Sakura Yokomine Takes Ricoh Cup and JLPGA Money-List Title

Sakura Yokomine hasn't finished worse than 4th on the JLPGA money list since 2005, but #1 has always slipped through her fingers--until today at the Ricoh Cup. 

She made a series of clutch approach shots, chips, and putts down the stretch over her final 5 holes, clawing her way to -6 and passing LPGA regulars Momoko Ueda and Ai Miyazato in the process (for Ai-sama, it was her 8th near-miss since winning the Evian Masters this summer--don't get me started). 

Then she had to sit and wait while 4 golfers took their shots at beating her.  Ji-Hee Lee, who lost the money-list title this time last year when Mi-Jeong Jeon collapsed down the stretch and handed a victory to Miho Koga, had the chance to play spoiler this year, but couldn't recover from her bogey on the 15th and ended up at -5.  Ditto for young gun Mayu Hattori.  Shinobu Moromizato, the money-list leader coming into this week, also bogeyed the 15th to drop to -4, but she came back with a birdie on 17 just as her playing partner and 3rd-round leader Akane Iijima bogeyed 16 and 17 to join her at -5.  When they, too, failed to birdie the long 18th, Yokomine had her 6th victory of the season and became the 1st player in JLPGA history to win more than 175 million yen in a single season. 

Over at Mostly Harmless, I have highlights from youtube and news on Ryo Ishikawa's failed bid to clinch the JGTO money-list title.