ST ANDREWS: Having earned herself the title of Asian champion by winning the Asian Games individual gold medal, Philippine’s Yuka Saso will be looking to extend her geographical domination when she tees it up at this year’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP).
The forever smiling 17-year-old from Manila came close to winning the inaugural WAAP at Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Club last year when she forced her way into a four-way play-off, but abogey on the second extra hole denied her victory as Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul prevailed.
Saso made up for that heartbreak later in the year in Jakarta where she won the individual gold medal in golf at the 18th Asian Games and also combined with teammates Bianca Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go to win the team gold – both a first for Philippines golf.
World number 72 Pagdanganan, who secured the individual bronze medal in the quadrennial games, will also be a part of the Philippines’ contingent in Japan, along with Abegail Arevalo, Clare Legaspi, Mikhaela Denise Fortuna
and Francesca Bernice Olivares Llas.
Saso has been in terrific form of late, having finished outside the top-four only once in her last seven starts since November 2018, and heads to the second edition of the WAAP as the third
highest-ranked player in the field at world number 30.
The championship will be played at The Royal Golf Club in Hokota, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, from April 25-28.
Even though expectations will be high for Saso, given her performance last year and current form, she intends to just go out and enjoy herself at the WAAP.
It’s not just her form – that stretch of six top-fours in seven starts includes successfully defending her Philippine Ladies Open title last month – but also the fact that Saso has played a number of events on the Japan LPGA Tour and done consistently well that makes her one of the favourites, a tag she quickly downplayed.
