Sakura Yokomine Wins 2013 Ito En Ladies Golf Tournament

Sakura Yokomine, 2013 Ito En Ladies Champion

So I wake up this morning…hallelujah…with my body feeling the drain of a busy week and imploring me to stay in bed and sleep a few more hours. Since I don’t always cover the JLPGA, especially non-Major weeks, the odds were in my favor to sleep in. After all, there were 55 players competing in the final round of the 2013 Ito En Ladies Golf Tournament. I like everybody on tour, but there is only one player I would lose sleep over (well, there use to be two, but Chie Arimura is now playing in the States). The odds were 54 to 1 in my favor for sleeping in. Ah, but Ye Old Golf Gods often defy the odds. That 1 player I would happily trade snooze for is Sakura Yokomine, my favorite JLPGA player. For the 4th time in 2013, and the 22nd time in her stellar career, Sakura-sama has emerged victorius on the LPGA of Japan Tour.

Sakura-sama!

With a 4-birdie 4-under 68, Yokomine held off Yumiko Yoshida by 1 shot to win. Of course, I’m thrilled any time Sakura wins, but I do feel a bit for Yumiko. She had a clean 5 birdie round going through 16, looking to either force a playoff at 10-under overall or win with a late birdie or better. Instead, she bogeyed the par 3 17th while settling for par on 18 to fall short of Sakura. Da-Ye Na, who won Meiji Cup back in August, also had a chance to tie Yokomine. Da-Ye was brilliant with 8 birdies through the first 17 holes to put herself at 9-under with one hole to play. She needed a birdie. She scored a bogey. Instead of a playoff with Sakura, Da-Ye finished 2 shots back. Same story with Shiho Oyama. She was at 9-under needing a birdie on 18 for a playoff. Again, a bogey is what she settled for. Apparently Ye Old Golf Gods had a soft spot in their hearts for Sakura on this day. It’s best to enjoy it. On other days, Ye Old Golf Gods can be a cruel and vexing lot. Both Sakura Yokomine and Yumiko Yoshida had been tied with Rikako Morita for the 2013 JLPGA lead in victories with 3 each. Sakura now moves to the lead with her 4th win of the year. She also takes over the Player of the Year point lead and money list lead from Rikako with 2 events left. One of those events is a Major, the Japan LPGA Tour Championship Ricoh Cup, so there is still drama to unfold. But for now…yaaawwwnn…it’s time for more sleep. Here are few photos to delight you while visions of holes in one and chip-in eagles dance in my head…zzzzzzzzzzzz…

SAKURA YOKOMINE

SHIHO OYAMA

YUMIKO YOSHIDA

YURI FUDOH

AKANE YOSHINO

AYAKA WATANABE

MAYU HOSAKA

MIKI SAIKI

NA-RI KIM

RIKAKO MORITA

Position	Player	ToPar	Thru	Today	1R	2R	3R
1	Sakura Yokomine	-10	F	-4	70	68	68
2	Yumiko Yoshida	-9	F	-4	69	70	68
3T	Da-Ye Na	-8	F	-7	70	73	65
	Mayu Hattori	-8	F	-3	69	70	69
	Na-Ri Kim	-8	F	-2	67	71	70
	Shiho Oyama	-8	F	-1	69	68	71
7T	Yayoi Arasaki	-7	F	-3	68	72	69
	Kumiko Kaneda	-7	F	-2	67	72	70
	Ayaka Watanabe	-7	F	E	69	68	72
10T	Rikako Morita	-6	F	-3	69	72	69
	Phoebe Yao	-6	F	-1	70	69	71
12T	Miki Sakai	-5	F	-4	72	71	68
	Akane Yoshino	-5	F	+1	65	73	73
14T	Kaori Nakamura	-3	*F	-3	73	71	69
	Sun-Ju Ahn	-3	F	-2	70	73	70
	Ji-Hee Lee	-3	F	-2	72	71	70
	Ritsuko Ryu	-3	*F	-4	73	72	68
	Mamiko Higa	-3	F	-1	73	69	71
	Mayu Hosaka	-3	F	E	69	72	72
	Miki Saiki	-3	F	+4	69	68	76
21T	Kaori Ohe	-2	F	-2	72	72	70
	Teresa Lu	-2	F	-1	75	68	71
	Sae Yamamura	-2	*F	-2	74	70	70
	Junko Omote	-2	F	-1	74	69	71
	Harukyo Nomura	-2	F	E	74	68	72
	Soo-Yun Kang	-2	F	+1	68	73	73
	Eun-Bi Jang	-2	F	+1	69	72	73
	Yukari Baba	-2	F	+2	71	69	74
	Kaori Aoyama	-2	F	+3	69	70	75
30T	Young Kim	-1	*F	-1	70	74	71
	Yuki Sakurai	-1	*F	-2	70	75	70
	Maiko Wakabayashi	-1	F	+3	70	70	75
	Rui Kitada	-1	F	+3	70	70	75
34T	Yuri Fudoh	E	*F	E	72	72	72
	Risa Ogusu	E	F	E	71	73	72
	Ayako Uehara	E	*F	-1	74	71	71
	Tomoko Kusakabe	E	F	+4	70	70	76
38T	Esther Lee	+1	F	+1	72	72	73
	Hiroko Fukushima	+1	F	+3	70	72	75
	Ji-Min Lee	+1	F	+3	70	72	75
	O.Sattaya	+1	*F	E	75	70	72
	Na-Ri Lee	+1	*F	E	75	70	72
	Erina Hara	+1	*F	E	68	77	72
	Mihoko Iseri	+1	F	+5	68	72	77
45T	Akane Iijima	+2	*F	+2	71	73	74
	Megumi Kido	+2	*F	+2	74	70	74
	Yuki Ichinose	+2	F	+4	69	73	76
48T	Yeo-Jin Kang	+3	*F	+3	71	73	75
	Shoko Sasaki	+3	*F	+2	68	77	74
50T	Aoi Nagata	+4	F	+5	74	69	77
	Mi-Jeong Jeon	+4	*F	+4	70	74	76
52T	Hyun-Ju Shin	+5	*F	+5	71	73	77
	Yuko Saitoh	+5	*F	+5	71	73	77
	Saki Okamura	+5	*F	+4	72	73	76
	Lala Anai	+5	*F	+4	67	78	76

2013 JLPGA WINNERS (Numbers in parentheses are official career JLPGA wins)

Dates	Tournament	Location	Prize fund (¥)	Winner
Mar 8–10	Daikin Orchid Ladies Golf Tournament	Okinawa	80,000,000	Rikako Morita (3)
Mar 15–17	Yokohama Tire Golf Tournament PRGR Ladies Cup	Kochi	80,000,000	Jeon Mi-jeong (22)
Mar 22–24	T-Point Ladies Golf Tournament	Kagoshima	70,000,000	Yuki Ichinose (1)
Mar 29–31	AXA Ladies Golf Tournament in Miyazaki	Miyazaki	80,000,000	Natsuka Hori (1)
Apr 4–7	Yamaha Ladies Open Katsuragi	Shizuoka	100,000,000	Mamiko Higa (1)
Apr 12–14	Studio Alice Women’s Open	Hyogo	60,000,000	Kim Na-ri (2)
Apr 19–21	KKT Cup Vantelin Ladies Open	Kumamoto	70,000,000	Miki Saiki (6)
Apr 26–28	Fuji Sankei Ladies Classic	Shizuoka	80,000,000	Miki Saiki (7)
May 3–5	CyberAgent Ladies Golf Tournament	Chiba	70,000,000	Sakura Yokomine (19)
May 9–12	World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup	Ibaraki	120,000,000	Hiromi Mogi (6)
May 17–19	Hokken No Madoguchi Ladies	Fukuoka	120,000,000	Onnarin Sattayabanphot (1)
May 24–26	Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open	Aichi	70,000,000	Rikako Morita (4)
May 31 – Jun 2	Resort Trust Ladies	Hyogo	70,000,000	Mamiko Higa (2)
Jun 7–9	Yonex Ladies Golf Tournament	Niigata	60,000,000	Junko Omote (3)
Jun 13–16	Suntory Ladies Open	Hyogo	100,000,000	Rikako Morita (5)
Jun 21–23	Nichirei Ladies	Chiba	80,000,000	Yumiko Yoshida (2)
Jun 27–30	Earth Mondahmin Cup	Chiba	140,000,000	Natsuka Hori (2)
Jul 5-7	Nichi-Iko Women’s Open Golf Tournament	Toyama	60,000,000	Kim Young (1)
Jul 19–21	Samantha Thavasa Girls Collection Ladies Tournament	Ibaraki	60,000,000	Yumiko Yoshida (3)
Aug 9–11	Meiji Cup	Hokkaido	90,000,000	Na Da-ye (1)
Aug 16–18	NEC Karuizawa 72 Golf Tournament	Nagano	70,000,000	Misuzu Narita (2)
Aug 23–25	CAT Ladies	Kanagawa	60,000,000	Ahn Sun-ju (12)
Aug 30 – Sep 1	Nitori Ladies Golf Tournament	Hokkaido	100,000,000	Ahn Sun-ju (13)
Sep 6–8	Golf 5 Ladies Professional Golf Tournament	Hokkaido	60,000,000	Yumiko Yoshida (4)
Sep 12–15	Japan LPGA Championship Konica Minolta Cup	Hokkaido	140,000,000	Lee Bo-mee (4)
Sep 20–22	Munsingwear Ladies Tokai Classic	Aichi	80,000,000	Sakura Yokomine (20)
Sep 27–29	Miyagi TV Cup Dunlop Women’s Open Golf Tournament	Miyagi	70,000,000	Lee Na-ri (1)
Oct 3–6	Japan Women’s Open Golf Championship	Kanagawa	140,000,000	Mika Miyazato (2)
Oct 11–13	Stanley Ladies Golf Tournament	Shizuoka	90,000,000	Kang Soo-yun (1)
Oct 18–20	Fujitsu Ladies	Chiba	80,000,000	Lee Na-ri (2)
Oct 24–27	Nobuta Group Masters GC Ladies	Hyogo	140,000,000	Sakura Yokomine (21)
Nov 1–3	Hisako Higuchi – Morinaga Weider Ladies	Chiba	70,000,000	Lee Bo-mee (5)
Nov 8–10	Mizuno Classic	Mie	US$1,200,000	Teresa Lu (1)
Nov 15–17	Ito En Ladies Golf Tournament	Chiba	90,000,000	Sakura Yokomine (22)

2013 JLPGA MONEY LIST THROUGH ITO EN LADIES

Ranking	Name	Amount	Average	Matches	Rounds
1	Sakura Yokomine	¥119,007,638	70.5114	31	96R
2	Rikako Morita	¥107,315,049	71.0400	33	100R
3	Yumiko Yoshida	¥85,404,900	71.2284	33	97R
4	Miki Saiki	¥83,102,496	71.0759	28	80R
5	Teresa Lu	¥79,323,600	70.9536	29	85R
6	Sun-Ju Ahn	¥79,319,680	70.3494	25	75R
7	Mamiko Higa	¥72,605,413	71.9035	32	93R
8	Bo Mee Lee	¥70,337,099	70.7467	25	75R
9	Natsuka Hori	¥64,740,644	72.2523	34	95R
10	Mi-Jeong Jeon	¥61,150,899	71.3333	26	78R

2013 JLPGA PLAYER OF THE YEAR THROUGH ITO EN LADIES

Ranking	Name	Total points	Grade point	Round number	Wins	Earnings
1	Sakura Yokomine	499.5pt	403.5pt	96.0pt	4
2	Rikako Morita	456.0pt	356.0pt	100.0pt	3
3	Yumiko Yoshida	408.5pt	311.5pt	97.0pt	3
4	Teresa Lu	390.0pt	305.0pt	85.0pt	1
5	Sun-Ju Ahn	389.5pt	314.5pt	75.0pt	2
6	Bo Mee Lee	384.0pt	309.0pt	75.0pt	2
7	Miki Saiki	377.5pt	297.5pt	80.0pt	2
8	Na Ri Lee	329.5pt	237.5pt	92.0pt	2
9	Mamiko Higa	325.0pt	232.0pt	93.0pt	2
10	Ritsuko Ryu	323.5pt	227.5pt	96.0pt

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