is a Philippine-born Japanese professional golfer. She competed for the Philippines through 2021, having won the first ever gold medal for the Philippines in both women's individual and women's team event in Asian Games golf competitions. As of 2022, she is representing Japan.

Early life

Saso was born on June 20, 2001, to a Filipina mother and a Japanese father, hence her Japanese name. She started training in the sport of golf at the age of eight in 2009. She admired Northern Irish golfer

Rory McIlroy Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who is a member of both the European and PGA Tours. He is the current world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, and has spent over 100 weeks in tha ...

as a role model and watched video clips of him as a teenager, modeling her game after his style.

Amateur career

At the 2017 PSA Annual Awards, Saso received an award for winning the gold medal at the 2016 World Junior Girls Championship as well as leading the Philippines to victory in the team event. Saso competed at the 2018

Women's Victorian Open The Women's Victorian Open is an annual golf tournament held in Australia. It was founded in 1988 and played annually through 1992. After a 20-year hiatus it returned in 2012 as a tournament on the WPGA Tour of Australasia. This was the first ...

as a part of the

2018 Ladies European Tour The 2018 Ladies European Tour was a series of golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world, which took place from 1 February to 25 November. The tournaments were sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET). Schedule The tabl ...

and finished at 17th position in the women's individual event. With

Bianca Pagdanganan Bianca Isabel Pagdanganan (born 28 October 1997) is a Filipino professional golfer. As an amateur, she was a dual medalist in the 2018 Asian Games, winning a bronze in the women's individual event, and a gold medal in the team event with Yuka S ...

and Lois Kaye Go, Saso secured an unexpected historic gold medal at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

in the women's team event. She also won the women's individual competition, the first

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

gold medal for the Philippines in the women's individual event. Saso also took part in the

2018 Summer Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud de 2018), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international sports, cultural, and educational event held ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

where she almost won a medal. After the final round of the women's individual competition, two other golfers, Alessia Nobilio of Italy and Emma Spitz of Austria, matched her result of 214 with Kim Grace of Australia winning the gold medal. Saso, Nobilio, and Spitz had to take part in a three-way playoff. Saso narrowly failed to win a medal with Nobilio winning silver and Spitz bronze. Saso also played in the mixed team event pairing with male golfer and compatriot, Carl Jano Corpus. Saso did not participate in the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

, opting to skip the regional games due to conflicting schedule in both the 2017 and 2019 editions. Saso is one of the three Filipino golfers who competed at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. She finished 9th in the women’s individual event.

Professional career

Saso turned professional in November 2019 after earning a

LPGA of Japan Tour The LPGA of Japan Tour is a professional golf tour for women organised by the Japan Ladies Professional Golfers' Association. It is the second richest women's golf tour in the world. The U.S.-based LPGA Tour is the most important women's tour, but ...

card for 2020. In late June 2020, she made her debut at the Earth Mondahmin Cup in

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

where she placed fifth. Saso earned her first victory at the 2020

NEC Karuizawa 72 is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network solut ...

. She then won the next event, the Nitori Ladies Golf Tournament. On June 6, 2021, she won the 2021 U.S. Women's Open in a playoff against Nasa Hataoka, her first major title, becoming the first Filipino to win the tournament. Saso, at age 19 years, 11 months, 17 days, matched

Inbee Park Inbee Park (, or ; born 12 July 1988) is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour. She has been the number one ranked player in the Women's World Golf Rankings for four separate runs: April 201 ...

( 2008 U.S. Women's Open champion) as the youngest golfer to win the tournament. Starting the

2022 LPGA Tour The 2022 LPGA Tour was the 73rd edition of the LPGA Tour, a series of professional golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world. The season began at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, in Lake Buena Vista, Flori ...

, Saso would be representing Japan following her decision to keep her Japanese citizenship as per Japanese law on dual nationality.

Citizenship

Saso held both Japanese and Filipino citizenship but was obliged to renounce one of her two citizenships by the time she turns 22 years old in 2023 as per

Japanese nationality law Japanese nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of Japan. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the 1950 Nationality Act. Children born to at least one Japanese parent are generally automaticall ...

. In November 2021, Saso announced her intention to keep her Japanese citizenship. She had completed the process by January 2022. Saso has represented the Philippines in international golf competitions until 2021 but started officially competing for Japan in 2022. Saso, however, feels connection to both her Filipino and Japanese heritage.

Amateur wins

*2014 Sabah International Junior Masters, Visayas Regional Amateur and ALM Tournament *2015 Kartini Cup *2016 Philippine Junior Amateur, Philippine Junior Amateur Match Play, World Junior Girls Championship *2017 Philippine Amateur Open Championship, Philippine Junior Amateur, Philippine Amateur Open Match Play Championship *2018 Philippine Ladies Open, Victorian Junior Masters, Thunderbird International Junior, Asian Games (women's individual) *2019 Philippine Ladies Open, Girl's Junior PGA Championship Source:

Professional wins (3)

LPGA Tour wins (1)

LPGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (2)

Major championships

Wins (1)

¹ Defeated Hataoka in a two-hole aggregate playoff, followed by a sudden-death playoff: Saso (4-4-3=11) and Hataoka (4-4-4=12 )

Results timeline

CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied

LPGA Tour career summary

^ Official as of 6 October 2022
^Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.

World ranking

Position in

Women's World Golf Rankings The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by eight women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (L ...

at the end of each calendar year.

Team appearances

Patsy Hankins Trophy The Patsy Hankins Trophy is a women's amateur golf competition on the model of the Ryder Cup, corresponding to the men's Bonallack Trophy. The competition opposes every two years a European team and a team representing Asia/Pacific, and the venue ...

(representing Asia/Pacific): 2018 (winners) *

(representing the Philippines):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

(winners) Source:

Awards

PSA Athlete of the Year The PSA Athlete of the Year is given by the Philippine Sportswriters Association to the best Filipino people, Filipino Sportsperson, athletes annually. It is part of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Annual Awards, PSA's Annual Awards Nig ...

and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saso, Yuka Filipino female golfers Japanese female golfers LPGA of Japan Tour golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships Olympic golfers of the Philippines Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Golfers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for the Philippines Asian Games medalists in golf Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Golfers at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Sportspeople from Bulacan Tagalog people Filipino people of Japanese descent 2001 births Living people