Every day, the achievements of players like Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and professional golfer Hideki Matsuyama are reported, and we are sending our warm support to these Japanese players who are doing well on the world stage.
Among them, female professional golfers have achieved new accomplishments. Yuka Sasao won the world's most prestigious U.S. Women's Open for the second time, and Hinako Shibuno also achieved good results by coming in second. Compared to overseas players, the female golfers have been said to be smaller and lacking in power, but they managed to finish one-two. Tsuyoshi Honjo, former editor-in-chief of "Shosai no Golf" and author of many golf books, explains the reason for their victory.
How to conquer Lancaster CC, one of the world's most difficult courses
The U.S. Women's Open is the world's most prestigious women's golf tournament. Why is it the most prestigious? First of all, the prize money. It pays out about 10 times the prize money of a normal tournament. The golf course where the tournament is held is one of the world's most difficult courses, and the most difficult match settings are provided. This has not changed since the first tournament began in 1940.
This year's tournament was held at Lancaster CC in Pennsylvania, USA. The fairways have steep ups and downs and many sideways slopes. There are ponds and rivers and the wind blows strongly. The course is set up with deep rough and firm, fast greens. Driver shots require high accuracy, while iron shots require accurate distance assessment and the skill to stop the ball on the green. Approach shots also require skillful escape from the rough to control distance, and the ability to read the steep slope of the green.
In other words, you can't win the U.S. Women's Open without considerable skill. You need high and varied technical ability, the mental strength to fight patiently, the physical strength to play for four days with sufficient distance, and even delicate intuition. Japan's Yuka Sasao achieved this supreme U.S. Women's Open victory in 4. And in 2021, she achieved her second victory. If she had won once, it might have been called a fluke. But winning twice is absolute proof that Sasao is a true talent.
The battle began when strong competitors were eliminated in the qualifying rounds
The fact that the U.S. Women's Open is the toughest tournament in the world is well proven by this year's U.S. Women's Open. Many strong players were eliminated in the qualifying rounds. The most notable was world number one Nelly Korda, who won six of her seven matches this year. On the first day, she hit three shots into the pond on the par-7s and took 6 strokes for a total of 10, her worst score as a professional. Last year's champion in this tournament, Alisen Copes, also failed to qualify. Major winners Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, and Jutanugarn also failed to qualify. They were unable to withstand the harsh battle in the strong winds where even the slightest mistake was not allowed.
However, 21 Japanese women entered the tournament, and 14 made it to the finals. Moreover, five of them were in the top ten after the tournament. Sasao won, but Shibuno Hinako came in second. It was a stunning one-two finish. It was a great success, and it could be said that a new era of Japanese players, surpassing the young American generation that was the era of Korean players until recently, has swept the world. This is all because Miyazato Ai's parents decided that professional female golfers could make money, and so they gave their daughter a special education from a young age. The level of Japanese women's golf has risen dramatically. It is safe to say that they now have world-class skills.


Father's thorough golf training pays off on a global scale
The winner, Sasao, is half Japanese and half Filipino. Under her father's strict guidance, she started playing golf in the Philippines from elementary school. As a junior, she had no rivals in Japan due to her long drive, but when she entered the US Women's Junior Championships, she was completely defeated. Both in terms of drive and score. So she retrained everything from scratch. First of all, her body. She lifted a 60kg barbell and did sit-ups with a 5kg weight on her chest. Her father told her, "Don't hate me, it's for your own good," and his tragic training also strengthened her mental strength. In terms of technique, she mastered the draw ball* that produces long ball trajectories. In 2020, she became an LPGA member, won two tournaments immediately, and challenged the US Tour that year. With her precise drive and sensitive putting, she quickly won the US Women's Open.
However, her first victory was due in part to the momentum of her youth, and she was also lucky that the world's best golfer Thompson, who was leading the tournament, self-destructed. Three years later, Sasao has built up her skills. She has honed her shots. First, she mastered the fade ball, which she had only been using for draws. The legendary Ayako Okamoto predicted that "If you can hit both draws and fades, you will become an incredible player." Perhaps she knew this or perhaps she felt that she needed to fade. In this year's U.S. Women's Open, she took many birdies with fade shots. On the final day, which could be said to have decided the game, she used a 1-wood for her tee shot on the par-3 16th hole, and hit a fade ball to the green in one shot, easily taking a birdie.
Sasao also improved her approach shots. The long rough around the green caused problems for the players, but Sasao easily adjusted the distance. On the third day, she hit her approach shot from deep rough on the par-3 17th hole right on the pin, and on the final day, she also hit her approach shot on the final hole close enough to land an OK shot. In golf, if you don't get your approach shot close enough, you're guaranteed to get a bogey, but the difference between winning and losing is whether you can get close enough to get par. This is because you can maintain your concentration.
Of course, the fairway on this stage was sloping, so if the aim was off, the ball would roll right into the rough and result in a bogey. And on the steeply sloping green, if the touch was off, it would quickly result in a three-putt bogey. Sasao got through these situations with her skillful technique and keen sensitivity. But what was most effective was the precision of her iron shots.
Gain experience on the US Tour and learn how to attack
In much of America, not only the greens but also the fairways and rough are made of soft bent grass. The same is true in Lancaster. With bent grass, the ball sinks a little even on the fairway, and the grass gets tangled in the rough. In Japan, the greens are made of bent grass, but the fairways and rough are made of Korean grass. The ball floats, making it easy to hit. Therefore, to win in America, you need to get used to bent grass. And you need to be able to make solid contact in real games. That's because in golf, every shot is only taken once. Since mistakes are not allowed, players must participate in the US tour and thoroughly instill a feel for bent grass in themselves in order to win.
Sasao's shots aimed at the green were outstanding. She was able to make solid contact from the up-and-down fairway. This allowed her to control the ball spin and calculate the wind. She was able to hit the green well, keep par, and even get a birdie. Her victory, which was three strokes ahead of second place, was due to her experience and track record. In fact, Sasao and second-place Shibuno were the only players who finished under par. Shibuno also took on the US Tour and was able to adapt to the bent grass. Furue Ayaka, the third Japanese player to come in sixth, is also a US Tour challenger. The same can be said for Hataoka Nasa, who, although not satisfied with her results this time, has won six times on the US Tour and has come close to competing in a major many times.
Japanese players performed extremely well in this tournament, but if you want to win the world's most prestigious U.S. Women's Open, it will be very difficult to achieve your dream unless you participate in the U.S. Tour. The same can be said for golfer Matsuyama Hideki's Masters victory, and it's the same in baseball and other sports. It can also be said that Shohei Ohtani's great success is due to him building his skills in Japan and joining the major leagues at an early age. He would not have become the best player in the world if he had stayed in Japan for so long. We are now in an era where sports require a global perspective that allows the world to be grasped.
*A long-distance shot that curves from right to left.
**A shot that makes it easy to stop a ball that curves from left to right.
***The grass gets tangled around the club, making it difficult to escape and also making it very difficult to get the distance right.
Honjou Tsuyoshi
Tsuyoshi Honjo
Born in 1956. Sports writer. Visiting professor at Musashino Junior College. Public relations committee member for the Kanto Golf Association. Former editor-in-chief of "Golf in the Study." Author of many books. Recent works include "The Essence of Golf" (Nikkei BP), "Masters" and "Golf White-Hot Class" (Chikuma Shinsho).
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