Japan yesterday hailed a fairy-tale finish for Hinako Shibuno, the 20-year-old golf sensation known as “Smiling Cinderella” who was crowned the winner at the Women’s British Open.
“She did it!” said TV presenter Tomoaki Ogura after Shibuno, in her debut tournament overseas, became Japan’s first Major winner in 42 years.
“Who expected she could do this much in her first competition abroad, a Major championship?” Ogura said in his morning show on a private TV network.
Photo: Reuters
Shibuno’s win at her first Major dominated morning television shows in Japan, topping news items. The story broke too late for the front pages of Japan’s newspapers, but was splashed across their Web sites.
Despite the huge popularity of golf in Japan, only one Japanese player — male or female — had previously won a Major: Chako Higuchi at the 1977 Women’s PGA Championship.
Social media was abuzz with congratulations for the 20-year-old Shibuno, who only turned pro last year.
“A star is born!” one Japanese user tweeted.
“A historic achievement,” another wrote.
On Japanese television, Higuchi said Shibuno looked as “relaxed” as if she were playing in Japan.
Shibuno hit a gutsy 18-foot birdie putt at the final hole to seal victory at Woburn on Sunday, finishing at 18-under-par overall after a fourth-round 68 as she beat Lizette Salas of the US by a single stroke.
South Korea’s world No. 1 Ko Jin-young was third following a 66 to finish at 16-under for the tournament. Taiwan’s Teresa Lu (seven-under) finished in a share of 16th, while Hsu Wei-ling missed the cut with scores of 76 and 73.
Jun Sato, chief of the golf club where Shibuno practised until she graduated from high school, told the Web site of the Mainichi Shimbun that he was elated by the victory.
“I don’t just feel happy, I feel superb!” he said.
Shibuno herself seemed overwhelmed by the victory.
“I didn’t feel that nervous when I was on the last putt,” she told reporters.
However, after the win “I was just covered in goosebumps and I feel so tense now I just don’t know what to say,” she said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
WYNDHAM
AP, GREENSBORO, North Carolina
J.T. Poston won the Wyndham Championship for his first PGA Tour title, shooting an eight-under 62 for a one-stroke victory.
The native North Carolinian began his round three strokes back, took the lead for good with a birdie on the par-five 15th hole, then finished with three straight pars to earn US$1,116,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points at the regular-season finale.
Webb Simpson was at 21-under after a 65. Byeong Hun-an, who held or shared the lead after each of the first three rounds, three-putted the 18th for a bogey and a 67 to finish two shots back. Trying to force a playoff with a birdie, he nearly holed a 60-footer, but had it run well past.
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
Marc Marquez continued his winning streak as he cruised to victory in the Hungarian GP sprint by two seconds on Saturday night to pad his championship lead. It was a seventh straight Sprint victory for the Spaniard, who has also won the last six longer Sunday grand prix races on his factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio, an Italian with the VR46 Ducati satellite team was a distant second at Balaton Park, followed by his team-mate and compatriot Franco Morbidelli third. Marquez, a six-time world champion, started the race from pole position. “I felt someone really close on the first corner, from there I
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
Russian Diana Shnaider continued her impressive winning streak in tour-level finals at the Monterrey Open on Saturday, beating compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the WTA 500 event’s final. Shnaider had little trouble in the opening set but struggled in a topsy-turvy second, as Alexandrova clinched the set’s fifth and decisive break at 5-4 to force a decider. Third-seed Shnaider carved out an advantage early on in the third set when she broke Alexandrova in the first game and held serve to go 2-0 up, an advantage she would not relinquish. World No. 12 Shnaider is now unbeaten in her last five
RSS