How big a deal is winning the U.S. Women’s Open? For So Yeon Ryu, it all but saved her career

So Yeon Ryu’s U.S. Women’s Open victory 10 years ago at The Broadmoor continues to have a movie-like feel to her. The then 21-year-old directed the triumph through extended weather delays in Colorado, staging a climactic finish when she made a birdie on the 72nd hole on the fifth day of play to force a three-hole playoff with Hee Kyung Seo.

Like any director, Ryu managed the final scenes to the smallest detail. She wore an orange shirt and hat that Monday, symbolic of her flickering passion for professional golf. Read More