Yuka Saso: Breaking through

MANILA, Philippines — Torn between going big-time or spearheading the country’s gold medal drive in this year’s SEA Games, Yuka Saso is getting ready and priming up for whichever road she would eventually take come decision time.

In fact, her victory in the Girls Junior PGA Championship in Connecticut a couple of weeks back further underscores her readiness to mix it up with the pros or, better still, re-stamp her class in the regional level.

Though it paled in comparison to her improbable feat in last year’s Asian Games in Jakarta, her latest exploit ranks high in the list for a player oozing with so much talent and brimming with sky-high confidence.

Yuka Saso takes a selfie with her Girls Junior PGA trophy. Paul Lakatos/R&A

“Winning in the US is really special,” said Saso after closing out with a 67 and beating Jensen Castle of South Carolina by three with a 14-under 266 total at the Keney Park Golf Course in Hartford. “It’s really hard to do since I live in Asia. I’m just really happy and thankful…my goal was to play steady and have fun. I think I did that well.”

Very well.

For Saso didn’t only claim the hotly disputed diadem but also earned another crack at the crown in April 2020 in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, where she turned in a strong joint third place effort in the inaugural staging of the event which features the elite players in the ranks.?“This will help me in many ways. I’m really thankful for this experience,” she added.

Saso is a picture of concentration at the 18th Asian Games Women’s Golf Individual at Pondok Indah Golf & Country Club in Jakarta

The two-time Philippine Ladies Amateur Open champion further toughened up for the her next major event – the US Women’s Amateur on Aug. 6-12 at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi – after reaching the semifinals of the US Girls’ Junior Championship in SentryWorld, Stevens Point in Wisconsin last week.

She was actually favored to go all the way after dominating the 36-hole stroke play in record 12-under 132 total to earn medalist honors and the top seeding. She then drove her way past her rivals in the first three stages of match play before falling short against Jillian Bourdage from Florida in the semis, leaving Princess Superal as the only Philippine-born player to win the prestigious event in 2014 in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Saso and her teammates Lois Kaye Go and Bianca Pagdangnan went on to win gold. STAR photos by JOEY MENDOZA

These events serve as part of Saso’s ambitious buildup for the demanding LPGA Tour Qualifying School, a jump-off point for those wishing to get into the world’s premier and most lucrative ladies circuit, every woman golfer’s dream.

And no less than world No. 1 Sung Hyun Park was impressed with Saso and said she’s ripe for the picking after the latter battled the former shot-for-shot and putt-for-putt during the inaugural The Country Club Ladies Invitational last March.

“She’s good, she swings well and hits it with power. And she has a good balance,” said Park. “I was amazed when I learned that she’s only 17.”

Saso jumps for joy at the Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific Championship at the Royal Golf Club, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

“She must be something,” she added.

Saso is actually a “somebody” not only on the local golf scene but also in the region, having captured the individual gold medal in the last Asiad where she overcame a three-stroke deficit with one hole left and won by three with a closing eagle as China’s Liu Wendo ended up with a 9. She also steered the Philippines to the team gold with individual bronze medalist Bianca Pagdangangan and Lois Kaye Go.

A former junior and national champion, Saso has also won a couple of tournaments on the local pro circuit – the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour – and dominated the Philippine Ladies Amateur Open at Manila Golf Club for the second straight year.

Pagdanganan, Saso and Go successfully represent the Philippines at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta Palenbang, Indonesia.

As a young lass watching golf on TV with her father-coach Masakazu, she saw LPGA campaigner Paula Creamer and told herself that she wanted to be a pro golfer someday.

Though she also does karate, plays baseball and basketball, golf is still No. 1 for the Bulacan native, who played at the fabled Pinehurst in North Carolina at age 10 then saw action in the IMG World Championship at Torrey Pines two years later.

Her victory in the Girls Junior PGA and her stints in the US Girls and US Women’s Amateur should more than prepare her for the LPGA Qualifying Stage I in Mission Hills, California next month, although as holder of the No. 24 rank in the current World Amateur Golf Rankings, she could head straight to Stage 2 on Oct. 12-17 in Florida.?The grueling final phase, the Q-Series, will be held in late October.

at the ICTSI Ayala Greenfield Ladies Challenge in the Philippines. ERNIE PEÑAREDONDO/STAR

If plans don’t go her way, Saso, who fulfills her academic requirements through an online school in Japan, has the LPGA of Japan Tour as her fallback.

If all else fails, she will play golf at the University of Georgia in the fall.

But then again, those dates will have the national women’s golf team in deep training for the SEA Games, set Nov. 30-Dec. 10, where Saso is being eyed to spearhead the squad along with her Asiad winning teammates.

For sure, July and August will be very crucial for the Fil-Japanese ace, although observers and those around her feel that the talented shotmaker could be leaning on going big-time rather than extending her stay in the ranks.