| Ai Miyazato 宮里 藍 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Miyazato at the2010 Women's British Open | |||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Born | (1985-06-19)19 June 1985 (age 39) Higashi, Okinawa,Japan | ||||
| Height | 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) | ||||
| Sporting nationality |  Japan | ||||
| Residence | Higashi, Okinawa, Japan | ||||
| Career | |||||
| Turned professional | 2004 | ||||
| Former tour(s) | LPGA of Japan Tour LPGA Tour Ladies European Tour | ||||
| Professional wins | 25 | ||||
| Number of wins by tour | |||||
| LPGA Tour | 9 | ||||
| Ladies European Tour | 2 | ||||
| LPGA of Japan Tour | 15 | ||||
| Other | 1 | ||||
| Best results in LPGA major championships | |||||
| Chevron Championship | T15: 2007 | ||||
| Women's PGA C'ship | T3:2006,2010 | ||||
| U.S. Women's Open | T6:2009,2011 | ||||
| Women's British Open | T3:2009 | ||||
| Evian Championship | T15: 2013 | ||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||
| |||||
Ai Miyazato (宮里 藍,Miyazato Ai, born 19 June 1985) is a former Japaneseprofessional golfer who competed on the U.S.-basedLPGA Tour and theLPGA of Japan Tour (JLPGA). She was the top-ranked golfer in theWomen's World Golf Rankings on three occasions in 2010.
Miyazato was born on 19 June 1985 inHigashi, Okinawa,Japan. Her father and brothers are professional golfers. Her older brotherYūsaku has won seven times on theJapan Golf Tour and played in the2018 Masters Tournament.
As an amateur in 2003, she won a professional event on theLPGA of Japan Tour, the Dunlop Ladies Open, inMiyagi Prefecture where she was attending high school at the time.
In her 2004 rookie season on the JLPGA Tour Miyazato won five tournaments. In February 2005, she represented Japan along withRui Kitada and won the inauguralWomen's World Cup of Golf.[1] In 2005, she won six events on the JLPGA tour, and was the #2 ranked player on the JLPGA Tour behindYuri Fudoh.
In winning the Japan Open Championship at age 20 in 2005, Miyazato became the youngest player on the JLPGA Tour to win a major. Furthering the notion that Miyazato revived the JLPGA Tour after the retirement ofAyako Okamoto, over 32,000 spectators, the largest gallery ever to attend a JLPGA event, witnessed the final round.
At the LPGAQualifying Tournament in Florida in December 2005, Miyazato easily secured her tour card for the2006 season. She was under-par in four of the five rounds, and was 12 strokes ahead of the closest competitor, which set a record for the largest margin of victory.[2] Back in Japan, on 15 December, she played the opening rounds of the Okinawa Open, becoming the first Japanese woman to compete in a domestic men's professional event, although she failed to make the cut for the final rounds.
In Miyazato’s fourth season on the LPGA Tour in2009, she earned her first win at theEvian Masters inFrance, defeatingSophie Gustafson at the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.[3]
In2010, Miyazato won four of the first nine official tournaments on the LPGA Tour and on 21 June rose to number 1 in theWomen's World Golf Rankings. She held the spot for only one week and was replaced byCristie Kerr who held the spot for three weeks, before Miyazato regained the spot again on 19 July, by a narrow margin of 0.0006 average points.[4]
In August, Miyazato won for the fifth time in 2010 at theSafeway Classic in Oregon, with a two-stroke victory over Kerr andNa Yeon Choi. She regained the top spot in the world rankings, which had been briefly retaken by Kerr, but then gave it up to Kerr on 25 October.
In2011, Miyazato won the Order of Merit on theLadies European Tour (LET), despite only playing in two events on that tour, the co-sponsored events with the LPGA. The LET has no minimum tournament requirements for membership and her second win at theEvian Masters, whose purse is much larger than most LET events, earned her enough to top the list.[5]
In April 2012, Miyazato won her eighth LPGA event at the inauguralLPGA Lotte Championship inHawaii, four strokes ahead of runners-upAzahara Muñoz andMeena Lee.
Miyazato has endorsements deals withSuntory,Bridgestone Corporation,Japan Airlines,Oakley,Honda, Hisamitsu,Mitsubishi Electric andNTT Docomo.
Her older brothers,Kiyoshi Miyazato andYūsaku Miyazato are also professional golfers. She is not related to fellow Japanese LPGA Tour playerMika Miyazato.
On 27 May 2017,Kyodo News Agency reported that Miyazato would retire at the end of the season.[6] Her last tournament was the2017 Evian Championship.
Miyazato is the first golfer to have achieved the world number one ranking without ever winning a major. Her best finish was third three times.
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up | Winner's share ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 Jul2009 | Evian Masters | 69-66-70-69=274 | −14 | Playoff |  Sophie Gustafson | 487,500 |
| 2 | 21 Feb2010 | Honda PTT LPGA Thailand | 67-67-70-63=267 | −21 | 1 stroke |  Suzann Pettersen | 195,000 |
| 3 | 28 Feb 2010 | HSBC Women's Champions | 69-71-69-69=278 | −10 | 2 strokes |  Cristie Kerr | 195,000 |
| 4 | 2 May 2010 | Tres Marias Championship | 63-72-71-67=273 | −19 | 1 stroke | Stacy Lewis | 195,000 |
| 5 | 20 Jun 2010 | ShopRite LPGA Classic | 66-67-64=197 | −16 | 2 strokes |  M. J. Hur | 225,000 |
| 6 | 22 Aug 2010 | Safeway Classic | 66-67-72=205 | −11 | 2 strokes | Choi Na-yeonCristie Kerr | 225,000 |
| 7 | 24 Jul2011 | Evian Masters | 68-68-67-70=273 | −15 | 2 strokes | Stacy Lewis | 487,500 |
| 8 | 21 Apr2012 | LPGA Lotte Championship | 71-65-70-70=276 | −12 | 4 strokes | Meena Lee Azahara Muñoz | 255,000 |
| 9 | 1 Jul 2012 | Walmart NW Arkansas Championship | 68-68-65=200 | −12 | 1 stroke | Mika MiyazatoAzahara Muñoz | 300,000 |
LPGA Tour playoff record (1–0)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2009 | Evian Masters | Sophie Gustafson | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
Tournament inbold denotes major championships in JLPGA Tour.
Results not in chronological order before 2015.
| !Tournament | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANA Inspiration | T44 | T29 | T15 | T31 | 69 | CUT | T33 | T56 | T55 | T67 | |
| Women's PGA Championship | T3 | CUT | CUT | T3 | CUT | T6 | T15 | CUT | |||
| U.S. Women's Open | CUT | T28 | T10 | T27 | T6 | T31 | T6 | T28 | T11 | CUT | |
| Women's British Open | CUT | T11 | 9 | T58 | 5 | T3 | T9 | CUT | T26 | CUT | T45 |
| The Evian Championship ^ | T15 | CUT | |||||||||
| !Tournament | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANA Inspiration | T41 | T18 | T40 |
| Women's PGA Championship | T39 | T36 | |
| U.S. Women's Open | T41 | ||
| Women's British Open | CUT | CUT | CUT |
| The Evian Championship | T38 | CUT | T32 |
^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANA Inspiration | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 12 |
| Women's PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 6 |
| U.S. Women's Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 9 |
| Women's British Open | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 8 |
| The Evian Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 53 | 38 |
| Year | Tournaments played | Cuts made* | Wins | 2nds | 3rds | Top 10s | Best finish | Earnings ($) | Money list rank | Scoring average | Scoring rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | T2 | 69,608 | n/a | 70.20 | n/a |
| 2005 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | T10 | 102,663 | n/a | 72.41 | n/a |
| 2006 | 21 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | T3 | 532,053 | 22 | 71.22 | 13 |
| 2007 | 25 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 788,477 | 17 | 73.01 | 56 |
| 2008 | 23 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | T4 | 410,833 | 46 | 72.19 | 48 |
| 2009 | 22 | 22 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 1,517,149 | 3 | 70.33 | 4 |
| 2010 | 21 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 1,457,384 | 6 | 70.65 | 7 |
| 2011 | 19 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1,007,633 | 8 | 71.63 | 18 |
| 2012 | 23 | 20 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 1,334,977 | 5 | 70.56 | 6 |
| 2013 | 20 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 526,968 | 27 | 71.29 | 26 |
| 2014 | 22 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | T12 | 119,825 | 86 | 72.75 | 106 |
| 2015 | 23 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | T14 | 164,446 | 77 | 72.06 | 59 |
| 2016 | 26 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 275,319 | 67 | 71.99 | 67 |
| 2017 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | T5 | 167,285 | 81 | 71.43 | 54 |
* Includes matchplay and other events without a cut.
| Year | Earnings (¥) | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 1,060,800 | 116 |
| 2004 | 122,972,349 | 2 |
| 2005 | 114,377,871 | 2 |
| 2006 | 58,604,501 | 10 |
| 2007 | 4,318,305 | 89 |
| 2008 | 27,892,338 | 32 |
| 2009 | 46,430,116 | 14 |
| 2010 | 16,911,853 | 48 |
| 2011 | 7,885,289 | 71 |
| 2012 | 3,493,200 | 98 |
| 2013 | 6,279,000 | 82 |
| 2014 | 3,109,000 | 104 |
| 2015 | 0 | – |
| 2016 | 0 | – |
| 2017 | 4,738,000 | 94 |
| Career | 418,072,622 | 44 |
Position inWomen's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.
| Year | World ranking | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 6 | [8] |
| 2007 | 17 | [9] |
| 2008 | 36 | [10] |
| 2009 | 8 | [11] |
| 2010 | 6 | [12] |
| 2011 | 9 | [13] |
| 2012 | 9 | [14] |
| 2013 | 21 | [15] |
| 2014 | 104 | [16] |
| 2015 | 161 | [17] |
| 2016 | 115 | [18] |
| 2017 | 105^ | [19] |
^ Miyazato was last ranked on 25 September 2017. She dropped from the ranking following her retirement.
Amateur
Professional
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
