Yuka Sasou is a 22 yr outdated participant from Tokyo.
She gained the US Ladies’s Open, the most important abroad ladies’s golf match, for the second time in three years at 4 below. That is the primary time a Japanese participant, male or feminine, has gained a second main abroad. We have summarized England’s progress to date and the outcomes of Japanese gamers in main abroad tournaments.
2 main abroad victories, the primary Japanese participant to attain a feat amongst women and men
Yuka Sasao gained her second US Ladies’s Open Championship
The ultimate spherical of the US Open Ladies was held on June 2 in Pennsylvania.
Sasao, who began in fifth place, 3 strokes behind the chief, had good pictures and putts within the early levels, and made a protracted birdie putt on the second par-four. On the par-three sixth, he had a protracted putt and made a double bogey, however got here again with consecutive birdies on the par-three twelfth and par-five thirteenth, and took the only real lead right here with complete rating of three. about.
Though the highest gamers had been dropping scores as a result of course’s powerful circumstances, Sasao stored his focus and continued to play steadily within the closing levels, doubling his rating with 5 birdies, one bogey, and one double bogey , making him stuffed with it. 4 below. It was the second win in three years.
That is their second main abroad win, making them the primary Japanese participant (male or feminine) to attain this feat.
Then again, 25-year-old Hinako Shibuno, who got here 4th, 2 strokes behind the chief, dropped her rating early, however continued to play onerous after that, and in twelfth by , she was in a position to learn the road that curved sharply to the correct.
Shibuno completed second with two birdies and 4 bogeys, one below.
Different Japanese gamers embody Ayaka Furue, who improved her scoring by two factors and is sixth total with two objectives, Reo Takeda and Sakura Koyoshi, who’re ninth with three video games, and Miyu Yamashita, who twelfth total with 4 video games. .
Tears in my eyes through the victory interview…
In her successful interview on the heart, Yuka Sasao stated with tears in her eyes, “I couldn’t be right here with out the assist of my household. I am additionally grateful to the followers.”
Concerning the components that allowed him to beat the tough course settings related to main tournaments, he stated, “I simply targeted on taking part in patiently. I wished to win at a serious match, and I used to be in a position to benefit from the tough problem.”
Then again, concerning the sixth gap, when he made a double bogey after 4 putts, he stated, “The pin place was very tough to not do it once more.
Moreover, in an interview with the Japanese media, he talked about his future ambitions, saying, “I need to take a very good break, give attention to what I all the time do, and luxuriate in taking part in golf.” ‘
Who’s Yuka Sasao?
Yuka Sasao and her father Masakazu
Yuka Sasao is 22 years outdated from Tokyo.
Born to a Japanese father and a Filipino mom, he began competing on the age of 8, admiring Ai Miyazato and others who had been lively on the world stage, and moved to the Philippines in quest of a coaching setting.
As he and his father, Masakazu, aimed to develop into skilled golfers, they educated not solely of their golf expertise but additionally of their bodily power by rigorous coaching equivalent to repeated horizontal jumps and ball strikes.
His specialty is highly effective pictures that make the most of his core power, and he’ll common 265 yards together with his driver this season, tops amongst Japanese gamers and among the many finest members of the American tour.
As well as, by gaining expertise taking part in golf on golf programs in lots of international locations since he was a baby, he has gained a popularity for his superior expertise, as he has acquired skillful pictures that can be utilized relying on the scenario .
As an beginner, he gained the 2018 Asian Video games, the place he represented the Philippines, and in 2019 he completed third in a world match held on the similar venue as the boys’s main abroad match, the Masters.
In Japan, he made his skilled debut in 2020 on the age of 19, gained his first tour victory within the second race, gained the third race, and gained two races in a row, and shortly started to develop into probably the most higher.
In 2021, she gained the play-offs on the US Open Ladies’s, a serious abroad match on the highest stage of ladies’s golf on this planet, and have become the youngest participant in historical past to win for the primary time at 19 years outdated.
In the identical yr, he represented the Philippines on the Tokyo Olympics, the place he positioned ninth.
After that, he selected Japanese nationality and continued to attain steady outcomes whereas collaborating in full abroad excursions primarily based in the USA.
Japanese gamers and main tournaments overseas
Hisako Higuchi, who gained the 1977 US Ladies’s Skilled Championship, turned the primary Japanese feminine golfer to win a serious abroad.
After that, Ayako Okamoto, who turned the primary Japanese participant to win the cash prize on the American tour, typically competed for the championship from the Nineteen Eighties to the Nineties.
Within the 2000s, Ai Miyazato, a nine-time winner on the American tour, completed third within the Ladies’s Skilled Championship and the Ladies’s British Open, however didn’t win.
Hinako Shibuno, who gained the Ladies’s British Open in 2019, turned the primary participant in 42 years since Higuchi broke the abroad majors barrier.
However one yr after passing the skilled take a look at, Shibuno stored his trademark smile at the same time as he fought for victory in abroad majors, incomes him the nickname “Smiling Cinderella” from the abroad media.
On the 2021 US Ladies’s Open, Yuka Sasao and Nasa Hataoka competed fiercely, with Sasao successful the ultimate, turning into the youngest participant in historical past on the age of 19 to win the most important, and the third Japanese participant to win the most important match.
In the identical yr, Hideki Matsuyama gained the Masters Event, turning into the primary Japanese participant to win a serious abroad.
After that, Sasao completed second within the US Ladies’s Skilled Championship final yr (2023), and was one step away from turning into the primary Japanese participant to win a second abroad main.