MEN’S golf has four majors: Masters, US Open, British Open and the PGA Championship.
But women’s golf now has five majors: ANA Inspiration, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, US Women’s Open, Ricoh Women’s British Open and the Evian Masters.
Which bring us to Yuka Saso, who won the 76th US Open on Monday in a dramatic ending to one of the most nerve-wracking final-day battles in recent memory.
Saso, whose Japanese father is married to a Filipina from San Ildefonso, Bulacan, rallied from six strokes down to win by one via a spectacular 10-foot curler of a birdie in sudden-death.
Historic as Saso became the first Filipino, male or female, to win a major in golf.
Jennifer Rosales, now retired, was the first Filipina to contend in golf’s majors. She finished fourth in the 2004 US Women’s Open after tying for fourth in the 2002 British Women’s Open.
Saso’s heroics included back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17 (both par 5s), and a clutch par putt on 18 to forge the playoff with Japan’s Nasa Hataoka (68 to Saso’s finishing 73). They had four-under par totals at the brutal par-71 Olympic Club in San Francisco, California.
Pitifully, 54-hole leader Lexi Thompson (75), who had led Saso by five strokes after three holes, missed joining the playoff when she missed a five-footer on 18. She settled for third.
It was the 15th straight appearance in the Open for Thompson, 26, debuting as a 12-year prodigy in 2006.
When interviewed, Thompson, her collapse magnified by a bogey-bogey finish, could only say: “It’s hard to smile from here on.”
Saso won $1 million (roughly P50 million) in only her second US Open stint after finishing tied for 13th last December 2020.
She was co-sixth last April in the Lotte Championship after holding the 36-hole lead with successive 64s, ending with 71-70.
Saso tied South Korean Inbee Park as the youngest Open champion at 19 years, 11 months and 17 days and earned multiple years of Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour and majors exemptions.
Saso’s caddy, like Mickelson’s in the last US Men’s Open, played a key role in the Fil-Jap’s stunning win.
After incurring two double bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3, a terribly upset Saso found refuge in her caddy, Lionel Matichuk.
“He is a Canadian,” said Bones Floro, the secretary general of the National Golf Association of the Philippines. “Yuka’s favorite caddy.”
“My caddy calmed me down by saying there are many more holes left to play,” Saso said. “Just continue playing the process.”
Saso sank a crucial playoff-extending putt on the second hole of a two-hole aggregate contest, before delivering the tournament winner with that 10-foot birdie in the first sudden-death.
To win the 121st US Men’s Open last month, Mickelson, seemingly losing his grip of the lead, relied heavily on his caddy’s counsel, Tim his brother.
“If you want to win this thing,” said Tim to Phil, “you need to commit to your swing.”
Commit he did and Lefty went on to finally pocket his first US Open after finishing second six times.
If Saso savored Mickelson’s triumph, it bore fruit.
THAT’S IT Cielo Villaluna of Philippine Airlines tells me PAL’s Kiara Montelbon of Cagayan de Oro is another Filipino kid worth watching when she competes in the US Golf Teen World Championship next month in Pinehurst, North Carolina, USA. In 2019, Kiara was in the Top 7 of the tournament’s 13-year-old division. Good luck, Kiara!
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