The 24-year-old South Korean won the event in southern Utah by five strokes.
(Candice Ward | AP) Haeran Ryu, left, of South Korea, is sprayed after winning the LPGA Black Desert Championship golf tournament Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Ivins.
Like every other golfer on the LPGA Tour, Haeran Ryu had a lot of good things to say about the views at southern Utah’s Black Desert Championship.
But Ryu also offered some thoughts on how difficult life can be at the golf course built among Ivins’ ancient lava fields.
“Every holes, I always just pray for God, ‘Please go straight and no rock. Please keep in fairway,’” Ryu said.
More of than not, it seems, the golfer’s prayers were answered over four days in the Utah desert. Ryu shot 26-under par to become the first Black Desert Championship winner, her third career victory.
The 24-year-old Korean shot 8-under on Sunday and beat second-place finishers Esther Henseleit and Ruoning Yin by five strokes.
This was the second major tournament Black Desert has hosted since opening a year ago and the first LPGA Tour event in Utah since 1964.
Patrick Manning, the resort’s managing partner, said organizers wanted to roll out the red carpet for golfers this week, providing charter flights to southern Utah, as well as private lodging and dining options.
“I felt it was very important to really celebrate the women coming in. You know, they don’t always have the elevated experience that the men typically do,” Manning said.
Ryu, however, went off menu this week with her mother by her side.
“Always she care for me,” Ryu said, “ecause my mom want to eat food for Korean so she always make some Korean food in the hotel. Yeah, it’s really good for me.”
But that doesn’t mean Ryu didn’t enjoy her stay at Black Desert.
“It’s really good,” she said. “I think it’s perfect because the golf course, view is so beautiful and the grass condition is really good and weather is pretty good now. The hotel, I think, here is brand new, so everything is so clear and so fresh. That’s so perfect.”