nine off the tee, but made some great recovery shots and made some nice putts too. So just going to build on that. There was some tough pins out there, and of course the golf course is the golf course, so it's tough.

Thompson, 29, announced at the U.S. Women's Open last month that this will be her last full season playing on the LPGA Tour. Thompson has 15 worldwide victories and 11 on the LPGA Tour, but it's been five years since Thompson's last victory on the LPGA Tour with a couple of heartbreaks in major championships.

This could be her last, best chance to add another major title to her resume.

"I am just going to play within myself. That's all I can do," Thompson said. "Yeah, might be my last one; might not. Who knows. It's just day-by-day. Just going to go out there, embrace the fans, love the walk and see where it goes."

Shibuno rebounded from three bogeys in her first four holes with a bogey-free 2-under back nine to keep in the hunt as well.

Madeline Sagstrom's 1-over 73 have her at 1-under for the championship, and Leona Maguire struggled to a 3-over par 75 to fall back to even overall.

Lauren Hartlage followed up a stellar back nine on Friday where she made five birdies in her final seven holes with a bogey-free 3-under par 69 on Saturday to climb into a tie for second place, two shots back of Yang.

"That was a really good comeback because I had a really rough start to the beginning of the round yesterday," Hartlage said. "It could be easy to give up or say it's not my day, but I gave myself a lot of good opportunities on the back nine and was rolling my putter really well and kept that momentum into today."

Hartlage has had to fight hard just to keep her LPGA Tour card with trips back to qualifying school the last two years. She has just one top 15 finish in three years on tour, a tied for sixth at the LOTTE Championship in 2023.

But Hartlage said she's been working hard on her game recently. She didn't get into the field for either the Mizuho Americas Open or U.S. Women's Open, which gave her time to work on her game.

"I had some time off before ShopRite to kind of work on my swing, my mental game, get ready for the stretch of tournaments and it's been really paying off," Hartlage said.

A T-21 at the ShopRite two weeks ago was her best finish of the year, until a T-17 last week at the Meijer LPGA Classic topped it. Now she has a chance for her first professional victory to come in a major championship.

"I'm super excited," Hartlage said. "Never been in this position before and this is something that I dreamed about growing up as a kid, so it's really awesome to be in this position and just kind of see how it goes and learn from every day, every round.

"I don't think you're ever going to be completely comfortable out there. It's just managing your feelings and letting yourself stay in the moment and just know that -- I mean, I know I'm not going to be comfortable on the first tee tomorrow. Just accepting that and letting it play more freely out there."

Also at 5-under par is Miyu Yamashita, an 11-time winner on the LPGA of Japan Tour that is making her first start in the KPMG Women's PGA Championship this week. Yamashita has three straight rounds under par (71-70-70) to sit tied with Hartlage two shots back of Yang.

"I started playing golf when I was five, and then I've been thinking about playing on the LPGA Tour since. But now I'm just focusing on this tournament and then I just wanted to play my best tomorrow.," Yamashita said.

While several players did retreat down the leaderboard, former world No. 1 Lilia Vu delivered the round of the day with a 4-under par 68 to lead a group of chasers up the order.

Vu, who won last week at the Meijer LPGA Classic in her return to action after a two-month absence due to a back injury, had six birdies on the day to climb into red figures at 3-under par for the championship.

"I think my goal was to get better every single day this week," Vu said. "I know it's really demanding. You can't ask for too much at major. Really difficult off the tees. It's super narrow in my opinion. But I think I'm just trying to do what I can with what I have."

Vu has had to adapt her game to hit the tight corridors of Sahalee. She likes to hit a draw, but has been forced to move the ball both ways due to the demands of the golf course.

"I think I'm starting to see the shots better off the tee," Vu said. "I think you kind of have to -- this course makes you hit shots both ways, and I think that was something that I had to learn pretty early on this week. I'm able to do that right now and hopefully take that into tomorrow.

"I kind of like to stay a creature of habit with my push-draw. Can't really do that when it's ten yards of trees right here off every tee box."

The closest thing to a "hometown favorite" the tournament has might be Caroline Inglis, whose 3-under par 69 moved her into the group of five tied at 3-under par overall with Vu, Thompson, Ko and Shibuno.

Inglis in a Eugene, Ore. native and attended the University of Oregon. She now lives in Vancouver and makes Columbia-Edgewater Country Club in Portland her home course. Columbia-Edgewater is the host site for the yearly Portland Classic on the LPGA Tour.

"I think I feel a level of comfort out here. But I still think you have to like really stay focused and not fall asleep on any shot on this course especially," Inglis said.

Inglis also was one of three players to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open from the sectional qualifying site at Rainier Golf & Country Club in May, surviving a seven-hole playoff with Ssu-Cha Cheng to claim the final spot after a 43-hole day.

Inglis has played Sahalee before while in college with Oregon's golf team. She even recorded a hole-in-one on the par 3 5th hole in a practice round for a college event.

But like Hartlage, this is a position Inglis hasn't been in yet in her career. Her best finish this season is a T-31 at the Blue Bay LPGA in March. She has just one top 10 in her career, a T-10 finish at the 2018 HUGEL-JTBC LA Open. A T22 at the 2020 AIG Women's British Open is her best finish in a major.

Entering Sunday, she's tied for fifth and four shots back of the lead.

"it's obviously why I play and it's the position that I want to be in, so I think just doing the same thing that I've been doing," Inglis said. "Not trying to get fancy or do anything special. This is like why you play golf, is to be in positions like this and go out and try and win it."

Notes:

Pajaree Anannarukarn made a hole-in-one on the par-3 13th hole on Saturday from 153 yards out.

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