By: Max Bechtoldt
China has had quite the surge in women’s golf as of late, likely in part related to the career of 2016 bronze medalist and major champion Shanshan Feng. This year, China heads into the Olympic Games with two top 15 players in the world, and a great shot at making the medal stand. Meet the two players representing China at the Paris Olympics here:
RUONING YIN
At the time of writing, Ruoning Yin is the most recent winner on the LPGA Tour, capturing the Dow Championship alongside Thai partner Atthaya Thitikul. This was the third win of Yin’s short career, which includes a major at the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. At that event, the world really got to see for the first time Yin’s incredible ball-striking ability. She is arguably the best women’s golfer in the world when it comes to iron play, and it has catapulted her to being ranked No. 3 in the Rolex Rankings at the young age of 21. The former world No. 1 also won at Palos Verdes in 2023, thus showing how competitive she is on the world stage at such a young age. This will be the first time Yin has competed at the Olympics representing China, and she fits the mold of someone who could be receiving a medal after the final day.
XIYU LIN
Nobody on the LPGA Tour has a more interesting career up to this point than Xiyu Lin, who is without a doubt one of the best players in the world, yet is still searching for her first win. Now, Xiyu, or Janet as she is more known by in America, has won four LET events and seven events on the China LPGA Tour, but is still searching for that first victory in America. Since 2022 she has been in two playoffs, and since 2021 has three top-10 major finishes. While she doesn’t have the big win numbers, her consistency is arguably better than anyone on tour. In 2023, Lin had seven top-six finishes with only two missed cuts. In 2022, she had six top-10 finishes with just one cut missed. While she doesn’t yet have a win, very few players are in contention more frequently than Lin.
