Stat profiles for 1500 golfers
After starting slowly on the LPGA Tour, Ai Miyazato has shown a new found confidence in which we look at how she found that and how she won for the second week in a row.
AI Miyazato overcame opening her round of a bogey-bogey start to go on and shot 69 for a ten under par total to win by two shots over Cristie Kerr, who shot 68. With the victory, she become the first player in 44 years to win the first two LPGA Tour events of a season. Marilynn Smith was the last player to win the first two events, accomplishing the feat in 1966. Babe Zaharias (1951), Louise Suggs (1952) and Mickey Wright (1963) also swept season-opening events.
Ai Miyazato after winning the HSBC Women's Champions  Photo credit: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images |
| Back-to-back winners of the first two events on the LPGA Tour: |
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Ai Miyazato - 2010 |
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Honda PTT LPGA Thailand |
| HSBC Women's Champions |
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Marilyn Smith - 1966 |
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St. Petersburg Women's Open |
| Louise Suggs Delray Beach Invitational |
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Mickey Wright - 1963 |
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Sea Island Women's Invitational |
| St. Petersburg Women's Open |
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Louise Suggs - 1952 |
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Jacksonville Open |
| Tampa Open |
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Babe Zaharias - 1951 |
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Ponte Vedra Beach Women's Open |
| Tampa Women's Open |
Miyazato took a while before she started showing her potential on the LPGA Tour, it was her third LPGA victory. She won the Evian Masters last July for her first LPGA title and has won 15 times in Japan.
Miyazato started playing on the LPGA Tour in 2006 and had a serious lack of confidence. After getting worst in the confidence department, Miyazato went to the VISION54 school, which is run by Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott. There Miyazato was told to change her behavior off the course, was advised on how to better spend her days off getting away from the game and how to talk with the media, making sure to emphasize the good shots and not talking about the negative aspects of her round. All of that started to take roots as Miyazato gained more confidence and it paid dividends with her victory in France last summer. As Miyazato won, she placed a lot of the credit on what was learned at VISION54:
"Lynn and Pia have helped me learn how to more fully realize the joy and passion I have for the game of the golf. They have shown me that magic is possible and that the only limit to what I can achieve on the golf course is my beliefs. If you believe in greatness you can make greatness happen."
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On Sunday after Miyazato bogeyed her opening two holes, nine players were tied for the lead. During the day, most of them dropped back with the exception of Kerr who had a one shot lead after making birdie on 16. At that point she was six under for her round and looked destined to win. But while Miyazato got a share of the lead back with a birdie at 16, Kerr self destructed with poor drives at both 17 and 18 which led to bogeys. Playing two groups back in the final pairing, Miyazato made easy pars on 17 and 18 for the victory.
Four players tied for third place at 7-under-pra 281, including defending champion Jiyai Shin, Suzann Pettersen, Yani Tseng and Song-Hee Kim. Some other scores of note, Michelle Wie shot 70 and finished T15th. Karrie Webb shot a final round 71 and finished T19th. Lorena Ochoa who shot 79 on Friday, her second worst round in her LPGA career 72 and finished at 4 over and T38th. After opening up with a 68 to co-lead, she played her final 54 holes in 8 over par. With her T18th finish last week in Thailand many will question how much longer she can stay number one player on the LPGA Tour.
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