Yuna Nishimura answered a Sunday charge and won her first LPGA title
She shot 63-63-66 at Pinnacle for 21-under 192. Aki Iwai closed with a 62 and still finished five back.
Yuna Nishimura after winning the Nichirei Ladies at Sodegaura Country Club on June 19, 2022.
Photo: 江戸村のとくぞう / CC BY-SA 4.0
Yuna Nishimura hit a fairway wood over the water on the par-5 14th at Pinnacle Country Club on Sunday and made eagle. Aki Iwai had spent the back nine turning a five-shot cushion into a real tournament. The eagle made it three again, and nobody got back.
Nishimura had started the day five ahead after a pair of 63s, the kind of lead that looks safe until it isn't. She went out in even-par 36. Iwai, another Japanese player in the field, made six birdies in seven holes on the back nine and shot a bogey-free 62. The greens were so soft Iwai said she had to fly the ball three or four yards past the pin.
Nishimura went more aggressive. She added two birdies after the eagle, came home in 5-under 30, and signed for a 66 and 21-under 192, five shots better than anyone else at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. Iwai tied for second at 16-under 197 with Thailand's Chanettee Wannasaen, who shot 65, and South Korea's In Gee Chun, who shot 67.
It is her first LPGA title. She is 26, from Sakai, with six Japan LPGA wins already. She earned her LPGA card at Q-School for 2023 and tied for third at this same event as a rookie. Last year she went back to Q-School just to stay on tour. She had missed five of her last six cuts coming into Rogers.
She already knew how to win in Japan. Out here she had not. Sunday could have ended with that 36 on the front and a polite interview about the lead getting away. It ended with a fairway wood over water and a card through 2028: $450,000, and no more Q-School.
"I still can't believe it. I still shake my hand," she said. "I told myself to go aggressive until the very end and I went for it."