Blue Bay LPGA returns for the first time in six years, and Ruoning Yin can’t wait

The Blue Bay LPGA returns this week for the first time since 2018, and much has changed. World No. 1 Lilia Vu, for example, was still in college.

Shanshan Feng, China’s trailblazing LPGA player and 2017 Blue Bay champion, has since retired from golf. Ruoning Yin, the fresh-faced major champion poised to challenge Feng’s records, was years away from even turning professional.

Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, the defending champion, has won twice since 2018 and recently married her longtime sweetheart, Santiago Carranza.

“I’ve always wanted to play in front of a home crowd,” said Yin, a two-time winner on tour and short-term No. 1. “Last week in Singapore, after the last hole, I heard people in the crowd cheering for me in Chinese. It was heart-warming to see.”

The inaugural Blue Bay event on Hainan Island was held in the fall of 2014. It was halted after five stagings due, in part, to the global pandemic. Three past champions are in the field this week, including Minjee Lee, Sei Young Kim and Lopez.

“I think that every single time you’re in a place where you’ve played good and you have performed well,” said Lopez, “there is this kind of sort of calmness that comes with good memories.”

Lydia Ko is the only 2024 winner in the field. The Kiwi, of course, needs only one more point to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. A victory on Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course would put her there.

There are 25 China Golf Association members in the field of 108. Unlike the previous two Asian events, this one features a 36-hole cut to top 65 and ties and a purse of $2.2 million.