Yin Ruoning plays a shot from a bunker on the fourth hole during the third round of the Kroger Queen City Championship on September 9, 2023 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the US. Photo: VCG

China's golfing prodigy Yin Ruoning has climbed to the top of the leader board as the world No.1 in ladies' professional golf on Sunday after finishing third at the LPGA Queen City Championship.

The 20-year-old became the second Chinese woman to claim the world No.1 ranking after Feng Shanshan, who held on to her top standing from November 2017 to April 2018.

"It means a lot. For me it's like a dream come true," Yin said. "I've got Goosebumps. World No.1 is the next big step on the way to living up to Shanshan's legacy."

Yin, who needed a top-four result to overtake American Lilia Vu for the LPGA top spot at the Queen City Championship, will play on the Chinese team coached by Feng at the Asian Games, which opens on September 23 in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province.

"I didn't get a lot of chance to chat with Shanshan," Yin said of her predecessor.

"But I'm looking forward to going back to China, playing at the Asian Games, spending more time with her, and learning from her."

Yin has said her greatest wish is to play for China in the Asian Games and Olympic Games.

When talking about her expectations for the upcoming Asian Games, Yin told the Global Times that she and her teammates only have one goal in the competition - to see "China's national flag raised" and hear "the national anthem played."

Speaking on Yin's achievement, Feng said she believes Yin could set more records.

"Behind [her] meteoric rise to the top is a decade of steady work," Feng wrote on Weibo after Yin's rise to world No.1. "The new generation will continue to set more and more records."

Feng retired from pro golfing in August 2022, leaving with a major, 10 LPGA Tour victories and the title of world No.1 ranking under her belt.

Yin won her first major title in June at the Women's PGA Championship, two months after collecting her first LPGA victory at the LA Open.

Yin had not yet started playing golf when Feng won the Women's PGA Championship in 2012 to become the first Chinese player to win a major.

Global Times