Teen golf phenom Saki Baba earned her JLPGA Tour card for 2024 with a second-place finish at the final qualifying tournament on Friday, November 3 at the Seto Inland Sea Golf Course in Okayama Prefecture. The 18-year-old amateur shot a final-round 70 to finish five shots behind winner Minami Kiyomoto.
Baba finished the four-round event with a 12-under total of 276 and was under par each day, highlighted by a 6-under 66 on Thursday. She tied for second with Kanako Ishida in the competition that featured some 101 players at the start.
Baba, who won the US Women's Amateur Championship in August 2022 in dominating fashion at Chambers Bay outside Tacoma, Washington, carded three birdies against one bogey to finish seven shots ahead of the qualifying cutoff of 5-under on Friday.
"The shots didn't go as I expected like yesterday," Baba stated after her last round, according to Golf Digest Online. "When I came here for the first time to practice, the greens were suffering from the heat, but that was finished in a short period of time. It is thanks to everyone at the golf course that I was able to play like this."
The top 19 finishers (including ties) qualified for their JLPGA Tour cards. This year 21 women achieved their goal. Another seven players came excruciatingly close to making it, coming up just one stroke short at 4-under.
Another Test for Saki Baba
Baba will attempt to earn her LPGA Tour card in the United States later this month when she plays in the Q-Series in Mobile, Alabama, November 30-December 5 at the Magnolia Grove Golf Course. This event represents the final hurdle to making the LPGA Tour.
The Q-Series is a rigorous competition that comprises six rounds to determine which players will earn the right to play on the LPGA Tour. Baba will have to finish in the top 20 in it to earn LPGA Tour status in Category 14 (which allows players to enter 60 percent of the LPGA Tour tournaments).
Baba, the third ranked amateur in the world, now turns her attention to the Q-Series and knows she must continue her fine play there.
"I'm not relieved at all," Baba commented before adding, "I want to make good adjustments again and do my best."
Baba, a Tokyo native, said playing abroad has been a long-held aspiration.
"I have a dream of being active overseas since I was little," Baba remarked.
She added, "I want to be able to make that dream come true."
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Author: Jack Gallagher
The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @sportsjapan.
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