It was only a couple weeks ago that Yealimi Noh was struggling to find motivation.
The 25-year-old Noh burst onto the scene by finishing third at the 2021 Evian Championship and later that year going 2-1 in her Solheim Cup debut. But she’d added just one top-10 in 22 major appearances since, while missing 14 of those cuts.
Before taking a three-shot lead through 54 holes of this week’s AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham, Noh had gone 15 straight tournaments without a top-10 finish and missed six of her last 10 cuts, including two in a row in majors, the KPMG Women’s PGA and Evian.
“I wasn’t feeling the want to play golf,” said Noh, who before teeing off Sunday told herself, “No matter what happens, I’m just really happy to be in this position again.”
Noh – who much to the delight of fans holds the end of her broomstick putter several inches from her chest – drained a lengthy par save at the first hole, then birdied the second hole from the fescue to increase her lead to four.
Unfortunately for Noh, that advantage wouldn’t last. She bogeyed Nos. 4, 7 and 8 – the latter bogey came after she missed the green long on the par-4, then chipped through the green and into a pot bunker – as her lead shrunk to only one.
When Noh parred the 11th hole, it meant she’d failed to birdie any of the three par-5s after birdieing at least two in each of the first three rounds.
“Not being able to make any birdies on the par-5s today was tough,” Noh said. “Definitely lost a lot a lot of momentum there.”
Noh’s bogey at the par-3 12th dropped her a shot behind eventual winner Shiho Kuwaki. And, after negating her birdie at No. 13 with another bogey at No. 14, Noh would end up a shot out of the playoff with a closing 3-over 74.
“No matter how many times I tell myself to stay calm and keep good tempo, it’s just never easy,” said Noh who finished with five bogeys in the final round. “But I think the more I’m in this position, I’ll get better.”
An emotional Noh appreciated the moment coming down the 72nd hole still in contention despite her disappointment.
“That was pretty incredible,” Noh said, while adding, “I will be taking away a lot more than I thought I would be this week. It stings just being one short, but very happy with the week. … This week has really helped me feel so much better about my game and realize why I’m doing this.”
