Saso keeps top ranking, ties for 29th
MANILA, Philippines — Yuka Saso kept her top LPGA of Japan Tour ranking despite a tied for 29th finish in the Golf5 Ladies pro golf tournament ruled by Sakura Koiwai yesterday, closing out with a 70 at the Mizunami course in Gifu Prefecture in Honshu.
Three birdies in the first six holes at the back where she teed off and another on No. 2 sparked some hopes for an explosive windup for the 19-year-old Fil-Japanese wonder, a kind of finish that she however failed to complete as she stumbled with bogeys on Nos. 3, 4 and 9 against another birdie on the fifth.
With a 212 total, Saso ended up tied at 29th with 10 others, including Ai Suzuki, whose three-victory binge late last year the ICTSI-backed ace was aiming to match following her triumphs in the NEC Karuizawa in Nagano and Nitori Ladies in Hokkaido.
But a mediocre pair of 71s all but kept her out of the title chase in the 54-hole tournament, which Koiwai, whom Saso defeated in Nitori Ladies, won in lopsided fashion.
Koiwai, 22, completed a three-day show of brilliant shotmaking and putting, finishing with a bogey-free 66 for a 17-under 199 and a six-stroke victory over Ayaka Furue and Ayaka Watanabe. She shot 18 birdies overall against a lone bogey in the second round to run away with the top purse of Y10.8 million in the Y60 million event.
Despite her so-so finish worth Y408,000, Saso remained on top of the Mercedes ranking with total earnings of Y59,448,000 although Earth Mondahmin Cup winner Watanabe pulled within with Y51,620,000 after banking Y4.740 million. Koiwai also firmed up her hold of No. 3 with Y31,640,000 after bagging the top purse of Y10.8 million.
That could change as the elite cast heads to Okayama for this week's Japan LPGA Championship, the richest event in the shortened JLPGA season with a whopping Y300 million ($2.8 million) total purse at stake. The winner will receive Y36 million, which Saso claimed on her Nitori Ladies romp.
After barely making the cut Saturday, Saso worked her way back to the Top 21 with birdies on Nos. 10, 13 and 15 and her fourth birdie from short range on the par-5 No. 2 triggered some talks of a fiery finish that has marked a number of her close out rounds during her amateur days, most specifically her improbable comeback from six down in the last hole to sweep the gold medals in the 2018 Asian games in Jakarta.
But she lost her touch and focus in the next two, which she bogeyed, and though she birdied the last par-5 on No. 5, Saso holed out with another missed green mishap for a 37-33.
- Latest
- Trending
