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Who Is Yin Ruoning’s Caddie? Meet Her Veteran Looper Jon Lehman Who Helped Her Win the Women’s PGA Championship

Published 07/26/2023, 6:00 PM EDT

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Sometimes a young prodigy teaming up with an experienced teacher could end up in a wonderful story. Such is the luck currently being enjoyed by Yin Ruoning who is slowly making a name for herself in golf. Born in China, Ruoning has taken the golf world by storm just at the age of 20. Yin has been climbing the stairs of hard work in golf where she has been greeted with affirmations.

Yin turned professional three years ago in 2020, at the age of 17. After that, she joined the China LPGA Tour, where she won her first three events in a row. And she also holds two Guinness World Records titles, the most consecutive wins on the China LPGA Tour. However, her biggest success came this year when she became the second women’s major championship winner from China by winning the 2023 Women’s PGA Championship in June.

 

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And helped her in obtaining this goal is a veteran caddie whom she surprisingly met just a month ago.

Meet caddie Jon Lehman who has also served on the Korn Ferry Tour

Shaping a new and young mind in such a critical sport as golf is not an easy job, and Jon Lehman is doing a fantastic job at it. Jonathan Lehman who goes by Jon lives in Saint Simmons Islands and has been a caddie for a long time. His appearance is quite non-conservative, and with just one look nobody will be able to guess that Jon’s day job is that of a caddie. His long golden locks, exude the vibe of a carefree, hippie. But looks can be deceiving. He met Yin two tournaments ago. Before that, he was working as a caddie on the Korn Ferry Tour for Noah Goodwin. However, after his experience of many years on Korn Ferry, Jon decided to shake things up. 

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At that point, luck has a special thing stored for him and his link with Yin was very timely yet unbelievable. He said, “I was looking for something new. So, I sent a few messages to some buddies that caddie out here telling them I was looking for something. Yin had just let go of her old caddie at that time, within 20 minutes of me sending that message. It was crazy. Just perfect timing.” The timing worked indeed. And the pair first worked together at the ShopRite Classic, where Yin ended up in a tie for the 15th spot. The next event was the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and Yin had her eyes set on the first prize. 

Jon Lehman’s sharp senses were the biggest aid for Ruoning Yin at Baltusrol

To get in the right mind frame, Yin took the week before the event off, while Jon went to Baltusrol, New Jersey to get an idea of the course which was later a big help for him. “It really helped out. Kind of gave me an upper hand on everybody else.”. he said. Though Yin usually makes her visit, this time she trusted the instincts of Lehman. His sharp eyes came to her advantage towards the last holes. After talking to him she hit a clutch putt. At last with the help of a 10-foot birdie putt, she seized her biggest victory yet. Praising him for his expertise Yin said, “He knows the course very well, especially on the greens. He just knows every part of the green.”

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While Yin Ruoning was inside waiting for the final results to appear on the scoreboard, Jon was outside in the parking lot with her golf bag surrounded by reporters. When asked about Yin, he said in a whisper “She’s pretty special. I’m just so excited for her. Her ball-striking, demeanour — everything is just so far ahead of everybody else.” It looked like Jon knew in his heart that his Yin will take the trophy home. Continuing her praise of her he said, “She’s wise beyond her years.” As Yin made her victory Jon was full of smiles.

After that Lehman assisted Yin at the US Women’s Open where she again displayed excellent performance and finished on T20. The duo seems to develop a great tuning in their short time together and hope to conquer more tournaments together.

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Written by:

Shafaque Taha

745Articles

One take at a time

Shafaque Taha is a fresh writer at EssentiallySports. She has been a golf enthusiast all her life and Tiger Woods has been her window into the sport and its legacy. Shafaque regards his iconic 2019 Masters win as her greatest inspiration in life.
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Edited by:

Manaal Siddiqui

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