Yuka Saso, of Japan, hits off the second tee during the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open golf tournament at Lancaster Country Club, Sunday, June 2, 2024, in Lancaster, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Yuka Saso, the Philippine-born, Japanese passport-holding standout in the US LPGA, and Rianne Malixi, the 17-year-old phenom, share one thing in common aside from being great at golf: Both are Filipinos holding national foreign championships.
They are set to receive invites to play in the revival of the Philippine Open next month to add a twist to the $500,000 event that will kick off the Asian Tour season at the Masters layout of Manila Southwoods in Carmona, Cavite.
“They deserve our invitation, Yuka and Rianne being proud Filipinos who hold foreign national championships,” Al Panlilio, the chairman of the organizing National Golf Association of the Philippines, told the Inquirer on Thursday afternoon after sending out the invites for Saso and Malixi.
“We have no expectations from them but to compete and allow our countrymen to see them play live,” Panlilio, also a golf nut, added.
Saso, who won the first of her two US Women’s Opens while still a Filipino in 2021, is again the reigning champion of the event after winning it for the second time last June in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Malixi, meanwhile, holds both the US Girls’ Junior and US Women’s Amateur titles, becoming just the second player to do so after South Korea’s Seong Eun-jeong eight years ago.
Rianne Malixi guns down three birdies against a bogey in round one. —R&A PHOTO
Not the first time
Should both accept, this will not be the first time that women will be playing in the Open, but the first that the lady participants carry such astounding credentials which merited their inclusions.
“It would be a joy to watch them play against some of the region’s best,” Panlilio added. “It will be something for our countrymen to see them in the flesh.”
The duo will play the same conditions as the men as Saso and Malixi will also tee off from the black tees of the Masters, which will measure well over 7,300 yards for the 72-hole championship slated Jan. 23 to Jan. 26.
While the last US Women’s Open played at Lancaster Country Club was over 6,629 yards, the average length for LPGA tournaments is just over 6,400 yards, with the US women’s amateur events playing slightly shorter than that.
Team Philippines will be represented very well as far as the men are concerned, with former champions Miguel Tabuena and Angelo Que leading the charge and both having local knowledge of the Jack Nicklaus-designed layout.
The Masters is being spruced up to perfect championship shape as it bounces back from the devastation brought about by Supertyphoon “Kristine” (international name: Trami) a couple of months back that rendered a four-hole stretch from No. 4 unplayable.