17-Year-Old Saki Baba Wins U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship!

Last Updated on 08/15/2022 by てんしょく飯

First-time competitor Saki Baba (17, Japan Wellness High School) won the U.S. Amateur Championship by a huge margin of 11-and-9 over 21-year-old Monet Chan (Canada), becoming the second Japanese player to win the event in 37 years since Michiko Hattori in 1985.

The momentum continued to build.

In the 36-hole final, Baba saved par on the first hole. Chan, on the other hand, started with a bogey. Baba made a double bogey at the 6th, but quickly regained the lead at the 7th, and then took the next three holes to go up by 7 over the first 18 holes.

After a two-hour break, both players saved par on the 19th, the first hole of the second half, before Chan birdied the 20th and Baba missed a par putt on the 21st to make it 5 up for Baba.

The momentum was not lost on Chan, who stood 5’9″ tall and hit a crisp shot into the blue sky. She has been making her game this tournament with accurate shots. Baba made a birdie putt at the 22nd, and Chan missed the putt for birdie. Chan missed the birdie putt at the 22nd, and was now up 6. At the par 4 23rd, Baba made a chip-in birdie from the green side collar to go 7 up and pull away at once.

On the par 4 24th, Baba birdied the hole to go up 8, and on the par 4 25th, she made par for 9 while her opponent bogeyed the hole. Baba also made a birdie putt on the par-5 26th to go up 10. The flow of the tournament was unstoppable.

She also made a brilliant birdie on the par-3 27th to go up 11. She was the first Japanese to be crowned the champion in 37 years, a historic achievement.

Saki Baba was born on April 25, 2005 in Tokyo.

◆Golf History Started playing golf at age 5 on her father’s advice and won the Tokyo Junior Golf Championship in 2018. 2021 Tokyo Amateur Championship winner. 2021 Tokyo Amateur Champion. Finished 9th in this year’s Japan Women’s Amateur. She qualified and finished 49th at the U.S. Women’s Open.

The average driving distance is 270 yards, which is one of the best in the pro ranks.

She is 175.3cm tall and was once invited to play baseball. She has never heard of Giant Baba, a tall pro wrestler with the same name, but she wants to learn from him and become a world champion.