By Alan Shipnuck
Yealimi Noh has taken a non-traditional path to LPGA stardom.
In the summer of 2018, the San Francisco native won four big-time amateur events in the span of five weeks, including the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Poppy Hills. That convinced Noh to turn pro at the ripe-old age of 17.
For the first half of the 2019 season, she played mini-tours and then, in July, Monday qualified for the LPGA’s Thornberry Creek Classic. Heading into the final round, Noh was only one shot off the lead and she had to battle three former world number ones: Shanshan Feng, Ariya Jutanugarn and Sung Hyun Park. In the end, Noh couldn’t quite keep up with Feng, but she finished sixth in one of the more audacious debuts in recent LPGA history. Later that summer, Noh finished second in Portland after Monday qualifying again.
Noh’s star continued to rise. In her first full-season, 2020, she missed only one cut and finished 25th on the money list ($415,307), and in ‘21 she played well enough to be picked for the U.S. Solheim Cup team. She came to be regarded as having one of the sweetest swings on tour, finishing 8th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green. She was a glamorous figure between the ropes who helped launch the Malbon women’s clothing line. “I wouldn’t say it felt easy,” Noh says now, with a little laugh, “but maybe I didn’t know how hard golf could be.”
Alas, she would find out. Noh putted so poorly in 2022 that she missed 12 cuts. And then things got really bad: in ‘23 she developed the full-blown yips. She plunged to 122nd on the money list and had to go to Q-School to reclaim her job. At the end of the season she began employing a L.A.B. broomstick putter, an act of capitulation for a 22-year-old. (She turns 24 on July 26.). “When you’re putting poorly it affects your whole game and attitude,” says Noh. “Changing putters at least gave me some hope.”
Noh slowly, methodically began piecing together her game. Less stress on the greens allowed her to swing more freely. A flourish near the end of the season sent her to a career high in earnings, at $826,470. But Noh wasn’t satisfied. In the off-season she pushed herself harder than she ever had before, hiring trainers in Dallas, her adopted hometown, and in San Francisco, where she spends a lot of time visiting her boyfriend. She labored to create more width in her backswing with her lifelong swing coach, Erik Stone. She grinded to keep smoothing out her putting stroke. At the season-opening Founders Cup, Noh unleashed a lifetime of want and will, shooting rounds of 68-64-63 to take the 54-hole lead by one stroke. In the final round, she found herself in a dogfight with former world No. 1 J.Y. Ko, the LPGA’s Iron Byron, who didn’t make a bogey in her first 66 holes of the Founders Cup. “I kept telling myself I wasn’t nervous,” says Noh, “but the human body reacts naturally. It’s easy to get tense, to get quick with your swing. I just focused on my tempo and just believing in myself.”
She made a dagger 25-footer on the 13th hole and then another birdie on 14 to pull away from Ko and, at last, earn her first LPGA win. For the week she hit a whopping 67 greens in regulation and led the field with 24 birdies. “It felt so amazing to win,” says Noh. “All the hard times only made it sweeter.”
Noh is a homebody who likes to re-create culinary dishes she finds on social media, and she is renowned for her gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. Her only splurge after the win was to go “a little crazy with the shopping.” Her desire to build on the breakthrough carried her to the first round at the U.S. Women’s Open. Her goal is to keep racking up points for the International Crown and Solheim Cup. But mostly, the victory has been a chance for Noh to reflect on her circuitous journey to success. “You know, it can be tough when you come out on tour,” she says. “The travel is tiring, tournament golf can wear you out. It’s especially hard if you’re young like I was. But now, every time I think about my job, I have such a different perspective. I get to travel the world, meet amazing people, eat amazing food, play the best golf courses. I get to challenge myself and learn about myself.
I’m so grateful for this life.”
Carmel Valley resident Alan Shipnuck is the author of nine books, including “Phil,” and “LIV and Let Die.”