Nerves of steel

For a teenager, Fil-Japanese parbuster Yuka Saso displayed unbelievable nerves of steel to capture the US Women’s Open championship in sudden-death fashion over Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, a winner of three LPGA and six JLPGA titles, at the Olympic Club in San Francisco last Sunday. Saso was tied for sixth with two others after the first round, zoomed to first after the second, dropped to second after the third and wound up deadlocked with Hataoka for first after the fourth. It went to a two-hole mano-a-mano playoff then since their scores were still knotted, they battled to sudden death on the ninth hole. Saso clinched it with a 10-foot birdie putt.

It wasn’t just the difference in prize money that hung in the balance as the two finalists dueled stroke by stroke although that had to weigh somewhat in the equation, too. First prize was $1 million and second was $536,500 so the gap was significant. Saso had much more to prove so the pressure was heavier on her shoulders. This year, Saso hadn’t won in eight previous tournaments and even missed the qualifying cut in one. Her best finish was a tie for sixth at the Lotte Championships on the LPGA tour.

Hataoka, 22, is the youngest golfer to win a JLPGA major and she’s no slouch. In 2018, she won the Walmart NW crown in Arkansas and the Toto Japan Classic and the next year, took the Kia Classic in California. Those were three LPGA titles. In contrast, Saso had never won an LPGA title. Before last Sunday’s victory, she had competed in six LPGA tournaments, even missing the cut twice.

But Saso was up to the challenge. There was never any doubt she would emerge to be a superstar athlete. In 2018, she became the first-ever golfer from the Philippines to win gold medals in both the women’s individual and team event at the Asian Games in Indonesia. Last year, she made her pro debut on the JLPGA tour and in her second appearance, won the NEC Kanizawa 72 in Nagano. Two weeks after Nagano, Saso claimed the Notori Ladies trophy in Hokkaido. As a rookie, she topped the JLPGA money train with about P43.6 million in prize earnings. Saso’s in the books as the first rookie to win back-to-back JLPGA championships ever. She also won the Philippines Ladies Open as an amateur in 2018 and 2019.

Saso was born in San Ildefonso, Bulacan and moved to Japan when she was four with Japanese father Masakazu who introduced her to golf. Her mother Ritzie is Filipina. Saso went back to the Philippines at nine and did home schooling to focus on playing golf. The record shows that Saso claimed the US Women’s Open 14 days before she turns 20 while Korean Inbee Park took the same title in 2008, 13 days before she turned 20. Both were 19 when they won.

The history of Fil-Japanese athletes is remarkable. While Saso is a shoo-in to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, other Fil-Japanese athletes are in line to join her, including karate’s Junna Tsukii and judo’s Kiyomi Watanabe. Also in contention are judo’s Shugen and Keisei Nakano. In 2016, Kodo Nakano represented the Philippines in judo at the Rio Olympics and in 2012, Tomohiko Hoshina also participated in judo for the country at the London Games. Akiko Thomson, whose mother is Japanese Hiroko Nakamura, swam for the Philippines at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympics. Two-time Winter Olympic figure skater Michael Martinez is a Fil-Japanese. It’s more than likely that 1964 Olympic judoka Vic Uematsu was part Japanese, too.