[Photo: Chung Sung-Jun]
Pine Beach Golf Links, host of the LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship, sits on the coast in South Korea. Many holes have views of the ocean and mountains in the distance, while others are guarded by trees, creating tight, sloping fairways. Keeping the ball it in play is paramount. Japan’s Yuri Yoshida did just that, hitting every fairway on Sunday and missing only seven fairways throughout the week en route to her first LPGA victory.
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Yoshida has been on tour since 2024, joining the LPGA after finding success on the Japan LPGA. The 26-year-old had one top-10 finish in each of her first two seasons on the LPGA, but has been building momentum late in this 2026 season. At the end of August, after missing six cuts in a row, she was the runner-up at the CPKC Women’s Open. Just last week she finished T-10 at the Buick LPGA Shanghai.
The field contended with heavy rain and wind throughout the week. The course took on a lot of water, with players saying they were getting no roll. Yoshida is not one of the longer hitters and her 220-yard (201-metre) average off the tee this week was 36 yards shorter than her season-long average with the driver.
Yoshida started the final round four strokes off the lead. A 31 on the front nine put her in position, and she won the tournament by one over Haeran Ryu and Hye-Jin Choi, both of whom are from South Korea. Ryu bogeyed the final hole to cost herself a change of being in a playoff. There were four players in the field who are ranked in the top 10 in the world.
“It’s a special moment for me, and actually, I was nervous. But at this moment, I’m really happy,” Yoshida said.
The LPGA has two events left in this Asia swing, heading to Malaysia and then Japan before returning to Florida for the final two events of the season.
