ROME wasn’t built in a day, and neither do you become a US Women’s Open champion overnight.
Yuka Saso’s remarkable accomplishment at the challenging par-71, 6,546-yard Olympic Club Lake Course in San Francisco recently was not merely a product of innate talent and grit; it has a lot to do with solid corporate support that began while she was a promising prodigy not so long ago and continues to this day.
Given up for lost last after consecutive double bogeys on the second and third holes in the last round, Saso showed extraordinary poise under grinding pressure to fashion a stunning comeback victory. Sounds familiar?
Saso typifies what her solid sponsor — International Container Terminal Services, Inc. — has done in recent years. ICTSI is a global port management company based in Manila.
Established on December 24, 1987, ICTSI has become the Philippines’ largest multinational and transnational company, having set up operations in developed and emerging market economies in Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The company is ranked the eighth largest container terminal operator, according to TEU equity volume. And when ICTSI named Saso to be its ambassadress to the world years ago, it marked the start of a partnership that has yielded golden results and is expected to stay that way for a long time.
ICTSI has been the godfather of Philippine golf with its sponsorship of Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan, another Filipina golfer making waves overseas. It continues to bankroll the country’s professional golf circuit, the Philippine Golf Tour, where the likes of Saso and other outstanding Filipino golfers honed their skills to become celebrated champions. The firm’s backing of Saso and her fellow standouts from the junior ranks is a match made in heaven and shows what solid support can do.
Displaying the grit and composure that she developed while playing in various tournaments overseas, Saso set up her improbable comeback win with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 to tie Japan’s Nasa Hataoka for first place after 72 holes.
She completed the improbable come-from-behind victory by beating Hataoka in sudden-death, gutsily sinking a 12-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to clinch the 76th edition of the prestigious event and etch her name on the Harton S. Semple Trophy, the concrete symbol of her conquest.
She became the first golf player from the Philippines to win a major while tying a unique record set by South Korean Inbee Park, the 2008 winner at the Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minnesota, as the youngest US Women’s Open champion at 19 years, 11 months and seven days.
Hosannas immediately came Saso’s way after her title clinching putt.
Philippine Golf Tour Director Luigi Tabuena recalled that the Bulacan-born par buster was a product of the junior golf program initiated by the International Container Transport Services, Inc. of business tycoon and golf enthusiast Enrique Razon.
“She was a product of a junior golf program that was being supported by no less than the ICTSI,” Tabuena, the Philippine Junior Golf Foundation president, said. “Yuka has brought so much pride and honor to the Philippines.”
Saso’s latest triumph on the international stage was reminiscent of her golden double in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she anchored the national squad to a sweep of the women’s team and individual honors. While only 17, the Filipino-Japanese displayed nerves of steel in the Asian Games. Three shots behind on the penultimate hole of the final round after a double bogey on No. 17, Saso struck back with a shot for the ages: an eagle on the last hole to rally past erstwhile leader Liu WeMo of China, eventually scoring a three-shot win at the Pondok Indah Golf and Country Club in Jakarta
Saso proudly wears a cap inscribed with the letters ICTSI in the Japan LPGA and other tournaments, including the US Women’s Open triumph, and it came as no surprise that ICTSI readily joined the horde of well-wishers that gave the newest force in the game a well-deserved pat on the back.
“International Container Terminal Services, Inc. congratulates Ms. Yuka Saso for winning and being the first Filipino to win in a major golf championship that is probably one of the hardest to win — the recently concluded 76th US Women’s Open golf championship at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California,” the international port operator said in a statement.
“Her ICTSI family thanks Yuka for the pride and joy she gives the country. We likewise commend her for her hard work, perseverance and dedication to training, and most especially for remaining humble despite her recent successes,” the company added.
“She is and will continue to be a role model for the golfing community. May she also serve as an inspiration to our Filipino athletes in breaking through internationally. ICTSI will continue supporting Yuka in her golfing career, and we look forward to more victories,” the statement concluded.
Saso, born to a Filipina mother and a Japanese father, started playing golf at the age of eight in 2009. She admires Northern Irish major winner Rory McIlroy and watched video clips of him as a teenager, modelling her game after his style.
In the 2017 Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards, she received an award for winning the gold medal in the 2016 World Junior Girls Championship. She also competed in the 2018 Women’s Victorian Open as a member of the 2018 Ladies European Tour and finished 17th overall in the women’s individual event.
She also competed in the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she nearly won a medal.
In 2020, she was named the PSA Athlete of the Year, a singular honor bestowed by the PSA on athletes who have made the biggest difference for the country in the international and local sporting scene. As a PSA Athlete of the Year awardee, she shares the stage with such luminaries as Grandmaster Eugene Torre, Asia’s first chess GM; former Asian sprint queen Lydia de Vega, multiple billiards champion Efren “Bata” Reyes, bowling icons Paeng Nepomuceno and Bong Cool, and boxing star Manny Pacquiao, among others.
Filipino and international sports fans may not have to wait too long for the country’s newest sensation to score another milestone with two huge international competitions looming over the horizon.
Having acquired her LPGA card with her US Women’s Open title, giving her a 10-year exemption in the US crown jewel of golf and five-year exemptions to all the majors, Saso will be among the golfers to watch in the KPMG Women’s Championship scheduled June 24 to 27 at the Atlanta Athletic Golf Club in Johns Creek, Georgia.
Beyond that, she is also set to compete in the biggest sports show on earth: the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan next month.
Saso is a shoo-in to make it to the Tokyo Games after vaulting to No. 9 in the latest International Golf Federation Olympic qualifying ratings on the strength of her US Women’s Open win. At 19, she will be among the top 60 golfers who will play in the Tokyo Games by the end of the Olympic cut-off date on June 28.
As a regular on the Japanese LPGA tour, the Filipino-Japanese will be in familiar surroundings and arguably will be a “hometown” pick when she sees action in the Olympic women’s golf tournament on Aug. 4 to 7 at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in the city on Saitama in the outskirts of the Japanese capital.
Given her proven track record and latest achievement, Saso has emerged a solid favorite to end the country’s 97-year gold medal dry spell in the Olympics, and few would argue that she has what it takes to make that happen. With the solid backing of Filipinos and her corporate backers, she has only one way to go but up.
Hooray Yuka!
