Angel Yin knows how to accessorize.

Three years after Yin wore a pair of black sunglasses and a t-shirt emblazoned with Deion Sanders’ face while accepting the $1 million prize for winning the AON Risk Reward Challenge, the American was sporting a different set of shades on Saturday - a $10 pair she scrounged up in Singapore after she lost her old ones.

“If you play good, they pay good,” Sanders has been famous for saying.

There weren’t more perfect words to describe Yin’s achievement in 2023, and they seemed just as appropriate three years later as Yin played her way up the leaderboard with a round of 68 on Saturday at the HSBC Women’s World Championship.

Sporting her new shades, which Yin credited for helping to keep her cool in the sweltering 95-degree temperatures at Sentosa Golf Club, the American sizzled with three consecutive birdies on holes Nos. 3-6 to jumpstart her day. She added three more birdies on her inward nine, offset by two bogeys, and needed just 26 putts to propel herself up the leaderboard. Yin sits just one back of co-leaders Minjee Lee and Hannah Green.

“Good golf and good luck,” Yin said about the key to her success through 54-holes in Singapore. “Honestly, there's nothing much you can do about it. There's a lot of instances today where it was like one hole, I made this unbelievable up-and-down. That's skill and luck to me.”

There’s a lot of hard work that goes into that, too. And Yin has been putting in plenty of that. Yin failed to crack the top 30 on the LPGA Tour in her first two starts of the year, settling for a tie for 37th at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and a tie for 48 at the Honda LPGA Thailand. But this week, Yin says all aspects of her game are starting to work for her at the same time, particularly her ball striking and her putting.

“I think it's just very straightforward. You've got to hit it well, putt it well, that's it. Greens are massive here. So you have to really be able to pick good targets, but it's also tricky because there's a lot of fallouts,” Yin said after her round on Saturday. “I've been hitting it good and I've been putting it better. I think putting it better has been the biggest improvement to be honest but also hitting it. So it's all coming together better and scoring well, too.”

Yin has been working on herself, too, in an effort to try and not just play better but to also combat the intense temperatures she’s been playing in during the Tour’s swing through Asia. Yin says she’s been doing Pilates and working with a physio this week to try and keep her body loose. Yin admits to probably not stretching as much as she should and is relieved to have some help from her physio this week given the high temperatures.

“Without my physio this week, I wouldn't be able to walk. So do that and just hang out and try to cool off,” Yin said about her post-round plan on Saturday, adding that her physio has been doing dry-needling to her back. “My body's really tight. So I think that's resulting in a lot of tightness, which creates a lot of pain and restriction, and we've been working a lot on that. It's obviously hot out, too. So it helps muscles relax, but I think that's the biggest reason to be honest.”

Sunday, if Yin can stay cool and keep her clubs hot, she’ll have a chance to chase down a pair of major champions in Lee and Green to win for the third time on the LPGA Tour. Her first two victories came in Shanghai and Thailand where temperatures have been known to soar.

And what would it take for Yin to get it done?

“Get lucky and get good,” she said about her final round game plan.

On what will no-doubt be a steamy Sunday in Singapore, Yin will be found rocking her shades under an umbrella, trying to stay as cool as she can, while seeking to sport the ultimate accessory on Sunday afternoon - the trophy.

Angel Yin Sizzles with a Cool Round of 68 to Sit One Back in Singapore

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