(6 June 2011 – Miyota, Nagano Prefecture, Japan)
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Japanese starlet Sakura Yokomine benefitted from a final-hole meltdown by Satsuki Oshiro to claim the Resort trust Ladies tournament on Sunday. Yokomine finished with a final round of 4-under par 68 to finish one shot in front of Oshiro, Rui Kitada and Ah-Reum Hwang.
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rnHeading into the final round, Oshiro, at 9-under par, held a two shot buffer over Nachiyo Ohtani, with four players back on 6-under par, including Yokomine. By the time the players had made the turn, Yokomine, with 4-under on the front nine, had made up most of the ground on Oshiro who had been solid with two birdies and no bogeys to be just one in front.
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rnOshiro, a 21-year-old from Okinawa was looking for her first career victory, and she started feeling the pressure just after the turn when she made a bogey at the 10th hole. However, she bounced back with an eagle at the very next hole to regain the lead with seven holes to play. Her game was getting shaky however and she added another bogey at the 13th to fall back to a joint lead with Yokomine.
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rnAt the 14th, Oshiro regained her composure somewhat making a birdie at the long par-5 to leave her one in front of Yokomine. In the group ahead, Yokomine, with 17 career titles to her name was playing solidly before she faltered at the par-3 17th hole with a bogey that left Oshiro two shots in front with two holes to play.
rnOshiro then made her own bogey at the difficult 17th but still had a one-shot lead with just the par-4 18th hole to play, knowing that a par would be good enough to raise her first trophy. However, it didn’t quite work out that way, and a touch of inexperience lead to a double-bogey and the title was Yokomine’s. Afterwards, Oshiro said, “I’m disappointed. My caddie told me to use a 9-iron for my second, but I wanted to attack the pin, so I hit an 8-iron and went way over the green.”
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rnOshiro’s misfortune was Yokomine’s gain who picked up her 18th career title but only her first of the season. Commenting about the way she won, she said, “I have mixed feelings of surprise and happiness. I’ve let my win slip away in the past with my own mistakes. Today made me think once again you never know what happens in golf until the end.” With her ¥12,600,000 winner’s cheque she surpassed the ¥700,000,000 mark in career earnings, making her the fastest and youngest at 25-years-old to achieve this feat.
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rnBoth Nikki Campbell (T21) and Tamie Durdin (T24) had solid but not spectacular tournaments, making the cut but not finding the birdies to contend down the stretch on Sunday.