HSBC Women’s World Championship: Yin ready to shake off rusty start, says thinking about Olympics ‘gives me goose bumps’
- Yin Ruoning making her debut in tournament at Sentosa Golf Club with one eye on the summer and the Paris Games
- The 21-year-old heads a new generation of talent emerging from China’s growing junior golf programme
China’s Yin Ruoning makes her debut at the HSBC Women’s World Championship on Thursday, still looking to recapture the form that propelled her to world No 1 last year.
The 21-year-old’s slow start to 2024 has been characterised by inconsistent performances, with below-par rounds invariably followed by ones two or three shots over, and vice versa.
A tie for 19th at the season-opening Tournament of Champions was followed by a 23rd place at the LPGA Drive on Championship, and a finish outside the top 50 at the Honda LPGA Thailand on Sunday.
By her own admission, the world No 4, who claimed her first major at the Women’s PGA Championship last June, is “still a little bit rusty from the off season, and just trying to work on getting better every day”.
Not that she has much time to find her game. The year’s first major, The Chevron Championship, is just over the horizon and the Paris Olympics beckon this summer.
Yin and compatriot Lin Xiyu, who is also playing this week at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore, are both expected to be part of China’s delegation for the Games.
“It definitely means a lot,” Yin said. “Especially this year, as it is my first Olympic experience. So, I will try to enjoy it, but it [the thought] already gives me goose bumps.”
Yin’s elevation to world No 1 last year made her just the second Chinese golfer to reach the top of the game, after Feng Shanshan in 2017, and both she and Lin represent a new generation of talent that has emerged from a burgeoning youth programme in the country.
Success has had “good and some bad” aspects for Yin, who said she had been recognised during a trip to her mum’s hometown, and did not relish the prospect of a repeat experience.
“We would walk on the street and some just random guys just came up and said, ‘is that Ruoning? ‘is that Ruoning? I grabbed my mom, and [told her] ‘don’t look back and just go’.”
Last year, some 4,000 children passed through the same CGA-HSBC China Junior Golf Programme where Yin honed her skills, and more than 124,000 have done so since its inception in 2007.
With the likes of Yu Liu, who alongside Yin and Lin won team bronze at the Asian Games last September, also plying her trade on the LPGA Tour, there is plenty of evidence that “China golf has a bright future”.
“Last year, when I played the Shanghai Buick, a lot of junior golfers came up and said they played golf because of us,” Yin said. “I think that kind of motivated me, and I can see that they have the passion.”
Competing against the best in her age group drove Yin’s competitive spirit, and the fact she did not win the junior finals still rankles.
“I always finished second, that always gets me,” she said. “I wanted to win the HSBC Junior Final, and I wanted to win that so badly, and every time I finished second.”
That winning mentality will come in handy again this week, when she takes on the likes of world No 1 Lilia Vu, who she is grouped with in the opening round, world No 3 Celine Boutier and two-time defending champion Ko Jin-young.
After finishing tied for 20th in Thailand, Ko is hoping to become the first player to win three consecutive titles at the tournament dubbed “Asia’s major”.
The world No 6 from South Korea won both the 2022 and 2023 editions by just two shots, and expects another closely fought contest as she aims for a 16th LPGA Tour title.
“There are a lot of good players in the field and everyone is looking to win this tournament, including myself,” the 28-year-old said. “I cannot control how they play but the only thing I can do is to try my best and see what happens from there.”
The Tour completes a three-tournament Asian swing in China next week at the Blue Bay tournament on Hainan Island.
