Players to watch
Hataoka: a regular in the top-10 at Majors over recent seasons
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Nasa Hataoka Japan
Age: 23 Professional wins: 11 Major victories: 0
A superstar named after a space programme, Nasa Hataoka is surely a player on the cusp of becoming a Major champion Words: Rob McGarr
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idely regarded as the best player in the world without a Major title to her name, Nasa Hataoka has spent the majority of the past four years inside the top 10 of the Women’s World Golf Rankings, at times reaching as high as third in the world. Hataoka’s parents named their daughter in the hope she would be inspired to chase the stars and achieve great heights. So far, so good. The diminutive, Kasama-born golfer’s career saw a very successful launch and appears to be a long way from any sign of descent. She has won at least one professional title every year since turning pro in 2016, barring a Covid-ravaged 2020 season, racking up six LPGA Tour wins and six LPGA of Japan Tour titles to date (one of which was the co-sanctioned Toto Japan Classic, giving her a total of 11 career wins so far). Hataoka has five top-10 Major finishes in the past four seasons, including runner-up spots at the Women’s PGA Championship in 2018 and US Women’s Open last year, where she started the final round six shots back but still managed to force a play-off, before eventually losing on the third hole of sudden death to Yuka Saso. While that leaves Hataoka still hunting her first Major victory, she did win the 2016 Japan Women’s Open Golf Championship – a Major on the LPGA of Japan Tour. She was still an amateur and just 17 at the time, becoming the youngest player and first amateur to win a JLPGA Major title. Hataoka was third on the LPGA Tour money list last season, behind Jin Young Ko and Nelly Korda, and has already tasted victory in 2022, with rounds of 67-68-67-67 securing a
dominant five-shot margin at April’s DIO Implant LA Open. That performance, being the only player in the field to shoot four rounds in the 60s, came after a FaceTime video call with her new coach, whom she had never met in person. Hataoka has fallen short in each of the four play-offs she has been in to date, so she may be hoping to get the job done in 72 holes at Muirfield. And she has met her coach face-toface now, so anything is possible.
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Hataoka was third on the LPGA Tour money list last season, behind Jin Young Ko and Nelly Korda
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