Miami Herald (Sunday)

Japanese teen wins at Augusta

- From Miami Herald Wire Services

Japanese teenager Tsubasa Kajitani overcame a double bogey on the 17th hole by closing with a superb par save, getting her into a playoff that she won on the first extra hole Saturday to capture the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in Augusta, Georgia.

In a fitting conclusion to a final round filled with more blunders than birdies, she won with a par when Emilia Migliaccio’s delicate chip on the 18th hole in the playoff didn’t clear the sand.

Kajitani thought she had lost the tournament, just like so many other players on a chaotic back nine, when she took four shots from the front of the 17th green for a double bogey.

She wasn’t alone in her mistakes, however, and when she used the slope to perfection on the 18th hole for a pitch that grazed the edge of the cup, she had an even-par 72.

Migliaccio closed with a 70 and already was in at 1-over 217, with no idea she would have more holes to play at the home of the Masters.

In the playoff on the 18th, Migliaccio was right of the bunker near the green, leaving her a delicate shot over sand to a fast green. She left it in the bunker, and Kajitani won with beautifull­y judged pace from the back of the green that left her 4 feet away for the winning par.

The 17-year-old was in tears when it was over, saying only to an interprete­r, “I can’t describe it.”

This was nothing like the first edition of a tournament already elite in stature because of where it’s played. Two years ago, Jennifer Kupcho and

Maria Fassi staged a dynamic duel along the back nine, and Kupcho delivered a charge so familiar at Augusta National with an eagle and three birdies over the final six holes.

On greens that were far faster — an idea of what to expect at the Masters next week, perhaps? — this was all about backpedali­ng. Nine players had at least a share of the lead at some point in the final round.

Only two were left — Kajitani and Migliaccio, who closed with a 70 — and they finished well before the last groups. They were at 1-over 217, and six players finished one shot behind. Three of them made bogey on the final hole.

In the playoff on the 18th, Migliaccio hit her approach so far right it was on the other side of the bunker. Facing a delicate pitch to a fast green, she came up short and into the sand.

“Oh, no,” she said, putting her hand over her face.

Kajitani had beautiful pace on a putt from the back of the green to 4 feet away, and she calmly holed it for the winning par.

This edition was more about collapses than charges, though it was no less compelling because Augusta National has more than decades of both. When Woods won in 2019, three players around the lead hit into the water on the 12th hole.

U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Rose Zhang, the top-ranked woman in amateur golf, was the only player under par when she hooked her tee shot into Rae’s Creek on the par-5 13th.

She found golf balls in the water, none of them hers, so she had to treat it as a lost ball and return to the tee and made an 8.

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