Why this 18-year-old Chinese phenom had tears before and after winning her first Epson Tour event

“This morning I was crying because there was so much pressure.”

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Yahui Zhang knew Sunday morning when she arrived at South Bend Country Club that she and the other 60 golfers in the final round of the Epson Tour’s $262,500 Four Winds Invitational were in for a long day.

When the ups and downs of the roller-coaster final round, particularly on the back nine holes, finally concluded, it was the 18-year-old Epson Tour rookie from China who went home with the winner’s check of $39,375.

Zhang earned her first Epson Tour victory when she sank a nine-foot birdie putt at the upfill 478-yard, par-5 18th hole to complete a three-over round of 75 that left her with a six-under total of 210, good for a one-stroke victory over Spain’s Fatima Fernandez Cano, who at times had a piece of the lead on the back nine, and Lauren Stephenson of Lexington, S.C.

“Actually I was pretty nervous coming to 18,” Zhang said after making the winning putt and then celebrating with her caddie father and mother watching in the gallery. “But I just decided I had to do what I needed to do —– I needed a birdie to win.”

After hitting her first two shots to the uphill hole short of a fronting greenside bunker, Zhang hit a long chip onto the putting surface which stopped nine feet from the pin. She then made the putt, sending Cano, who had matched par 72 two groups before, and Stephenson, who finished off a two-over 74 with a birdie at 18, to their cars to begin their 110-mile drives to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for a flight to the next weekend’s Epson Tour Guardian Championship at Prattville, Ala.

“This morning I was crying because there was so much pressure,” said Zhang, who entered the day at nine-under 135 after opening rounds of 67 and 68 and with a one-stroke lead over playing partner, 26-year-old Brooke Matthews of Rogers, Ark., looking for her initial Epson Tour victory. In her previous 10 events this season, Zhang had six Top 10 finishes, but none got her to the winner’s circle.

So you can understand the pressure and it didn’t ease up when the Zhang family arrived at South Bend Country Club three hours before her 1 p.m. tee time. When they exited their car, they felt what Mother Nature had in store for Yahui and the rest who made Saturday’s cut at two-over 146.

“My coach called me from China this morning and told me not to be nervous,” Zhang said. “But when I got here, I saw the sun and the clouds getting big, and the wind kept getting bigger and bigger.”

The Four Winds — from the north, south, east and west — have different symbolism to the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, whose area casinos have been the principal sponsor of this LPGA Epson Tour event for 13 years. What Zhang, her family and the rest of the field would feel all day were winds from a different direction —the north-northwest, gusting sometimes over 20 miles per hour.

Those winds made for trying conditions at the par-72, 6,414-yard South Bend Country Club, which sits eight miles west of the Notre Dame campus on South Chain Lake. Not only was every drive, every approach and every putt on the rolling and hilly 106-year-old George O’Neil design affected, but every golfer’s nervous system rode the winds’ roller coaster as well.

Yahui Zhang accepts her trophy for winning the Epson Tour’s Four Winds Invitational at South Bend Country Club on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in South Bend.

)MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE)

Zhang first rode it over a four-hole stretch beginning with the par-3 fourth hole where she made bogey. She followed with a birdie at the par-5 fifth and then bogeyed the sixth before making birdie at the par-5 seventh. But then she opened the door for Cano and others when she double-bogeyed the par-4, 316-yard ninth hole with its treacherous sloping green where one golfer this week actually five-putted after reaching it in regulation.

Now at seven-under, Zhang was suddenly tied with the 28-year-old Cano, a Spaniard who has two previous Epson Tour victories in a six-year professional career and this year had two Top 10 finishes, including a solo third at the Twin Bridges Championship July 19.

Zhang and Cano would trade the lead a couple of times on the back nine — Zhang bogeyed holes 13 through 15 to fall to five-under while Cano bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17 to fall to five-under heading to the par-5 18th. But she could only match par on the hole and then waited along with the 27-year-old Stephenson, who got to eight-under after a birdie at one but shot a three-over 40 on the front nine to fall back to four-under before her closing birdie at 18 had her, too, hoping for the playoff that never came. Their bank accounts still increased by $21,887 for the T2 finish.

“This gets me closer to playing the LPGA Tour next year,” said Zhang, who became the 15th winner on the Epson Tour this season (there have been no repeat winners) and now leads with $110,042 in earnings and the Race for the Card with 1,360.316 points. Stephenson is second in both categories with $100,356 in earnings and 1,336.083 points.

Tied for fourth Sunday at four-under 212 were the 26-year-old Matthews, who ballooned to a four-over 76, and 22-year-old Annabelle Pancake, a Zionsville, Ind., golfer who recently completed her playing career at Clemson. Pancake shot the day’s best round — a three-under 69, one of four sub-par rounds on the windy day — to leap into contention. She and Matthews both received checks for $12,956.

Two golfers with Notre Dame ties — 23-year-old Lauren Beaudreau and 34-year-old Epson Tour veteran Becca Huffer — also received nice checks thanks in part to their Friday opening rounds of four-under 68.

Beaudreau, who won her first professional event, the Illinois Women’s Open back in July, finished tied for sixth in her first Epson Tour event, shooting a final-round, one-over 73 which left her tied at three-under 213 with tour veteran Savannah Vilaubi (75). They both earned $8,771.

“I played really solid all three days,” Beaudreau said. “Today we had the toughest conditions, but I played really well on these fast greens with it being really windy. I’ve been playing well the last couple of weeks.”

Huffer, who was runner-up a year ago here and earned her LPGA playing privileges at Q-School last fall, finished tied for 18th at one-over 217 after closing with a three-over 75 following a disappointing Saturday 74. She nevertheless earned a check for $3,481.

“I’m working on a couple of things, and it was not my best golf the last couple of days,” Huffer said. “It was kind of messy for me, some tough conditions and I didn’t hit it in the right spots.”

It’s Lilia Vu all over again: Former UCLA star captures Four Winds Invitational for third Symetra victory

Vu used a 60-yard chip-in for eagle 3 on the 495-yard, par-5 12th hole to pull away to victory No. 3.

SOUTH BEND, Indiana —To paraphrase the late sports philosopher, Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra, it was Lilia Vu all over again in Sunday’s final round of the Symetra Tour’s $200,000 Four Winds Invitational at South Bend Country Club.

Vu, a former UCLA All-American and 2018 U.S. Curtis Cup team member and the tour’s leading money winner with two victories coming into this week, used a 60-yard chip-in for eagle 3 on the 495-yard, par-5 12th hole by railroad tracks to pull away to victory No. 3.

“I know it’s really important to hit the fairway on that hole so I have a good angle to the green,” Vu said. “I had 230 (yards) to the pin. The hole does play longer (into the wind) so I ended up just short on the fringe. My caddie (Don Bavaro) and I were thinking (the chip) was going to be left to right, but for some reason I wanted to hit it straight. Deep down, I wanted to make this chip because I was hearing the cheers (from the other holes). I hit the chip and it went in.”

Bavaro, a long-time professional caddie from Chicago who has been carrying Vu’s clubs the last two years, said the chip was hit hard and fortunately hit the flagstick and dropped for the eagle which gave Vu the lead for good.

“It was pretty assertive,” Vu quipped.

Vu then added a 33-foot birdie putt on the 388-yard, par-4 16th hole which plays over South Chain Lake and parred Nos. 17 and 18 to finish off her five-under 67 – her 11th straight sub-par round in Symetra Tour events – and a 12-under winning total of 204.

“I’ve just been trying to have fun; Don and I are a good team,” Vu said after finishing two strokes ahead of China’s 22-year-old Ruixin Liu, who closed with a 67 which included eight birdies, four on each nine, to offset three bogeys. Liu, who started the season with a pair of victories, earned $19.363 for second place and moved into second place with $95,281.

Third place at nine-under 207 went to Australia’s 23-year-old Robyn Choi, who closed with a round of 68 that included seven birdies and three bogeys. Choi earned $14,102 for her first Top 10 finish of the year. Last season, she finished three times in the Top 10, including a runner-up to Kim Kaufman at the Four Winds Invitational last September when it was held at Blackthorn.

Neither Liu nor Choi were made available to the local television and print media by tournament officials following their rounds.

Vu began the round in third place at seven-under 137 behind 29-year-old Demi Runas of Torrance, California, a Symetra journeywoman looking for her first-ever tour victory, and France’s 21-year-old Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, who was playing in her first tournament as a professional after giving up her amateur eligibility at the University of South Carolina. Runas started at nine-under and Roussin-Bouchard was one stroke back.

But both Runas and Roussin-Bouchard struggled from the start, opening the door for Choi, Liu and Vu to make up ground. Runas bogeyed four of her first six holes before righting herself with birdies at Nos. 7 and 8. She finished with a closing 75 that left her tied for eighth.

Roussin-Bouchard bogeyed three of her first five holes but countered with three birdies on the back nine to close with an even-par 72 and eight-under 208 total which left her tied for fourth with Sweden’s Elin Arvidsson, earning $9,906 for her first professional check.

Meanwhile, Vu began making her move after starting with four straight pars. She then birdied the par-5, 513-yard fifth that doglegs right around South Chain Lake, the first of three birdies on the front that helped her offset a bogey at No. 6.

“The course was super difficult today,” Vu said of South Bend Country Club, which got firmer each day of the tournament after Mother Nature dumped more than eight inches of rain on its turf. “The greens dried out pretty well. We had to really focus on hitting to the front yardage or short of the pins.”

Vu was tied at 9-under with Choi when she came to the 12th hole and made the shot of the day.

“I hit the chip, it went in, and the rest is history,” said Vu, who was as calm in the post-tournament interview as she seems to be on the golf course this year. “I think I keep telling myself there’s nothing you haven’t done already, and I just move forward.”

Vu has now won $140,607 in 14 events on the Symetra Tour this year thanks to the three victories and eight Top 10s. In her last five tournaments, she has finished tied for fourth at the Donald Ross Classic at downstate French Lick July 8; was third at the Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic outside Rochester, New York, July 15; won the Twin Bridges Classic in Albany, New York July 23; and finished tied for second at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek Aug. 6. Her other victory this season came at the Garden City Charity Classic in Kansas back on April 30.

In addition to Sunday’s victory, Vu also pocketed $8,000 in bonuses from the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi, the event sponsor. That included a check for $5,000 for winning the Potawatomi Cup for accumulating the most points in the three tournaments sponsored by the Potawatomi Nation – the Island Resort Casino Championship in Harris, Michigan, last week’s FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship and the Four Winds Invitational.

Proceeds from the tournament benefit the Beacon Children’s Hospital.

FOUR WINDS INVITATIONAL RESULTS

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Results and money earnings after Sunday’s final round of the Symetra Tour’s $200,000 Four Winds Invitational played at the par-72, 6,430-yard South Bend Country Club.

204 (-12) $30,000 — Lilia Vu, Fountain Valley, Calif., 68-69-67.

206 (-10) $19.363 — Ruixin Liu, China, 71-68-67

207 (-9) $14,102 — Robyn Choi, Australia, 69-70-68

208 (-8) $9,906 — Elin Arvidsson, Sweden, 73-68-67; Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, France, 67-69-72

209 (-7) $6,707 — Savannah Vilaubi, Downey, Calif., 70-68-71; Kum-Kang Park, South Korea, 69-69-71

210 (-6) $4,546 — Haylee Rae Harford, Leavittsburg, Ohio, 70-72-68; Katelyn Dambaugh, Charleston, S.C., 69-72-69; Min-G Kim, South Korea, 71-68-71; Sophia Schubert, Oak Ridge, Tenn., 67-71-72; Demi Runas, Torrance, Calif., 67-68-75

211 (-5) $3,644 — Fatima Fernandez Cano, Spain, 70-68-73

212 (-4) $3,172 — Yaeeun Hong, South Korea, 72-72-68; Dorsey Addicks, Big Sky, Montana, 72-70-70; Soo Jin Lee, Australia, 72-69-71; Lauren Coughlin, Charlottesville, Va., 67-71-74

213 (-3) $2,707 — Karen Chung, Livingston, N.J., 71-74-68; Taylor Totland, Tinton Falls, N.J., 74-71-68; Amy Lee, Brea, Calif., 68-71-74

214 (-2) $2,366 — Hexi Yuan, China, 75-70-69; Sophie Hausmann, Germany, 72-73-69; Julie Aime, France, 71-71-72; Kendra Dalton, Poughquag, N.Y., 67-75-72; Lucy Li, Redwood Shores, Calif., 71-68-75

215 (-1) $2,060 — Linnea Johansson, Sweden, 73-71-71; Rachel Rohanna, Marianna, Pa., 72-72-71; Allie White, Lancaster, Ohio, 71-71-73

216 (E) $1,756 — Gabby Lemieux, Caldwell, Idaho, 72-73-71; Isi Gabsa, Germany, 68-74-74; Laura Restrepo, Panama, 73-68-75; Gigi Stoll, Beaverton, Ore., 66-75-75; Tess Hackworthy, Madison, Wis., 70-70-76; Fernanda Lira, Mexico, 69-73-74

Kim Kaufman cashes in with Four Winds Invitational victory on Symetra Tour

It’s a good thing Kim Kaufman decided not to go home after missing the cut by a shot at the LPGA’s Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It’s a good thing Kim Kaufman decided not to return home to Fort Worth, Texas, after missing the 36-hole cut by a shot at the LPGA Tour’s Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship.

She and husband-caddie Johan Wolkesson would have missed out on a couple of big paychecks.

No one would have blamed the 29-year-old South Dakota native for not playing for a seventh straight week in either an LPGA or Symetra Tour event. Kaufman could have easily driven the 380 miles home from Rogers, Arkansas, two Fridays ago after missing the cut. Instead golfer and caddie decided to drive 670 miles or so northeast to South Bend’s Blackthorn Golf Club, site of the Four Winds Invitational this weekend.

Scores: Four Winds Invitational

It turned out to be a great boost to the family bank account — $32,500 to be exact — after Kaufman two-putted from 80 feet, making an 8-foot par-saving putt on the 18th green Sunday to finish off a 3-under-par round of 69 that gave her an 11-under-par total of 205 and a one-stroke victory over Australia’s Robyn Choi in the LPGA Symetra Tour event.

“I was tired, and I wanted to go home,” said the former Texas Tech All-American after earning the first-place check of $22,500 to leap into the Symetra money lead with $37,232. “But when I got here, I remembered this course from playing here a couple of years ago (in 2013) and I really liked it.”

With her Sweden-born husband carrying her golf bag, helping with yardages, giving her the right clubs and encouraging her when she needed it, Kaufman finished the week with 16 birdies in 54 holes to overcome just five bogeys.

Two came on Sunday at Nos. 8 and 10, dropping Kaufman temporarily behind the hard-charging Choi, a 22-year-old from Australia who played collegiately at Colorado.

The traditional front and back nines at Blackthorn were flipped for the tournament.

Choi, who had six birdies during Sunday’s round that started in rain and ended under sunny and windy skies, had a one-shot lead before she three-putted the par-3 17th hole. One hole behind, Kaufman sank a 15-footer for birdie, and the two-shot swing resulted in a change on the leaderboard that remained until the end.

“I was really just trying to concentrate on the shot ahead of me,” Kaufman said in winning for the third time — she captured the Island Resort Championship during her Symetra rookie season in 2013 and won the Volvik Championship in 2014. “I putted very well which saved me.”

Kaufman made birdie at 11 after the two bogeys and then followed with birdies at Nos. 13 and 16. “I love this golf course and these greens,” Kaufman said.

Additionally, Kaufman earned $10,000 for winning the Potawatomi Cup awarded to the golfer who accrued the most points in two events — the Four Winds Invitational and the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek July 24-26 that began Kaufman’s summer travels. Despite the missed cut, Kaufman earned $59,699 for her seven weeks of work.

Meanwhile, Choi finished with a closing 5-under 67 for 10-under 206, two strokes ahead of former University of Georgia player Bailey Tardy, who closed with a tournament-best round of 6-under 66 thanks to two eagles in her final nine holes.

“I thought I had a good chance — I was hitting it well on the range and putting well before we started,” said Choi, who earned $13,978 for second place. Choi missed an 8-footer for birdie at No. 16 and then had a 40-footer for birdie at 17 and ran it past the hole and missed the 10-foot comebacker for par.

“I gained a lot of confidence from today,” Choi said. “I learned how to manage myself and control myself when I’m under pressure.”

Tardy earned $10,174 after driving the par-4 11th green and sinking a 6-foot eagle putt and then chipping in for another eagle from just off the green at par-5 13th.

“I knew the forecast didn’t look that great; I just tried to keep a positive mindset,” Tardy said after opening with birdies at Nos. 4 and 6 on her front nine. Tardy hit a 3-wood from the tee on the 11th that carried bunkers in front of the green and carried onto the green on way to making an eagle 2. Then she hit a pair of 3-woods for her first two shots at 13 and then holed a 30-foot chip for eagle 3.

Two Americans tied for fourth at five-under 211 – Lucy Li, who shot 69, and Samantha Warner, who shot 72. Four player finished at 212, including Cheyenne Woods, the niece of PGA Tour Hall of Famer Tiger Woods, who carded a 3-under 69.