Saso glued on Olympic return

Yuka Saso is looking good as she is tied at the fifth spot entering the final round of the US Women’s Open at the Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

But collecting her second title in the prestigious tourney is just one of her goals.

The 22-year-old Saso revealed that she is going all out in the US Women’s Open in a bid to gain ranking points that will give her a return ticket to the Olympics that will be held in Paris next month.

But making it to the Olympics will not be easy.

Since transferring nationality from the Philippines to Japan in 2022, the road to a berth in the Summer Olympics became rocky for Saso as the International Golf Federation (IGF) allows only a maximum of two golfers per country that is outside the top 15.

Although Saso is at No. 30 in the Rolex Women’s World Ranking with 142.29 points, she is not part of the top 60 in the latest Olympic ranking of the IGF.

Six-time Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour winner Nasa Hataoka leads all the Japanese in the Olympic ranking at No. 17 while 11-time LPGA Tour of Japan winner Yamashita Miyu is at No. 19.

Saso has until the third week of June to crack into the top 60 of the Olympic ranking.

‘I work on every aspect of my game, from driving to putting, because to win a tournament, everything has to work together.’

“I’m not sure where my ranking is right now, but I’ll try to play well in the next two tournaments to give myself a chance to get into the Olympics,” said Saso, who finished tied for the ninth spot in her Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021.

On the contrary, the Philippines already has two players inside the top 60 of the Olympic ranking.

Tokyo Olympian Bianca Pagdanganan is at No. 37 while Dottie Ardina is at No. 57.

National Golf Association of the Philippines secretary general Bones Floro said the Olympic chances of Pagdanganan and Ardina look bright.

“Bianca is already pretty sure but the qualification period is until the third week of June,” Floro said in a previous message to Daily Tribune.

“Unofficially, she’s in. She just has to come up with good results in her next tournaments.”

Still, Saso said she will work hard to enter the Olympics via backdoor — or if and when a qualified athlete backs out.

“I work on every aspect of my game, from driving to putting, because to win a tournament, everything has to work together,” she said, adding that she is satisfied with her recent performance in the LPGA Tour, including the US Women’s Open.

“This year’s been pretty good, every tournament I’ve made fewer mistakes compared to last year. I’ve been consistent with my shots and I think a bit of luck in a few rounds helped.”