NAPLES, Fla. – Amy Yang battles something she calls “ego talk.” It’s the stuff she tells herself that gets in the way when the pressure is on. She dealt with it early on Sunday at the CME Group Tour Championship, when she doubted herself and wondered if the day would end with just another close call.
This time, however, Yang shut down that ego talk.
“This is very meaningful,” said Yang in her new bright blue blazer, the CME trophy by her side and a $2 million cardboard check somewhere nearby.
Yang, 34, stayed strong down the stretch mentally at Tiburon Golf Club, where she holed out for eagle on the 13th hole and birdied the last two to win by three over Alison Lee and Nasa Hataoka. It was Yang’s first LPGA title since 2019, her fifth overall, and her first on U.S. soil.
For Lee, finishing runner-up in her last three LPGA events felt bittersweet. While she’s playing the best golf of her life, that elusive first LPGA victory remains out of reach.
Good friend Megan Khang, who finally broke through with her first victory earlier this year at the CPKC Women’s Open in her 191st career start, sat in on Lee’s post-round press conference.
“This isn’t really a question,” said Khang as she took the mic, “but as a friend, I am a proud of you. You’ve been playing so good, Alison. It’s coming.”
An emotional Lee, who made her 179th career start at the CME, has credited new friend Fred Couples with helping instill the confidence she’s felt in recent months, noting that he texts her daily with words of encouragement.
“So many times I would joke around saying I’m just never going to win out here,” said Lee, who was a standout amateur player at UCLA before turning professional. “I really didn’t think I could ever do it.
“But to play the last three weeks just continuously putting the pressure on everyone on the leaderboard and putting myself in contention has just been really cool for me and been a really awesome experience.”
It wasn’t long ago that Yang, who suffered from tennis elbow after too much rock climbing, wondered if her career might come to an end earlier than expected. She also wondered how much longer she wanted to keep grinding through tour life.
Longtime coach Tony Ziegler told her life’s too short to keep playing if she wasn’t happy. She needed to make a decision.
Two weeks later, Yang came back and told him that she wanted to keep playing and she wanted to win. Ziegler repeated what he’s said to her often in recent years: “Your best golf is ahead of you.”
“Back in the day,” said Ziegler, “when she played really good golf, she had a lot of pressure and expectation, and she didn’t know how to deal with it.
“As she’s gotten older, she knows how to deal with it.”
A moment Amy Yang will never forget 🏆@CMEGroupLPGA pic.twitter.com/SrRXYrF2Kr
— LPGA (@LPGA) November 19, 2023
The woman who had a smiley face stitched on the front of her visors beamed after that final-round 66. She finished at 27-under 261 for the tournament, shattering the event’s previous record by four shots.
For a long time, Yang was always in the best-to-never-win-a-major conversation on the LPGA. With 21 top-10 finishes at the majors, including two top 5s this season, she mostly flies under the radar at big events now.
“She’s just at ease with herself, no pressure, no expectation,” said Ziegler. “Basically playing for herself.”
Yang enjoyed a champagne bath on the 18th green after many of her friends came out to celebrate. Even before the injury, a burned-out Yang wondered if it might be best to retire. In time, she learned how to create a more balanced life, and wrapped up her 16th season on tour looking like a woman who has more time to shine.
“You know,” said Yang, “I still can’t believe I did it.”
