Ruoning Yin becomes No. 1 in Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings

Twenty-year-old Ruoning Yin has reached No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings for the first time in her young career, according to the latest Rankings update.

She becomes the 18th different player to reach No. 1 in the world and, for the first time in the history of the Rolex Rankings, the fifth-different player to hold the position in the same calendar year. In both 2022 and 2017, four different players held the No. 1 spot, which was the previous record.

Yin is the second player from the People’s Republic of China to get to No. 1 since the inception of the Rolex Rankings in 2006. She joins Shanshan Feng, who was No. 1 for 23 weeks from November 13, 2017 until April 22, 2018.

At age 20 years, 11 months and 7 days, Yin is the third player to reach No. 1 at the age of 20 or younger, joining Atthaya Thitikul (19 years, 8 months and 11 days in October 2022) and Lydia Ko (17 years, 9 months and 9 days in February 2015 and 18 years, 6 months and 2 days old in October 2015).

Yin moved from No. 2 to No. 1 after a solo third place finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, bumping two-time 2023 major champion Lilia Vu, who has held the position since August 14. Yin’s result in Cincinnati is her third top-three finish in a row and fourth in her last five starts on the LPGA Tour.

“Before this week (in Cincinnati) I know what position I finish I can be the world No. 1. I just keep that in my mind. Last hole I check the leaderboard and I was like, okay, another week finish third, but assuming I'll be the world No. 1. It's just amazing,” Yin said after her final round at the Kroger Queen City Championship. “I got goosebumps. I mean, I think, yeah, world No. 1 is the big step on the way to chasing Shanshan.”

Yin became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the DIO Implant LA Open in March to join Feng (10 wins) as just the second player from the People’s Republic of China to win on Tour. She added her maiden major title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol in June.

She has finished in the top four seven times this season, including her two wins, and has three additional top-20 finishes. Yin was also the highest ranked member of the People’s Republic of China Team at the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown in May at TPC Harding Park.

A 2022 LPGA Tour rookie, Yin first earned Tour status after a T4 finish at the 2021 LPGA Q-Series. She recorded her first top-10 result of her Tour career at the 2022 Dana Open where she finished in a tie for fourth.

Prior to joining the LPGA Tour, Yin turned professional in 2020, winning the China LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament and joined the China LPGA (CLPGA), where she won her first three-straight events and received two Guinness World Record titles for most consecutive wins on the CLPGA and most consecutive wins on the CLPGA from professional debut.

As an amateur, she won nine titles in 2019 and reached a career-high 64th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

View the full Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings list here.