Ruoning Yin Overtakes Hye-Jin Choi to Win the 2026 Buick LPGA Shanghai

• Ruoning Yin won the Buick LPGA Shanghai, one stroke ahead of Hye-Jin Choi.
• Yin closed with a 68 at Sheshan Golf Club, while 54-hole leader Choi shot 71.
• It is Yin’s seventh LPGA Tour title and her second in consecutive starts.

Ruoning Yin won the Buick LPGA Shanghai for the second time on Sunday, holing a four-foot birdie putt at the 16th to break a back-nine tie with Hye-Jin Choi and winning by a stroke at Sheshan Golf Club.

The Chinese player started the final round two behind Choi and closed with a 4-under 68, made up of five birdies and a bogey, to finish at 11-under 277. Choi, who had led after every round, signed for a 71 and finished at 10-under.

Yin also won this event in 2024. Danielle Kang, who won it in 2018 and 2019, is the only other player to have won it twice. Yin is also the only player from the People’s Republic of China to win the tournament.

Level from the 10th to the 15th

Choi and Yin were tied for the lead after 10 holes, and nothing separated them for the next five. Yin had a 10-foot birdie chance at the 15th and missed it.

She did not miss a hole later. The four-footer at the 16th took her to 10-under and one clear with two to play. Yin made two birdies over her final three holes, and Choi’s birdie at the 18th only brought the margin back to one.

Yin’s ball-striking won it. She led the field in greens in regulation, hitting 55 of 72, and played her last 36 holes in 9-under. She was 2-under after two rounds, then followed a bogey-free 67 on Saturday with Sunday’s 68. That is a strong finish on a course that has hosted 14 of the 15 WGC-HSBC Champions from 2005 to 2019 and is known for long par-4s and small, undulating greens. Her 18 birdies for the week were tied for the most in the field with Amy Yang and Alison Lee.

She had home support all week. After the first round she said the crowds were “always cheering for me” whether she played well or badly.

“I think this tournament means everything to me because just like you have the chance to play in front of all your family and friends and in front of all the amazing fans. It’s just amazing,” said Yin.

Back-to-back for Yin

Shanghai was Yin’s first start since she won the FM Championship at TPC Boston in August, a win that ended a 672-day run without a title.

The world No. 6 now has seven LPGA Tour wins, including the 2023 Women’s PGA Championship. That puts her three behind Shanshan Feng’s 10, the most by a player from the People’s Republic of China. Yin is the seventh player with more than one win this season, alongside Nelly Korda, Hyo Joo Kim, Hannah Green, Jeeno Thitikul, Haeran Ryu and Miyu Yamashita. She moves to No. 5 in the Race to the CME Globe.

Her 2026 record now reads 16 cuts made in 18 starts, with two wins and six other top-10s. She is the second player from outside the United States to win on home soil this season, after Thitikul at the Honda LPGA Thailand.

Another near-miss for Choi

Choi led from the start until the last few holes. She opened with a bogey-free 64 to go three clear and held a two-shot lead after a Friday 74. Her advantage was one shot going into Sunday. Her final round included three birdies and two bogeys.

The South Korean, a 12-time KLPGA winner, has made more than 100 starts since joining the LPGA Tour in 2022 without winning. This was the fifth time she has held or shared the 54-hole lead, and she has yet to convert one. It was her second runner-up finish of the season, after second place at the Dow Championship with Hyo Joo Kim.

Yang third, Thitikul’s defence ends at 3-under

Amy Yang started the day one behind Choi and finished third at 8-under, three behind Yin. She shot a level-par 72 that included two birdies, four bogeys and an eagle. She was the only player in the field to shoot par or better in all four rounds, and it is her best finish since she was runner-up at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

Defending champion Jeeno Thitikul closed with a 69 to finish at 3-under. The Thai beat Minami Katsu in a five-hole playoff here last year and arrived having won the LOTTE Championship in Hawaii, her fourth win of the season and 11th of her career.

Carlota Ciganda and Yealimi Noh were each given a two-stroke penalty in the third round for breaching the LPGA Tour’s pace-of-play policy by exceeding their allotted time.

The Asian Swing moves to South Korea on Thursday for the BMW Ladies Championship at Pine Beach Golf Links in Haenam-gun. Events in Malaysia and Japan follow.

Related: The Experience Golf Launches The 1867 Club: A Women’s Golf Tour of St Andrews

Sixteen places, five nights at the Old Course Hotel and four links rounds finishing on the Old Course itself.

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