Saso joins golf greats in USGA Hall of Champions

MANILA, Philippines – A US Women's Open champion at 19, Yuka Saso sure is relishing every moment of her record-matching feat, capping it off with another milestone — a revered spot in the elite roster of sport’s greats in the USGA Golf Museum’s Hall of Champions.

“A new star in the women’s game” was how Saso was described during the announcement rites at the US Golf Association Museum and Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History in New Jersey.

Headlining the class of 2021 USGA champions are US Open winner and world No. 1 Jon Rahm of Spain, US Women’s Amateur champion Jensen Castle and US Amateur titlist James Piot, both of the US, US Junior Amateur and US Girls’ Junior champions Nicholas Dunlap and Rose Zhang, respectively, and US Seniors Open winner Jim Furyk.

Yuka Saso’s name will be forever etched in USGA history.

 

Saso matched 2008 winner Inbee Park of Korea’s record as the youngest US Women’s Open champion at 19 years, 11 months and 17 days when she fought back from five down in the last nine holes to force a playoff with Nasa Hataoka. She then nipped the Japanese on the third playoff hole to snare the LPGA Tour’s most prestigious major championship at the Olympic Club in San Francisco in June 2021.

The feat, which also made her the first Filipino champion of any major golf championship, earned her a five-year exempt status on the world’s premier ladies circuit after failing to make the grade in the Q-Series in late 2019. That setback led her to the Japan circuit, where she made an impact in her rookie year by winning two tournaments and posting six other Top 10 finishes to earn invites and berths in LPGA events.

The US Women’s Open, the one event every female golfer would want to win, is one of the premier championships held under the auspices of the US Golf Association, the governing body of golf for the US and Mexico.

After her major breakthrough, Saso posted four other Top 5 finishes in her next 10 tournaments to close out her remarkable season then stretched her run of final round appearances to 22, including five in the LPGA of Japan Tour, in the Gainbridge LPGA last month before missing the cut in her last event in the LPGA Drive On Championship three weeks ago.

She also made the cut in four other LPGA tournaments before the 2021 US Women's Open.

Back to No. 7 in the world ranking after reaching a career-best No. 5 last October, Saso is priming up for the Southeast Asian swing of the LPGA in Singapore and Thailand next month and has committed herself to play in 11 more tournaments making up the first half of a busy 34-tournament schedule.

Before vying in the HSBC Women’s World Championship on March 3-6 at Sentosa’s Tanjong course in Singapore and the Honda LPGA Thailand on March 10-13 in Chonburi, the ICTSI-backed shotmaker is set for a homecoming of sorts to Manila.