After major win, Ryu seeks more success on tour

LAS COLINAS, Texas — Imagine winning a major tour victory, and all anyone wants to talk about is the golfer who finished second.

So Yeon Ryu knows all about that.

The 26-year-old South Korean opened the 2017 season on fire, ranking in the top five in the Rolex standings.

Ryu jump-started her season by winning the ANA Inspiration — her second career major win — in a playoff with Lexi Thompson. But events which opened the way for Ryu to win the year’s first major were steeped in controversy.

A television viewer saw that Thompson violated a rule in the third round and notified the LPGA via email. When it was determined that Thompson did violate the rule, she was assessed a four-stroke penalty on the 12th hole of the final round, instantly wiping out a threeshot lead with six holes to play.

Thompson rallied and had a chance to pull out the win by holing an eagle putt on 18, but the putt came up just a little short, and she settled for a birdie to tie

Ryu and force the playoff.

Ryu won the playoff, but it was Thompson who was surrounded by the media horde when the golfers walked off the course.

Ryu, who is in her fifth season on the LPGA Tour, is known on the tour as one of the most consistent players week in, week out despite just four career wins. She has nine second-place finishes in her career.

“I’ve really enjoyed my season so far,” she said at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout in Las Colinas, Texas, in April. “I had a really great start in Thailand and finished second. And even though I finished second, I was able to see so much improvement since last year, so I was really happy about it.

“Then I was able to keep playing well, and I finally won my fourth title. That gave me a lot of confidence and so, yeah, I feel really great right now.”

She should. Ryu had five top-10 finishes in her first

five tournaments of the season and ranks second on the money list at just less than $1 million in earnings this season. She is No. 3 in the Rolex Rankings behind Ariya Jutanugan and Lydia Ko.

Ryu has played well in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in the past. She lost in a playoff in 2013 to fellow South Korean and her best friend on tour, Inbee Park, and she’s had other high finishes at Pinnacle Country Club.

“I definitely enjoy the golf course. I really just enjoy everything about the tournament in Arkansas,” she said. “It’s just so nice, they are all so welcoming to the LPGA and the golf course is always in great shape. The greens always play really fast and they are really firm.

She’s also learned to adapt to the sometimes sweltering heat of the June event.

“When you enjoy it, the weather is not really a big deal unless you keep complaining. I haven’t won the tournament up there, but I have finished high a few times,” she said.

Ryu credits a change in her swing after turning to Cameron McCormick as her swing coach following the 2015 season. McCormick is also PGA star Justin Spieth’s swing coach.

McCormick changed Ryu’s backswing and the result has been more control of the ball and longer distance off the tee, which has created more birdie opportunities, Ryu said.

Park, the Olympic gold medalist who is also off to a solid start in 2017, was glad to see her friend enjoy a breakout at the ANA Inspiration.

“She has always played consistently her whole career, and it’s really surprising that she doesn’t have more wins,” Park said. “The way she plays, I think she should have a lot more. So to see her be able to crack through that at ANA, I was really happy to see that. With how consistent she plays, to see her get some confidence and learn how to win, there’s nothing she can’t do.”

Ryu, who has a degree in sports business from Yonsei University, hopes the win at ANA will be the springboard to more tour wins, and perhaps that elusive No. 1 ranking.

“I hope I can be that consistent winner instead of just a consistent player,” she said. “Consistent player is still great, but it’s better to win more tournaments.”

Even if the rest of the golf world barely recognizes it.

Ryu