Ryu goes back-to-back

Haeran Ryu celebrates with her trophy after winning the Evian Championship, her second successive major title. — Reuters

SOUTH Korea’s Haeran Ryu started the Evian Championship at Evian les Bains, in the French Alps, the fourth major of the LPGA season, with huge momentum and finished it in some style.

The 25-year-old left France with the trophy in hand and the world of sport in awe.

In the span of three weeks, Ryu had pundits marvelling at how she moved from a rising talent to a defining force in women’s golf – securing successive major titles, and along the way shooting the lowest round ever recorded in an LPGA major championship.

Her triumph at the Evian Championship last Sunday came after a run that began with her breakthrough major at the Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National in Minnesota.

At Evian les Bains, Ryu squandered a three-shot overnight lead on the last day and had to fight her way into a playoff with a birdie at the 18th, before defeating Brooke Henderson on the first extra hole.

With the trophy in her hands, she could only shake her head at the scale of her achievement and said: “This is just a dream right now.”

Ryu’s Evian Championship win will be remebered a lot for her Saturday brilliance. She registered an 11-under-par 60 that featured nine birdies and an eagle – the lowest score ever posted in an LPGA major. It was the kind of round that rewrites expectations and marks a player set to dominate the sport.

“Before these three weeks, I didn’t have a major, now two in a row,” Ryu said. “I am so happy, I can’t believe it.”

Her victory also adds to a historic season for the women’s game. For the first time, two players have claimed double majors in the same year.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda clinched the Chevron Championship and US Women’s Open earlier this season, and now Ryu has matched that with the Women’s US PGA and Evian championships.

Ryu’s rise has been nothing short of rapid. She played her first major at 15, competing in the 2016 US Women’s Open after winning the Korean Women’s Amateur back home.

She turned professional in 2019 and she claimed early victories on the Jump Tour and Dream Tour before joining the KLPGA, where she won her debut event – the Jeju Samdasoo Masters – and later secured Rookie of the Year honours in 2020.

Four more KLPGA wins came between 2020 and 2022.

Her LPGA breakthrough came after topping Q-Series in 2022.

She earned her card for 2023 and wasted no time winning the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship and received the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award for her exploits.

For good measure, Ryu made 22 cuts in 25 starts in that season and had six top 10s.

In 2024, she delivered 13 top 10s and her second LPGA title at the inaugural FM Championship and finished runner-up in the Race to CME Globe.

In 2025, she added the Black Desert Championship with a dominant 26-under performance.

Her first major at Hazeltine at the end of June was a performance of sheer resilience.

The South Korean was 10 shots off the lead after Thursday, before weighing in with rounds of 64 and 68 to seize control and then win by two.

It was the first time since 1964 that a player had overturned a double-digit first round deficit to win a major championship.

And then came the Evian Championship. After opening with 66 and 68, Ryu began the weekend tied for third before her record setting 60 propelled her into the lead.

Henderson pushed her to the limit, but Ryu’s composure on the 18th, for that birdie, and in the playoff sealed her second major in as many starts.

She finished at 19-under-par, becoming the ninth player since 1980 to win consecutive LPGA majors in a single season.

Her season statistics underline her dominance. She has 12 starts, eight top 10 finishes, nearly US$4.2mil to show for her hard work, and only one missed cut.

Such has been Ryu’s game that in just three and a half seasons on the LPGA Tour, she has made 75 cuts in 86 starts, posted 32 top 10s, won five times – including two majors – and is just shy of US$10mil in career earnings. She is just the seventh player since 1990 to win in each of her first four LPGA campaigns.

Now, the spotlight shifts to the AIG Women’s Open, the fifth and final major of the season, which begins on July 30 at Royal Lytham & St Annes in England.

There Ryu will have a chance to join American Babe Zaharias and compatriot Inbee Park as the only players to win three consecutive majors in a single LPGA season – a feat achieved only twice in the tour’s 76 year history.

Whether she captures the trifecta remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure: Haeran Ryu is no longer just a rising star. She is the sport’s newest powerhouse.