Ina Yoon has put herself in contention at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship after a magnificent 63. But that doesn’t even begin to tell the story…

Hazeltine was no match for Ina Yoon on Thursday as she carded an opening-round 63 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. That tied the record for the lowest round ever recorded in this particular major – but it might be the best given her backstory.

That’s because the South Korean has not long returned from serving a three-year ban from professional golf after being caught up in a cheating scandal as a teenager.

Now 22, Yoon was just 19 when the incident happened during the Korea Women’s Open in June 2022. After a wayward shot found the rough on the opening day, Yoon played her next shot up to the green. It wasn’t until she arrived at the putting surface, marked and picked up that she realized it wasn’t her ball.   

Speaking to Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols earlier this year, Yoon explained that she “wasn’t sure what to do”.

“This had never happened to me, so I was a bit frazzled,” she continued. “My caddie said to hit it. I shouldn’t have listened, but I did. I should have reported it right away, but I was really nervous and scared about that.”

It clearly played on her mind, because Yoon went on to miss the cut and she thought that would be the end of it.

“I thought it would be OK,” she said. “The people around me told me that it shouldn’t be too much of an issue, so I listened.”

Soon after, while she was playing in the Queen’s Crown, accusations of playing the wrong ball at the Korea Women’s Open started to swirl. She went on to win that week for her first KLPGA title, before taking some time out to allow officials to decide her fate.

In the meantime, Yoon’s caddie was being interviewed by the Korean press.

“He said that I chose to hit the ball, and people believed that,” Yoon told Golfweek. “People believed what the caddie said, and I was pretty upset because that became the truth at that time.”

She continued: “He told me to hit it but, at the end of the day, I am the player and the player takes responsibility. I think I was just young and naive and I listened to it.”

Yoon was handed a three-year ban by the KLPGA and Korea Golf Association – which is not uncommon in the Korean game. The KPGA once handed the same length sentence to Bio Kim after he was caught on camera flicking a middle finger at some fans who had distracted him on his downswing.

But Yoon was still surprised by the punishment – “I didn’t do it with malicious intent” – before adding that she was at fault and was prepared to take full responsibility.

“But, as a golfer, three years is a long time,” she added. “My future seemed a bit bleak at the time.”

During her ban, Yoon moved to Florida to compete on the men’s Minor League Golf Tour until the ban was lifted after two years.

In 2024, she topped the money list in her first season back on the KLPGA, before finishing eighth at Q-School to earn her LPGA card for the ’25 season.

Earlier this year, Yoon, who reached a career-high 39th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, earned her first major top-10 with a tie for 4th at the Chevron Championship.

And she’s odds-on to repeat that at Hazeltine. Of the previous six players to card a 63 in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, four went on to win, while the others finished tied-9th and 11th.