Lookback: Amy Yang's Dream Deferred Came True at KPMG

There are only two numbers that tell the tale of Amy Yang's 2024 milestone major victory at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington—75 and 34.

It took her 75 tries to capture her first major last season at the KPMG Women's PG Champions. At 34 years old, Yang became the oldest major winner on the LPGA since Angela Stanford won The Amundi Evian Championship in 2018 at age 40. Yang's victory also marked the most starts before a player’s first major win since Stanford won hers in her 76th major start.

Amy Yang of South Korea poses with the trophy after winning the 2024 KPMG Women's PGA Championship. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

In recent years, professional golf (especially women's) has been skewing younger and younger. It feels like the teens and 20-somethings are becoming increasingly better and winning sooner rather than later in their careers.

The average age of an LPGA Tour winner in 2024 was 25.5 years old. In 2023, the average was 25.95, down from 27.32 in 2022. For women, the peak of their careers comes faster than men. The average age of golf’s top 10 male players is 30.9 compared to 25.6 for the top 10 women, and none are north of 30 years old.

That said, more and more players are retiring before they hit their mid-30s. The topic of early retirement for female golfers has floated around over the past year or so, especially after 13 athletes retired from playing full time on the LPGA in 2024, sixth of which 34 or younger...the same age as Yang.

Why is this? It's is biological? Maybe. But to put it as simple as possible, it feels like life just gets in the way. It's a common struggle for so many female professional athletes—the challenge of if or when one should bow out of their careers to enter the next chapter.

Each person is different but there's something to be said about a player, who's been grinding on tour since 2008 to come into a major week, for the 75th time, competing against a cohort of golfers nearly a decade younger than her at a course that's notoriously tight (players call Sahalee, "Sa-hallway" btw).

It wasn't easy. Only 13 players finished under-par for the week, and Yang had to fend them off, one by one. She began her final round at the 2024 KPMG Women's PGA Championship at 7-under with a two-shot lead. It was a day of ping pong, with Yang dropping shots occasionally and rallying back with chip-ins and birdied putts.

Amy Yang of South Korea hits out of a greenside bunker on the ninth hole during the final round of the 2024 KPMG Women's PGA Championship.(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

On the final stretch, she'd par the 14th and 15th holes before bogeying 16, and then Yang hit her tee shot in the water to ultimately double bogey the 17th.

It was a shaky stretch to the finish line, but Yang found her nerve despite the late fumble, and with a three shot lead heading into the final hole she managed to hit walk off with a two-putt par to claim her first major title.

Doused in champagne, with a tearful smile on her face, Yang said after her win, "I always wanted to win a major, and I came close several times, and I started doubting myself if I ever going to win a major before I retire because I've been on Tour quite a while. I am so grateful and very, very happy to win a major."

It's the greatest sigh of relief. Knowing that the years of hard work and dedication have paid off.

Seventy-five starts. Thirty-four years old. It's never too late. Your timeline is your own—Amy Yang is a testament to what happens when you never let off the gas.

She returns to KPMG this week in hopes to defend her title, but she has nothing left to prove, she's a major champion and no one can take that away.