Reigning Asian Games women’s champion Yuka Saso poured it all in the final round to conquer the 2020 NEC Karuizawa Tournament at Kitasaku-gun, Nagano, Japan, Sunday.
This is her first-ever title in the LPGA of Japan Tour.
An eagle in the 16th hole capped off her impressive third round outing, which included seven birdies, five of which came in the front nine. Saso eventually ended with nine-under 63 for an aggregate of 16-under 200 after the three rounds.
The Filipino-Japanese earned the early lead after pulling off a similar opening round of seven birdies. She ended with a seven-under 65.
However, she struggled in the following round after two bogeys in the first and third holes, and even a double bogey in the fourth. Five birdies across the board saved her score, to end with an even-par 72 to still keep herself in contention.
The 19-year-old came out with a Y14,400,000 (PHP 6.6 million) prize and became the first Filipino to win in the Japan LPGA.
Saso, along with her individual gold, also teamed up with Bianca Pagdanganan and Lois Go, in the team event of the 2018 Asiad.
