Amy Yang, also known as Yang Hee-Young (Korean: 양희영, born 28 July 1989) is a South Korean professional golfer, currently playing on the United States–based LPGA Tour and on the Ladies European Tour (LET).

Amy Yang
양희영
Personal information
Full nameYang Hee-Young
Born (1989-07-28) 28 July 1989 (age 35)
Ilsan, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Sporting nationality South Korea
ResidenceOrlando, Florida, U.S.
Career
CollegeNone
Turned professional2006
Current tour(s)LPGA Tour (joined 2008)
Ladies European Tour (LET) (joined 2006)
Professional wins9
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour6
Ladies European Tour3
LPGA of Korea Tour2
Best results in LPGA major championships
(wins: 1)
Chevron ChampionshipT4: 2012, 2023
Women's PGA C'shipWon: 2024
U.S. Women's Open2nd: 2012, 2015
Women's British Open4th/T4: 2011, 2023
Evian ChampionshipT8: 2015
Achievements and awards
Race to the CME Globe2023

Amateur career

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Yang began playing golf at age 10 in South Korea and moved to the Gold Coast of Australia with her family at age 15 to pursue golf more seriously.

In 2005, she won the Queensland Amateur Championship, the youngest winner ever of that championship. In 2006, while still an amateur she won the ANZ Ladies Masters on the Ladies European Tour (LET), making her the youngest winner ever on the LET at age 16 years, 192 days (a record later broken by 14-year-old amateur Atthaya Thitikul in July 2017).

Professional career

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After her win in at the ANZ Ladies Masters, the LET offered Yang a special three-year membership exemption beginning in 2006 as a 17-year-old, providing she traveled with her parents until she turned 18. She recorded four top-20 finishes in 2007 while still attended high school.

Yang attended LPGA Tour qualifying school in the fall of 2007 and obtained conditional status on the LPGA Tour as well for 2008.

In June 2008, Yang claimed her second LET win with a four-shot win at the Ladies German Open. Upon winning, Yang announced that she was donating her entire prize of $61,260 to victims of a recent earthquake in China.[1]

That December, she returned to the LPGA Qualifying School, this time earning full playing status for 2009 by finishing second in the five-round event.[2]

On 20 October 2013, Yang won her first LPGA Tour event at the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship. She birdied the first sudden-death playoff hole to defeat Hee-Kyung Seo.[3]

On 1 March 2015, Yang won her second LPGA tournament at the Honda LPGA Thailand, a title she won for a second and third time in 2017 and 2019 respectively.[4]

On 24 June 2024, Yang won her first major title at the Women's PGA Championship in her 75th major start.

Personal life

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Yang lives with her father, Joon Mo (James), mother, Sun Hee (Sunny), and younger brother, Steven. In the fall of 2007 the family moved from Australia to Orlando, Florida.[5]

Professional wins (10)

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LPGA Tour wins (6)

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Legend
Major championships (1)
Other LPGA Tour (5)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up Winner's
share ($)
1 20 Oct 2013 LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship 67-71-69=207 −9 Playoff   Hee-kyung Seo 285,000
2 1 Mar 2015 Honda LPGA Thailand 67-66-71-69=273 −15 2 strokes   Mirim Lee
  Stacy Lewis
  Yani Tseng
225,000
3 26 Feb 2017 Honda LPGA Thailand (2) 66-67-65-68=266 −22 5 strokes   Ryu So-yeon 240,000
4 24 Feb 2019 Honda LPGA Thailand (3) 69-66-66-65=266 −22 1 stroke   Minjee Lee 240,000
5 19 Nov 2023 CME Group Tour Championship 68-63-64-66=261 −27 3 strokes   Nasa Hataoka
  Alison Lee
2,000,000
6 23 Jun 2024 Women's PGA Championship 70-68-71-72=281 −7 3 strokes   Lilia Vu
  Ko Jin-young
  Miyū Yamashita
1,560,000

LPGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2011 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship   Yani Tseng Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2 2013 LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship   Hee-Kyung Seo Won with birdie on first extra hole

Ladies European Tour (3)

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KLPGA Tour (2)

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Major championships

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Wins (1)

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Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
2024 Women's PGA Championship 2 shot lead −7 (70-68-71-72=281) 3 strokes   Ko Jin-young
  Lilia Vu
  Miyū Yamashita

Results timeline

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Results not in chronological order.

Tournament 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Chevron Championship T27 T19 T4 T32 10 T29 T14 T8 CUT T26 T15 T50 T39 T4 T46
U.S. Women's Open T50 CUT T34 T5 T10 2 T50 4 2 T3 T8 CUT CUT CUT T54 CUT T33 CUT
Women's PGA Championship T9 T14 T12 CUT T5 CUT T26 7 T4 T11 T21 T37 T9 CUT T36 1
The Evian Championship ^ T67 T54 T8 T14 T48 T49 T44 NT T10 T19 T36 T63
Women's British Open T60LA CUT CUT T5 4 T26 CUT T21 T36 T30 T35 CUT T51 CUT CUT T4 T37

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013.

  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
"T" = tied

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Chevron Championship 0 0 0 2 4 7 15 14
U.S. Women's Open 0 2 1 5 7 7 18 12
Women's PGA Championship 1 0 0 3 6 10 16 14
The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 2 4 11 11
Women's British Open 0 0 0 3 3 4 17 11
Totals 1 2 1 13 22 32 77 61
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 15 (2014 Evian – 2017 Evian)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice)

LPGA Tour career summary

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Year Events
Played
Cuts
Made
Wins 2nds 3rds Top 10s Best
finish
Earnings
($)
Money
list rank
Scoring
Average
Rank
2006 2 2 0 0 0 0 T52 n/a n/a 74.38 n/a
2007 2 2 0 0 0 0 T50 17,100 n/a 74.38 n/a
2008 7 5 0 0 0 1 T9 60,834 129 72.46 n/a
2009 23 19 0 0 1 2 T3 302,816 45 71.68 29
2010 22 22 0 1 0 6 2 765,929 14 71.09 13
2011 22 20 0 2 0 7 2 912,160 10 71.12 10
2012 22 20 0 1 0 5 2 844,305 13 71.04 12
2013 22 19 1 0 0 6 1 719,481 18 70.76 13
2014 21 18 0 1 0 5 T2 618,180 25 71.60 37
2015 23 21 1 2 0 10 1 1,438,312 6 70.51 10
2016 22 22 0 2 4 9 T2 1,152,686 13 70.09 7
2017 23 22 1 1 0 6 1 991,855 18 70.35 20
2018 23 19 0 0 3 8 3 809,492 24 70.24 13
2019 23 21 1 0 2 6 1 941,956 17 70.02 12
2020 13 10 0 0 0 0 T12 171,438 66 71.93 63
2021 22 16 0 0 1 6 T3 548,544 37 70.73 34
2022 20 14 0 0 0 3 T4 439,097 58 70.42 24
2023 20 16 1 0 1 5 1 3,165,834 2 70.49 24
2024 22 15 1 0 0 2 1 1,965,409 12 71.31 56
Totals^ 350 (2008) 299 (2008) 6 10 12 87 1 15,848,328 6

Official as of 2024 season[7][8][9]
* Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.

World ranking

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Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

Year World
ranking
Source
2013 15 [10]
2014 23 [11]
2015 8 [12]
2016 12 [13]
2017 15 [14]
2018 25 [15]
2019 20 [16]
2020 44 [17]
2021 60 [18]
2022 82 [19]
2023 16 [20]
2024 5^ [21]

^ As of 24 June 2024

Team appearances

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Professional

References

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  1. ^ "Wie shoots 67, but Yang wins tournament". The Globe and Mail. Associated Press. 2 June 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
  2. ^ "Wie ties for seventh with 2-over 74; Lewis is medalist with 3-under 69". ESPN. Associated Press. 7 December 2008. Archived from the original on 9 December 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
  3. ^ Amy Yang takes maiden LPGA title on home soil in playoff
  4. ^ Yang wins the 2015 Honda LPGA Thailand
  5. ^ "Amy Yang sets course record to take lead after 3rd round of Ladies German Open". International Herald Tribune. Associated Press. 31 May 2008. Archived from the original on 3 June 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
  6. ^ Hellsten, CM (September 2001). "Annikas avsked, Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika" [Annika's farewell, Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 10/2008. p. 98. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  7. ^ "Amy Yang results". LPGA. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  8. ^ "Amy Yang stats". LPGA. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  9. ^ "Career Money". LPGA. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  10. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 30 December 2013.
  11. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 29 December 2014.
  12. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 28 December 2015.
  13. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2016.
  14. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 25 December 2017.
  15. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 31 December 2018.
  16. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 30 December 2019.
  17. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 28 December 2020.
  18. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 27 December 2021.
  19. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2022.
  20. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 25 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 24 June 2024.
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