Women’s golf has a new world No. 1 and she’s only 20 years old
There is a new No. 1 player in women’s golf.
For just the second time in the game’s history, China is represented atop the Rolex Rankings as 20-year-old Ruoning Yin used a third-place finish Sunday at the Kroger Queen City Championship to bump American Lilia Vu. Yin is China’s first world No. 1 since Shanshan Feng achieved the feat in November 2017, holding the No. 1 position until that next April.
“I got goosebumps,” Yin told reporters Sunday. “I think, yeah, world No. 1 is the big step on the way to chasing Shanshan. Yeah, I’m just — I got brain blank right now. I don’t know what to say. … It means a lot. For me, it’s like dream come true. I think I didn’t get a lot of chances to chat with Shanshan, but I’m looking forward to going back to China and playing the Asian Games and spending more time with her.”
Yin, who now has three straight top-3 finishes on the LPGA following her KPMG Women’s PGA victory earlier this year, is the 18th different player to reach world No. 1 and the fifth this season. She also is the third youngest world No. 1 behind Atthaya Thitikul and Lydia Ko.