Japan’s Ai Miyazato lights up Ladies golf
The person who is number one or best in a sport or in a certain year is always talked about a lot. If we take the PGA or men’s golf in general, then Tiger Woods is a name everyone has surely heard.
Looking towards the ladies professional golf, Ai Miyazato is the Tiger of the LPGA. Currently, holding the number one spot, the Japanese player has surely caught some attention.
Ai was born in Higashi, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and was passionate about the sport when she was a little girl. Building up on her passion, in 2003, she started playing as an amateur. As an amateur, the talented player won a tournament on the Japan LPGA
Tour. Winning the Dunlop Ladies Open in Myagi Prefecture was quite an accomplishment for a girl her age.
In 2004, Ai began her rookie year on the JLPGA Tour. Having an amazing start, she won five tournaments that year. In 2005, accompanied by Rui Kitada, Ai represented Japan and had a superb victory at the first ever Women World Cup of Golf.
At the age of 20, Ai won the Japan Open Championship and then became the youngest player on the Japan Tour to win a major. In winning this tournament, Ai kept the legacy of Ayako Okamoto, as a crowd of over 32,000 people witnessed Miyazato’s rise to fame.
Ai did really well in the 2005 U.S LPGA Q School and hence obtained the card that allowed her to take part in 2006 LPGA season. Therefore, Miyazato was then playing for JLPGA and the LPGA as well. For her qualifying rounds, she finished under par in four
out of the five rounds. Being very determined, Ai finished twelve strokes ahead of her closest rival and hence made a new record of such a big margin of win.
In Japan, that year, Ai got even more headlines when she participated in a few rounds of the Okinawa Open. Her participation made her the first Japanese woman to take part in men’s professional event. Even though she didn’t make the final cut, her part in
that event is still remembered.
Miyazato’s first LPGA Tour title came from the 2009 Evian Masters. The player carded 14-under par 274 and tied with Sophie Gustafson at one point. Beating Gustafson on the first playoff hole, Miyazato won the Evian Masters. This was quite an accomplishment
for the Japanese player as she had finally started to make a mark on the LPGA as well.
This year, Ai has definitely shined as she was triumphant in four of the first nine official tournaments on LPGA Tour. She won the Honda PTT LPGA challenge in Thailand where she beat Suzann Petersen by one stroke.
A week later, she was triumphant at the HSBC Women Champions where she beat the very talented American golfer Cristie Kerr by two strokes. Her wins continued onto the Tres Marias Championship, where Ai defeated Stacy Lewis by one stroke. In addition, Miyazato
has also won the ShopRite LPGA Classic where she defeated M.J. Hur by two strokes. Due to her amazing winning streak, Miyazato came up to number one in the Women’s World Golf Rankings.
Miyazato, however, only held this position for a week when Christie Kerr replaced her and owned the top position for three weeks. The battle continued on between Kerr and Miyazato as Ai took the number one spot on July 19th again by a margin of
0.0006 average points. This time, her spot looks stable as she won the Safeway Classic with a two stroke win over Na Yeon Choi and Christie Kerr.
Even with so many tournaments going on right now, there is a lot of competition for the number one spot. At times, it appears as if Kerr is right at the verge of becoming World Number one again. When asked about this whole battle, Miyazato said, "Right now,
it's a little bit tough to control myself as situations are constantly changing. The top-five players are very close and in contention all the time".
Overall, being number one is not easy and with the talent and skills Miyazato has, she can surely retain her position.
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