Japan’s Shiho Kuwaki won AIG Women’s Open after beating Germany’s Esther Henseleit in a tense play-off at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
The 23-year-old from Okayama, who came into the week ranked 46th in the world, had been near the top of the leaderboard all week with rounds of 66, 70 and 73, putting her within three shots of the third round lead held by America’s Yealimi Noh.
On the final day, Kuwaki held her nerve – while all around her to seemed to be losing theirs – to shoot a closing one-under-par 70 to set the clubhouse lead on five under.
She sat nervously in the clubhouse, under the spotlight of the Sky Sports cameras, while a succession of players threw away their chance of major glory. And it was left to the final pairing, Germany’s Esther Henseleit and third round leader Noh, to see if they could match Kuwaki’s score.
Both reached Lytham’s testing par-4 18th hole needing a birdie to force a play-off with Kuwaki. Both players found the green in two, with Henseleit fully 45 feet from the flag and Noh at least 30 feet.
The German, who had looked the calmest of those challenging for the title, somewhat miraculously, rolled in her birdie putt to take the championship into overtime, while Noh’s effort came up two feet short, leaving the American to wonder how she had squandered a three-shot lead.
PLAY-OFF DRAMA
Kuwaki and Henseleit duly headed back to the 18th tee for the first play-off hole, with the latter looking to become the first German to win the Women’s Open, while Kuwaki, who had won twice in Japan this season, was looking to extend Japan’s success in this event following Miyu Yamashita’s win last year.
Both players parred the hole, with Kuwaki getting up and down in impressive fashion from 120 yards after finding trouble off the tee, while Henseleit two-putted from 20 feet.
Back they went to the 18th tee. This time it was Henseleit who found trouble off the tee, with the German enjoying a huge stroke of misfortune when her drive drifted right off the tee and her ball ricochetted off a course marshal’s leg into a gorse bush.
After hacking out, the German found the green with her third, but by this time Kuwaki had putt her ball within 20 feet of the hole in two after finding the fairway off the tee. Needing to hole out from 12 feet to extend the play-off Henseleit’s effort drifted painfully to the left of the hole, after which Kuwaki calmly rolled in a two-foot putt to begin wild celebrations among the large contingent of Japanese players who had stayed behind to watch the action unfold.
JOY FOR JAPAN
“I just can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it! Just to be on a stage like this is just an honour and every hole I was focused shot by shot and I just tried to enjoy it out there as much as I could,” said Kuwaki, whose only previous appearance at the Women’s Open was a missed cut in Royal Porthcawl last year.
“After last year, with Miyu’s [Yamashita] win, and to be able to win again as a Japanese player is such an amazing feeling. I hope as part of Team Japan we can continue to light up the golf world and hope everyone enjoys it as well.”
Henseleit, whose high finish gave her the consolation of securing an automatic place in Europe’s Solheim Cup team, said: “I’m very happy with how I gave myself the opportunity to win today and how I handed myself. I just got a bit unlucky on the second playoff hole there. I tried really hard and I guess it just wasn’t meant to be today.
“Holing that long putt to get into the play-off was an amazing moment, one I’ll definitely remember for a long time. It’s always fun to be in contention and it was just a great experience and I will definitely try to learn out of this experience and the whole week. How I managed to turn the momentum today and there are a lot of things I can be proud of.”
CHASING PACK WILTS
Earlier, this was a tournament where the nerves associated with the pursuit of a major championship were writ large across the faces of those in contention.
With Noh’s disappointing closing 74 leaving her in third place, fourth was shared by world number one Nelly Korda, who left herself too much to do on Sunday, but rallied with a 68, and world number two Jeeno Thitikul, seeking her first major title, sunk to a 73.
Ryu Hae-ran, seeking a third major win in as many starts, carded a three over par 74 to drop into a tie for six with five other players, including English duo Charley Hull and Lottie Woad, neither of whom looked likely to repeat the feat achieved by Georgia Hall at Lytham in 2018.
Hull closed with a one-over 71 that included two double bogeys, while Woad’s 73 ended a week where the world’s no.5’s putter failed to warm up, let alone catch fire around Lytham’s tinder dry links.
Spain’s Paula Martin Sampedro won the Smyth Salver for the lowest scoring amateur for the second year in-a-row, finishing on four-over – five strokes ahead of Yunseo Yang.
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