Yuka Magic took a halt, Sunday afternoon.
Reigning Asian Games champion Yuka Saso’s winning streak at the 2020 season of the LPGA of Japan Tour ended as she struggled and finished at tied-29th after three rounds of the GOLF5 Ladies Tournament at the Golf5 C Mizunami course in Gifu.
The rookie finished the round with better 2-under 72 for an aggregate of 4-under 212 along with 10 other golfers.
Saso registered two 1-under 71’s in her first two rounds of the tournament and needed a strong push in the Sunday’s final round in order to contend for her third straight title of the season.
The 19-year-old did enough after starting strong from the back nine, putting up three birdies at the 10th, 13th, and 15th hole for a 3-under 33.
However, three bogeys in the front nine, including one in the final hole just summed up Saso’s hard-luck campaign in this southern Japanese city.
Her runner-up in the recent Nitori Ladies tourney Sakura Koiwai took her first title of the year after dominating this time around with a huge 17-under 199 aggregate.
Saso earlier took both the NEC Karuizawa 72 and the Nitori titles to become the first golfer to win back-to-back tournaments in the 2020 season of JLPGA. After three tournaments prior to GOLF5, she already collected almost 27 million PHP in prize money.
Next stop for the double Asiad gold medalist is her first majors in the JLPGA which is the JLPGA Championship Konica Minolta Cup slated on September 10-13 at the JFE Setonaikai Golf Course in Okayama.
