JLPGA: 2021 Yamaha Ladies Open Katsuragi

Queen Shiho must be in really bad shape, another DNS.  Ting Ting is also DNS, don't know why.

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During normal times, Team Yamaha would line up side-by-side in front of the gear van, but the triangular formation is a useful substitute.  As expected, the stars are in the front (Chie Arimura, Kana Nagai), the strong second tier is in the middle (Maria Shinohara, Chae Young Yoon, Mami Fukuda), and the washouts are in the back row (too far away and unknown to recognize).

Kana ... she had the RMX 120 irons in 2019 ... maybe these are the latest versions, but they don't look like anything I see on Yamaha's website.

Practice

Rei Matsuda, Sky Kim and Momoko Ueda

Sakura Koiwai and a butt-ugly beast

 

Misuzu Narita was the last Yamaha winner in 2019

The cut was +3 and 61 players made it.

POS PLAYER SCORE HOLE TODAY 1R 2R 3R 4R TOTAL
1 Miyuu Yamashita -9 *F -3 66 69 135
2 Sayaka Takahashi -7 F -1 66 71 137
3T Karen Tsuruoka -6 F -3 69 69 138
3T Ayaka Watanabe -6 F -3 69 69 138
5T Risa Ogusu -5 F -1 68 71 139
5T Momoko Ueda -5 F -1 68 71 139
7T Yuna Takagi -4 *F -4 72 68 140
7T Saiki Fujita -4 *F -3 71 69 140
7T Sakura Koiwai -4 F +2 66 74 140
10T Mao Saigo -3 F -2 71 70 141
10T Lala Anai -3 F +2 67 74 141
10T Hikaru Yoshimoto -3 *F -2 71 70 141

Saiki Fujita

Chae Young Yoon (-1)

Sakura Koiwai ... textbook ... until she went OB on #18 and made a triple.

Na Ri Lee (MC)

Ayaka Matsumori (E)

Mika Miyazato (+1)

Erina Hara (+3) ... I think PRGR dumped her (or vice-versa) ... on Thursday she was standing next to a Titleist bag with Callaway head covers.

I'm going into blackout mode after this post.  The last threesome just finished #9 and Sayaka Takahashi leads by one shot at -11.  Here are the first two holes by the last group (Takahashi, Miyuu Yamashita, Mamiko Higa) -

Champion apparel is getting a lot mileage this year ... first, they sign a big star in Minami Katsu and now Yamashita is trying to win on Sunday.  But, the player who really has my attention is Takahashi.  First, those shrink-wrapped top & pants ensembles with matching shoes would get Mr. Blackwell's approval.  Second, I think she is taking the club back slightly closed, which seems to minimize her face rotation.  As a result, she hits straight arrows, which will keep her in play A LOT ... that's probably why she did so well at the USWO last December.  I think David Duval is the only TV golf analyst I can recall who has spoken out on the dangers of excess face rotation, and he is so right.  Of course, Higa has the most raw juice in this group, but it also kicked her right out of the tournament with her drive going OB-right on #2.

Nothing special with Sky Kim, Even overall thru 14 holes.