Japan’s Miyu Yamashita captured her first major title in commanding fashion at the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales
Entering the final round with a one-shot lead, the 24-year-old carded three birdies on the front nine and dropped her only shot of the day on the 17th, to seal a two-shot victory.
“To win such a historic tournament in front of all these fans is such an incredible feeling, and to have my family around me is just amazing”, said the champion. “To be part of such a moment in history is something very, very special.”
This major title adds to her success on the LPGA of Japan Tour, where she already has 13 titles, and becomes the sixth major champion from Japan. Before her breakthrough win, Yamashita’s best result in a major was runner-up at the 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Earlier this year, she placed T6 at the same event and most recently finished T14 at the Amundi Evian Championship.
England’s Charley Hull was two shots back on nine-under par in T2 alongside Japan’s Minami Katsu.
Hull was right in contention until she made bogeys on 16 and 17 which made it a long way back for the four-time LET winner, who was chasing her first major title after four second-place finishes.
“Towards the end I didn’t even hit a bad shot on 16. I hit a perfect tee shot, and just the wind didn’t even move it like an inch. It was a bit unfortunate, then missed that putt on 17. A shame about 18 because I had a pretty high chip over the bunker, and I’d done pretty well just to get it there. It’s unfortunate, but I felt like I was very much in control of my game today. I don’t feel like I miss-hit any shots out there. I hit it pretty pure.”
Two shots further back in a tie for fourth were Japan’s Rio Takeda and South Korea’s A Lim Kim. England’s Lottie Woad finished tied 8th after coming into the event as the bookmakers’ favourite following her victory at the previous week’s Scottish Open on her professional debut.
“I don’t think it affected my golf, but there was definitely a lot more attention, a lot more eyes on me,” Woad said about the expectation placed on her shoulders. “I feel like I handled it pretty well overall and was just sticking to my game, just trying to focus on the preparation really and not let it distract me too much. It was a pretty good week overall, it was pretty solid.”
SRIXON SUCCESS
Yamashita used almost a complete bagful of Srixon/Cleveland clubs to record her first major win, including a Srixon ZXi driver, Srixon ZX Mk II Fairway Woods (3, 5), Srixon ZX Mk II hybrids (4, 5), Srixon ZXi5 6-iron, Srixon ZXi7 irons (7-PW), Cleveland RTZ wedges,(48°, 52°, 58°), plus a TaylorMade Spider Tour putter. She also plays Srixon’s Z Star ball. She plays with Fujikura’s SR flex shafts in her woods and Dynamic Gold 85 R300s in her irons.
While ranking just 138th in distance this week, at just under 210 yards off the tee, Yamashita was one of the most accurate players in the field, ranking T4 in GIR and T7 in fairways.
GROWING FAN ENGAGEMENT
The AIG Women’s Open enjoyed a bumper attendance this week and hit some new peaks in terms of broadcast audience share and digital reach and engagement.
More than 47,000 fans attended the five days of the Championship at Royal Porthcawl, making it the largest women’s sporting event ever in Wales. Families and children attended in large numbers with almost 2,500 children coming along through The R&A’s longstanding Kids go Free initiative.
The championship made significant progress in capturing greater TV audience share in the UK with the first two rounds attracting the event’s highest ever average audience for first and second days on Sky Sports.
Digital fan engagement was also strong with a 144% year on year increase in YouTube views, a 93% increase in the number of hours watched and a 133% increase in engagements. On social media, the AIG Women’s Open Instagram account achieved its highest ever day of engagement on Saturday. To date, there has been a 221% year on year increase in social media impressions/views across the week compared to 2024 and the growth in social followers was up by 316% compared to last year.
Mark Darbon, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “The AIG Women’s Open is making significant strides across the board. We are delighted with how many fans have attended this week and the numbers of fans who have tuned in on television and engaged with our digital platforms. This Championship is a globally significant event and is hugely important to women’s sport and golf in particular.
“We are grateful to AIG and all our partners for their incredible support in continuing to elevate the Championship and it is pleasing to see how this is resonating with fans. We have provided creative and innovative ways for the fans to engage with the Championship and the players and you can see how much they have relished that opportunity.”