At Royal Lytham & St. Annes on Sunday, Shiho Kuwaki became the sixth different Japanese woman to win a major in the last eight years.
Kuwaki kept herself afloat throughout the weekend, but never really took control. Coming into the day, she was three back of Yealimi Noh with a wildly crowded leaderboard.
Kuwaki got off to a bit of a shaky start, with a birdie on two but back-to-back bogeys on four and five. Fortunately for Kuwaki, everybody else in contention was cracking under pressure as well.
The round by Kuwaki was all about staying patient and maintaining. Sure enough, leader Noh made five bogeys with only one birdie between holes four and 14, bringing chasers that much more into contention.
Kuwaki made just one birdie on the back nine, but critically made no significant mistakes and made a par on the final hole to sign for a -1 70 and finish at -5 for the week. She was one up on Noh and Henseleit when she finished.
Henseleit hit a stunning drive on 18 but had a below average approach shot that left her at around 40 feet from the pin, needing to make it to force a playoff. In what may be the shot of the year on the LPGA Tour season, Henseleit nailed the long putt to send it to a sudden death playoff.
A clearly rattled Kuwaki sent her ball into the thick fescue on 18 and had to just chip out into the fairway. It ended up being an excellent play though, as she hit an excellent wedge shot and made the putt, while Henseleit’s birdie putt just missed.
On the second playoff hole, it was Henseleit’s turn to make a big mistake off the tee, as a ball that went right appeared to hit off someone’s leg and bounce into the gorse, giving her no option but to make the same play as Kuwaki did just a few minutes earlier. Henseleit hit a solid approach, but not close enough for tap-in range. She missed her par putt, leading to a Kuwaki tap in for the win.
Kuwaki, 23, wasn’t an LPGA Tour member but did have a lot of success on the JLPGA. She now will accept LPGA Tour status.
About the Author
