Angel Yin’s Friday scorecard tells a tale of two rounds. Her front nine was a sparkling bogey-free affair of four birdies. The back nine? While she blasted out of a bunker at No. 13 for a birdie to briefly tie the lead at -8, she see-sawed up and down with three bogeys and another birdie over the next four holes.
“I think I played pretty good today. I was pretty happy,” said Yin, who sits tied for sixth at -6 through 36 holes in Singapore. “After my hole-out of my bunker kind of tripped a little bit, hit a few speed bumps. But it is what it is. Made three bogeys, one more than yesterday.”
It was nice to see a smile on Yin’s face, who came to the HSBC Women’s World Championship after six consecutive missed cuts and one withdrawal. Nerve pain in her left shoulder kept the 23-year-old American from competing at her best in 2021, and while the injury has healed, she admitted that having fun on the golf course has not been very easy.
“I started out end of last year at CME having like huge anxiety being on the golf course and with an injury,” said Yin, a two-time member of Team USA at the Solheim Cup. “Started out this year still having a little bit of that, no injury.”
Yin has put a deep focus on what so many golfers say but truly struggle to do – taking the game one shot at a time. By living in each moment instead of wallowing in past troubles, Yin feels she is finally making headway on recapturing the energy that makes her one of the funniest personalities on the LPGA Tour.
“Being happier on the golf course. So I think that was huge for me,” said Yin. “I know that if I have that and have a positive mindset on the golf course, there's nothing that can stop me.”
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