McCarty cards 1st career PGA Tour win, Yin impresses in Shanghai | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
October 13th, 2024 

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week in the professional golfing world, the PGA Tour continued its fall series in Utah for the first ever Black Desert Classic, while the LPGA Tour hosted the Buick LPGA Shanghai in China.

Black Desert Classic - Tournament History 

This week the PGA Tour returned to the state of Utah for the first time in over 60 years for the first ever Black Desert Classic from the Black Desert Resort Golf Course in Ivans, Utah. The Tom Weiskopf design opened in 2022 and is home to many unique features. Not only is Black Desert Resort surrounded by Utah’s natural beauty in the Zion region, Weiskopf’s masterpiece is also surrounded by black lava. The entire course was carved into black lava, providing stunning scenery featuring lush greenery, iconic orange cliffs and mountains, and the aforementioned black lava. 

The Big Swing 

This week the big swing belongs to 26-year-old PGA Tour rookie Matt McCarty, who had recently earned his PGA Tour card after a third victory on the Korn Ferry Tour. In fact, this weekend marked just his second PGA Tour start – but he put his winning experience from the Korn Ferry Tour to work in Utah.

The free-swinging lefty hit the ground running this week in Utah, firing a bogey-free 62 in the opening round. A second-round 68 got McCarty to 11-under heading into the weekend. Meanwhile, several PGA Tour veterans were also playing well such as Harris English, Kevin Streelman, Lucas Glover, and Stephen Jaeger, each putting themselves in the mix entering the weekend. 

On moving day, McCarty took another step in the right direction. After playing a five-hole stretch in 6-under par the front nine, McCarty went on to shoot a couple under on the back nine resulting in a third-round 64. Joining the rookie in the final pairing on Sunday was another young lefty in Joe Highsmith, who just completed his first PGA Tour season making nine of 22 cuts. Highsmith trailed McCarty by two through 54 holes, but hoped to apply some pressure during Sunday’s final round. 

McCarty showed right away the moment would not be too big. He made birdie on the first hole and added another on the par-5 seventh to shoot two-under-par on the front nine and maintain his lead. Highsmith, on the other hand, got off to a terrible start making double bogey at the first and bogey at the fourth that effectively took him out of contention the rest of the way. The bigger threat to McCarty now seemed to be the rest of the chasers – Glover, English, Jaeger, and Streelman. 

Glover made six birdies on the front nine to turn in 30, then added three more on the back. In the end it was a Sunday 62, and Glover would post the clubhouse lead at -19. Later on, Jaeger would eliminate Glover after a birdie at 18 made him the first to 20-under. 

With that said, McCarty was still in a comfortable position at 21-under-par at the turn. A bogey at No. 12 brought him back to -20, but then he hit the shot of the tournament at the short par-4 14th hole – a 3-wood off the tee to three feet that set up a massive eagle to move him to 22-under-par. He was able to make a couple more birdies to one bogey the rest of the way and finish at 23-under-par to win by three shots over Jaeger.

Winner’s Bag - Matt McCarty 

Matt McCarty may be a new name to a lot of casual fans, but he’s been doing a lot of winning as of late. The PING staffer picked up three wins in the Korn Ferry Tour this summer, earning him a promotion to the PGA Tour. The clubs fueling all of his recent success consist of entirely PING products. Starting with the driver, McCarty plays the G430 LST at 10.5 degrees. His 3-wood is a bit of a throwback, as he games the G410 at 14.5 degrees. He also carries a 7-wood in the G430 max head at 21 degrees. His irons are a full set of the new PING Blueprint S (4-PW). Around the greens, McCarty has a trio of wedges, all of which are PING Glide Forged Pros (50, 54, and 60 degrees). On the greens, McCarty rolls a custom PING PLD Tyne C putter. 

Key Stats: 
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee- 8th
Strokes Gained: Approach to Green- 24th
Strokes Gained: Around the Green- 6th 
Strokes Gained: Putting- 7th 
Strokes Gained: Total- 1st

LPGA Shanghai 

This week the LPGA was in Shanghai for the Buick LPGA Shanghai. While the event doesn’t feature a ton of star power, it does consist of a great international field of players. 

Shanghai’s very own Ruoning Yin was the one to steal the show in China. At just 22-years-old, Yin already has three titles to her name including the 2023 Women’s PGA Championship. This week, she was able to play in front of a home crowd at a course where she was comfortable and familiar. 

Yin opened with rounds of 70 and 66, but found herself trailing as other players had gotten off to better starts. In past years, the tournament has produced a lot of birdies, and this year was no different. Yin turned on the jets on moving day, making seven birdies and an eagle to card a bogey-free 63. Her surge up the leaderboard got her to within one shot of the lead set by rookie Mao Saigo. Knowing another low score would be required, Yin drew from her experience on Sunday that seemingly gave her the edge over the rookie Saigo. 

Yin birdied Nos. 1 and 5 to turn in 2-under, while Saigo struggled to get going, carding even par on the front nine. Sensing the opportunity, Yin took control on the back. She would go on to make six birdies and card a back-nine 30 to lap the field. Her weekend rounds of 63 and 64 earned her a dominant six-shot victory in a special place, her hometown. The 22-year-old star now has four victories on the LPGA Tour along with a major and looks like she will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming LPGA Tour season.