It’s the third year of Angel Yin’s LPGA career, and an important lesson had broken through for her at the Country Club of Charleston, where she finished in second matching her career best finish at the U.S. Women’s Open.
“Par is a good score. It’s slowly sinking in, but I still want birdies and eagles,” Yin told LPGA.com.
Explaining in her post round media scrum that she can reach most of the par 5s in two, the four of them are averaging 545 yards off the tee at Hazeltine National, requiring an extra level of care.
“To not go for par 5s if it looks dangerous. There’s caution signs around it, you read that, you take it to heart.”
It’s a balance for the 20-year-old, as she is one of the longest hitters on tour, sitting in second place in driving distance on the LPGA Tour. She averages 282 yards off the tee, with Anne van Dam’s 285 yards ahead of her.
Being so far off the tee gives her plenty of opportunities to be aggressive, but she showed an ability to maintain that in the face of difficult conditions.
In her past five major rounds, she’s had two bogeys to nine birdies on the par 5s. In her opening round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, she had three birdies and no bogeys to bolster her one-under round.
The par 5s were played just a touch over par today, giving Yin three strokes on the field with her approach.
That experience is also paying off outside the ropes. The 20-year old just launched Yin Academy, her own golf school, over the weekend in Southern California.
As for the remainder of the tournament, Yin’s keeping it simple.
“I’m hitting it good, making birdies, hope to do it for the rest of the week.”
Yin tees off at 2:11 P.M. Friday off the 1st tee for her second round.
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