Ryu Hae-ran wins maiden LPGA major after injury layoff and historic comeback

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, June 30 (Yonhap) -- After finishing as the runner-up in a tournament in Ohio in mid-May, South Korean LPGA star Ryu Hae-ran decided to take some time off to heal her nagging abdominal injury.

She returned home and did not touch her clubs for three weeks. She then practiced for a couple of weeks and returned to action last week at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship in Minnesota, the third major tournament of the season.

Ryu, world No. 7, says she asked herself whether it was a wise thing to do: coming back from an injury layoff at a major, rather than a regular tournament. However, it ended up being a great decision, as she won the championship for her maiden LPGA major.

Ryu finished at 13-under 275 at Hazeltine National Golf Club to beat countrywoman Yoon Ina by two shots.

"This still feels like a dream," Ryu said with a smile on a video call with South Korean media Tuesday. "Honestly, my goal was not to win the tournament. Because I took about a month off, I just wanted to get my feel back on the course. At first, I regretted it a little bit and wondered if I should have come back the week before. But I knew the major championship is difficult for everyone, not just me, and so I figured I had nothing to lose."

Ryu said being away from competitive golf for this long in the middle of a season was "a new experience" for her, because she only takes time off during the winter offseason.

"I would be lying if I said I was not worried about such a long break," Ryu said. "But my coach reminded me that I have been playing golf my whole life and taking three weeks off will not change anything. He said I just needed to work hard for two weeks and there would be no problem. I learned that rest is really important."

Ryu had an inauspicious start to the tournament, shooting a one-over 73 while taking 34 putts to get around the par-72 Hazeltine National Golf Club. She was 10 strokes behind Yoon, the opening-round leader.

Ryu used a new putter for the first round but went back to her old putter to begin the second round, where she shot a bogey-free 64 and needed just 26 putts. That trusted putter kept Ryu in front down the stretch in the final round, as she closed out her victory with six straight pars.

Ryu said this was not the first time she had switched her clubs midtournament and she had taken two putters to Hazeltine "just in case."

"It was not that I had played poorly with the old putter. I was just curious how the new putter would work in a tournament because I liked the feel of it while I was practicing back in Korea," Ryu said. "But I failed to convert so many birdie chances with the new one and I did not think twice about going back to the old one.

"But it is never the putter's fault. It is all on the player," she said with a laugh. "My parents said the next time I think about switching putters, they will do everything in their power to stop me."

Her improved putting, in addition to her typically solid ball-striking, helped Ryu stage a historic comeback. She became the first LPGA player in 60 years to come back to win a major after being down by 10 or more shots in the opening round.

"When I first heard about the record, I was absolutely stunned," Ryu said. "It still sounds like something that another golfer has done, not me."

Ryu received US$1.95 million in the winner's prize money, the third-highest figure on the tour this season behind the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship ($4 million) and the U.S. Women's Open ($2.5 million).

Asked how she will treat herself with the big check, Ryu smiled and said, "I bought a new car while I was in Korea."

"My parents told me since I spent so much on the car, I now had to go back on the tour and earn some money again," Ryu added. "So the car ended up being the gift that I gave myself beforehand."

With her major breakthrough, Ryu, the 2023 LPGA Rookie of the Year, has notched at least one win in each of her first four seasons on the tour. She said she is not going to put too much pressure on herself to add to her win total.

"Since the start of my pro career back in Korea, I have won at least one tournament every year. And I feel pretty comfortable now because I took care of that streak still relatively early in the year, and at such a big event, too," Ryu said. "For now, I want to savor this victory and have fun the rest of the season, instead of worrying about winning again."