| Michiko Hattori 服部道子 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Full name | Michiko Hattori | ||||||||
| Born | (1968-09-08)8 September 1968 (age 57) Nisshin, Aichi, Japan | ||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||||||||
| Sporting nationality |  Japan | ||||||||
| Career | |||||||||
| College | University of Texas | ||||||||
| Turned professional | 1992 | ||||||||
| Former tour | LPGA of Japan Tour | ||||||||
| Professional wins | 18 | ||||||||
| Number of wins by tour | |||||||||
| LPGA of Japan Tour | 18 | ||||||||
| Best results in LPGA major championships | |||||||||
| Chevron Championship | T58: 1999 | ||||||||
| Women's PGA C'ship | CUT: 2005 | ||||||||
| U.S. Women's Open | T21: 1987 | ||||||||
| du Maurier Classic | DNP | ||||||||
| Women's British Open | T24: 2003 | ||||||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Michiko Hattori (Japanese:服部道子, born 8 September 1968) is a Japaneseprofessional golfer and former Player of the Year on theLPGA of Japan Tour. Before turning professional, she became the first Japanese born champion of theU.S. Women's Amateur.
Hattori was among the most decorated amateur and collegiate golfers in history. At age 16 in 1985 she became the third youngest,[1] and only Japanese born, champion of theU.S. Women's Amateur, and in 1986 became the first golfer to win medalist honors at the U.S. Women's Amateur andU.S. Girls' Junior in the same year.[2] Hattori is a three-time U.S. Women's Amateurstroke play medalist (1985–1987), and the youngest ever winner of the Japan Women's Amateur Championship (age 14). She won three Japan Women's Amateur titles and the 1988Canadian Women's Amateur. She is one of 12 foreign winners of the U.S. Women's Amateur in its 115-year history, and one of 11 golfers to have won the title on their first attempt. She is one of six to have won U.S. Amateur medalist honors three or more times, and the only golfer to have done so for the past 70 years.[3]
Hattori lead Japan to four consecutive top-5 finishes at the IGF World Amateur Team ChampionshipsEspirito Santo Trophy, the country's best ever performances in the bi-annual competition.[4] In 1987, she won the individual title and led Japan to a team victory in theQueen Sirikit Cup, a prestigious annual competition between Asian nations; other former individual winners of the cup includeHiromi Kobayashi andLPGA members to beYani Tseng,Mi Hyun Kim,Hee-Won Han andJeong Jang.
Hattori had a storied collegiate career at theUniversity of Texas, where she won 10 individual titles and was twice named Collegiate Golfer of the Year. She was the 1990 recipient of theHonda-Broderick Award for Golf.[5][6] Among her achievements was finishing in the top ten in 38 of 40 events in which she competed during her four years at Texas, including three individual top-ten finishes at theNCAA Women's Golf Championship (tied for 1st at the end of regulation in 1989; lost in playoff).
In her first season as a professional, Hattori recorded 11 top-10 finishes and placed 8th on the money list on her way to being named the 1992 Japan LPGARookie of the Year. She won three times with 15 top-10s in her second season on tour (1993), and in 1998 won five titles, including theJapan LPGA Championship, and placed second three times. She was named the JLPGA Player of the Year and won the season-ending money title. Her most recent win was the Studio Alice Women's Open in 2005. Hattori has won 18 Japan LPGA titles and finished in the top three on tour 56 times; she boasts career totals of 150 top-10 and 300 top-25 finishes through the end of the 2008 season. She has finished in the top-10 on the JLPGA money list seven times, and placed in the top-25 for fifteen consecutive seasons (1992–2006).
Among Hattori's professional wins are twoJapan Women's Open Golf Championships, the Japan LPGA Championship, and twoFujitsu Ladies Open titles. She is also winner of the 1998IDC Otsuka Ladies Championship, succeeding 1997 winnerAnnika Sörenstam.
Tournament inbold denotes major championships in LPGA of Japan Tour.
| 1987–1991 | 4-Time 1st Team All-American |
| 1987–1991 | 4-Time Southwest Conference Player of the Year |
| 1989 | Golfweek Collegiate Golfer of the Year |
| 1989 | NGCA Collegiate Golfer of the Year |
| 1990 | Honda-Broderick Award – Nation's Top Collegiate Golfer[6] |
| Year | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top 10 | Top 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 2 | 5 | |||
| 1992 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 21 | |
| 1993 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 24 |
| 1994 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 21 |
| 1995 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 19 | |
| 1996 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 21 | |
| 1997 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 15 | |
| 1998 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 19 | |
| 1999 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 20 |
| 2000 | 1 | 6 | 16 | ||
| 2001 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 14 |
| 2002 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 11 | |
| 2003 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 18 | |
| 2004 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 20 | |
| 2005 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 17 |
| 2006 | 2 | 10 | 22 | ||
| 2007 | 1 | 5 | 11 | ||
| 2008 | 4 | 6 | |||
| 2009 | 2 | ||||
| 2011 | |||||
| 2012 | |||||
| Total | 18 | 25 | 13 | 150 | 302 |
Amateur