Yuka Saso wins U.S. Women’s Open on 3rd playoff hole

SAN FRANCISCO  — Yuka Saso birdied the third playoff hole to beat Nasa Hataoka on Sunday and become the second teenager to win the U.S. Women’s Open after Lexi Thompson collapsed down the stretch.

Saso overcame back-to-back double bogeys early in the round to make the playoff. She then won it with a 10-foot putt on the ninth hole to become the first player from the Philippines to win a golf major.

Saso matched 2008 winner Inbee Park as the youngest U.S. Women’s Open champion at 19 years, 11 months, 17 days.

Both players made pars at Nos. 9 and 18 in the two-hole aggregate playoff, sending the tournament to sudden death back at the ninth hole. That set the stage for Saso to win it just up the road from Daly City, dubbed the Pinoy Capital of the United States for its large population of Filipinos.

Thompson, who had a five-stroke lead after the eighth hole, played the final seven holes in 5 over to finish a stroke back.

“I really didn’t feel like I hit any bad golf shots,” she said. “That’s what this golf course can do to you, and that’s what I’ve said all week.”

The only other players to finish under par on the Lake Course at Olympic Club were Megan Khang and Shanshan Feng, who both were at 2 under.

High school junior Megha Ganne played in the final group but shot 77 and finished 3 over as the low amateur for the tournament.

“I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life,” Ganne said. “It’s everything I’ve wanted since I was little, so it’s just the best feeling.”

Saso overcame a rough start to the final round with double bogeys on the second and third holes that seemed to knock her out of contention but she managed to steady herself with a birdie at No. 7.

Saso then made back-to-back birdies on the par-5 16th and 17th holes to get to 4 under and join Hataoka in the playoff. Hataoka used a run of three birdies in a four-hole span on the back nine that put pressure on Thompson.

Thompson wilted down the stretch, making this the seventh straight LPGA Tour major won by a first-time winner.

The first U.S. Women’s Open on the fabled Lake Course at the Olympic Club ended up like so many of the previous five times the men competed for the national championship here.

The 54-hole leader didn’t win any of those five U.S. Opens played by the men, helping the Olympic Club earn the moniker of the “Graveyard of Champions.” Previous winners Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Payne Stewart, Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell all got caught on the final day at Olympic and were denied their titles.

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Thompson had a five-stroke lead when she walked off the eighth green but she squandered it all on the back nine. She made a double bogey at No. 12, a bogey at 14 and then a bogey 6 on the par-5 17th that was reachable in two shots based on the tee location.

But Thompson drove into the rough and came up short of the green on her third shot before two-putting for bogey to fall into a three-way tie for first when Saso made her second straight birdie to join Nasa Hataoka at 4 under.

“I didn’t hit a bad drive,” Thompson said. “The wind just never got it and then it tried to bounce right, and I’ve never seen a lie that bad. That’s what this course can do. Just got the wind wrong on a few shots coming in.”

Her approach shot on the par-4 18th ended up un the bunker and then she missed a 10-foot putt to make the playoff.

That left her winless in 15 tries at the U.S. Women’s Open that she first competed in as a 12-year-old in 2007.

She appeared in control when she birdied No. 5 to take a five-shot lead. She walked the front nine course with a quiet confidence, breaking into a few smiles when she heard the “Go Lexi!” cheers from the fans in the galleries who were a welcome site in the first LPGA tournament open to the public since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But that all disappeared down the stretch as Thompson was unable to add a second major to the one she won at the ANA Inspiration in 2014. It was another final day disappointment to go with the one that happened at that same tournament in 2017 when she was penalized four strokes during the final round for misplacing her marked ball the previous day and lost in a playoff.

“It’s hard to smile, but it was an amazing week,” Thompson said. “I played not so good today with a few of the bogeys coming in on the back nine, but the fans were unbelievable, hearing the chants and just gives me a reason to play.”