Sunday Swing | Conners, Zhang, and Yin All Prevail

Welcome back to the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. It was a busy week in the world of golf in the week leading up to the first major championship of the season, The Masters. The PGA Tour was in San Antonio for the Valero Texas Open, the LPGA Tour was in Los Angeles for the LA Open, and the 4th playing of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur was held at the prestigious Augusta National Golf Club. 

Valero Texas Open - Tournament History 

The Valero Texas Open is the 3rd oldest event on the PGA Tour dating all the way back to 1922 when it began as the Texas Open. Played at TPC San Antonio which measures 7,106 yards, and has hosted this event since 2010. In the past 10 years the average winning score has been 14-under par with the lowest of that sample coming in 2019 when Corey Conners posted 20-under par after getting into the field via the Monday qualifier. The field typically is one of the weaker ones on the PGA Tour as it falls a week before The Masters. However, the event provides an opportunity for players who have not received an invitation to the tournament to earn one by winning. The previous five champions are as follows- 

2023 - Corey Conners (-15) 

2022 - J.J. Spaun (-13) 

2021 - Jordan Spieth (-18) 

2019 - Corey Conners (-20) 

2018 - Andrew Landry (-17) 

The Big Swing 

This week the Big Swing goes to the Canadian, Corey Conners. It’s clear he enjoys TPC San Antonio – that’s now two wins in four starts at the Valero Texas Open. While a strong core of experienced contenders such as Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar, Chris Kirk, Hideki Matsuyama, and Tyrrell Hatton garnered the most attention, it was PGA Tour rookie Sam Stevens who provided the strongest challenge on Sunday. Neither Conners nor Stevens held the 54-hole lead, but it became a two-horse race when they each shot three-under-par 33 on the front nine – though the lead belonged to Conners. 

Conners was protecting his lead nicely by remaining bogey free and stringing together five pars and a birdie on holes 10-15. Ahead of Conners, Stevens had made a pair of birdies at 13 and 14 along with pars on 15 and 16. Two shots back on the 17th tee, Stevens striped a driver that ended up just nine feet from the hole and he was able to cash in for his second eagle of the round and briefly tie for the lead (before Conners quickly broke the tie with a birdie of his own). After a nice wedge shot into the par-5 18th, Stevens faced an 8-footer for birdie that would have forced a playoff. However, the putt slid by and Conners remained at the top for his second career win. 

Winner’s Bag - Corey Conners

Team PING gets another win thanks to the ball-striking prowess of Conners. Powering his game is a full bag of PING products including the new PING G430 LST driver (9 degrees) and a new PING G430 Max 3-wood (15 degrees). Bridging the gap to the irons is a PING G425 4-hybrid. Meanwhile, PING iBlade irons (4-PW) helped Conners lead the field this week in strokes gained on approach shots. His short game is anchored by PING Glide 4.0 wedges (50 and 56 degrees), a Titleist Vokey Design SM8 wedge (60 degrees), and a PING PLD Prime Tyne H. 

Augusta National Women’s Amateur

This week also marked the fourth edition of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, where the best female amateur players in the world compete at Augusta for perhaps the most coveted title in amateur golf. This year it was Rose Zhang, the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world, who earned the victory – but not without some drama. Zhang held a five-shot lead heading into the final round before a four-over-par 76 at Augusta National dropped her into a tie with Jenny Bae, who had fired a 70 to make up a six-shot deficit and force a playoff. 

After both Zhang and Bae made par on the first playoff hole (No. 18), the duo moved to hole No. 10 for the second playoff hole. Unfortunately, a wayward second shot by Bae created some tree trouble that was too much of a burden to overcome – allowing Zhang to survive a shaky final round and earn the win.

Winner's Bag -- Rose Zhang

Zhang, a brand ambassador for Callaway Golf, has a full lineup of Callaway clubs (both new and old) in the bag that powered her to the top of the leaderboard at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. She plays the new Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond driver (9 degrees), Callaway Rogue ST LS fairway woods (13.5 and 18 degrees), Callaway Mavrik hybrids (21 and 24 degrees), Callaway Apex 21 irons (6-PW), Callaway Mack Daddy 5 Jaws Raw wedges, and an Odyssey Tri-Hot 5K Double Wide putter.

Elsewhere in Women’s Golf

This week on the LPGA Tour, the world's best women were in the City of Angels for the LA Open where they competed for a title at Palos Verdes Golf Club. In a star-studded field, it was Ruoning Yin, a second-year tour player from China, looking for her first LPGA Tour title. Yin came out firing with rounds of 68 and 64 to take the lead after two days. Other notable names chasing Yin included Georgia Hall, Patty Tavatanakit, and Nelly Korda. On Saturday, Hall played a pretty much perfect round of golf which included a front nine 29 with eagles on holes 5 and 7 en route to a new tournament record 9-under par 62. Yin stayed hot on Saturday as well posting a 67 to hold onto her lead going into Sunday.

Hall continued to apply pressure in the final round, going out in 33. However, her momentum stalled. After a roller-coaster front nine, Yin steadied the shop on the back nine and held onto her one-shot lead through the final hole to earn her first LPGA Tour victory over Hall. Rounding out the top five was Kim Hyo-joo (T3), Tavatanakit (T3), Korda (T5), and Carlota Ciganda (T5).