Being called a “cheater” might be the most damning of all labels at every level of golf, and Ina Yoon has had to live with that over the last four years.
MORE: Farah O'Keefe has a Texas-sized personality and the game to back it up
It doesn’t matter that after Yoon admitted to knowingly hitting and using the wrong ball in a 2022 Korean LPGA Tour event, the 19-year-old rookie from South Korea was slapped with an onerous playing ban of three years. Or that she later donated her money earnings in mini-tour events to junior golf. Or even when she returned to competition, her presence was scrutinized and heavily debated. (She ended up with a sizeable fan club that collected 5,000 signatures to help get her punishment shortened.)
There are some who probably believe that Yoon still should not be competing, and she lives with that, too. She has apologized publicly a couple of times, but there’s nothing more to do than keep taking steps forward in what has always been a highly promising career.
A frequent winner at every level, Yoon is taking longer strides in her second full season on the LPGA. She already has two top-six finishes in 2026, including a solo fourth in last week’s JM Eagle LA Championship. And now she’s deep in contention in a major by shooting seven under par over the first 36 holes of the Chevron Championship. The 22-year-old, who played in her first five majors last season, has put herself in a trio that trails runaway leader Nelly Korda by seven shots and second-place Patty Tavakanavit by one.
Ina Yoon hits a drive in the first round of the Chevron Championship.
In a short interview session on Friday afternoon after her round, Yoon said she continues to focus on her process. “I think that helps me just focus on the present and like just be calm, and I feel like I'm a better golfer now.”
As she contended last week in L.A. and this week at Houston’s Memorial Park, Yoon’s past rules issue has not come up with the media. Maybe that fair, given the time that has passed with no other problems (other than a slow-play one-stroke penalty she received from the LPGA last October).
But in a sport that covets integrity and offers many examples of players calling penalties on themselves—sometimes for violations perceptible only to them—an intentional breach sometimes becomes a question of character.
Yoon herself has never argued that she ultimately made a bad choice.
According to numerous accounts of the situation, Yoon was playing in the Korea Women’s Open in June 2022 when her drive flew far to the right of the fairway. As she looked for her ball, she was told it was in the rough and indeed found a ball. She then played it, only to realize later than it was not her ball. She said later that she wasn’t sure what to do, so she didn’t tell anyone. She missed the cut, but then came her biggest mistake: keeping her silence. Her caddie reportedly threatened to reveal the violation if she did not.
A month later, and during a KLPGA tournament that she eventually won, Yoon was openly accused of the rules violation in the Korean Women’s Open, and a day later she admitted to the Korean Golf Association that she had breached the rules.
The KLPGA’s Reward and Punishment Subcommittee subsequently decided to suspend Yoon for three years for “lack of sportsmanship or disreputable behavior.” The subcommittee said it took into consideration that while Yoon did voluntarily report herself, she did not inform the KLPGA of the violation until long after it happened.
"We will continue to deal sternly with similar incidents," the KLPGA said in a statement.
Through a long process of appeals and considerations, the KGA shortened Yoon’s ban to 18 months, but the KLPGA took no action until January 2024, when it too halved the ban, allowing Yoon to return for the upcoming season.
In the meantime, Yoon, likely looking to escape the scrutiny in Asia, made the interesting choice to move to Tampa, Fla., and play on the Minor League Golf Tour, a men’s circuit on which she was the only woman competing. She ended up making $13,000 and reportedly donated all of the money to girls’ junior golf programs, for which she received a plaque.
Upon her return to the KLPGA in ’24, Yoon’s resurgence was remarkably quick. She captured the season money title, recorded the best scoring average and won $860,000. Next up was her try at the LPGA, and she ended up being the low Korean in the LPGA Qualifying Series to earn her card for 2025. Her rookie season was filled with made cuts (18 of 26), but only one top-10 finish.
Maybe given her decent, but not spectacular play last year, Yoon’s goals for this year seem measured and seemingly reasonable.
“The season starts way nicer than last year, so I'm kind of hoping have one win in this year,” she said in LA. “But I'm doing great, so let's just not force to get win. Just do my process well, like improve every week, so one day I might be there.”
She’s been “there” before. After what Yoon put herself through, she’ll likely be more grateful when she arrives again.