Mika Miyazato (Japanese: 宮里美香, born 10 October 1989) is a professional golfer from Japan who has played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour.

Mika Miyazato
宮里美香
Miyazato at the 2009 LPGA Championship
Personal information
Born (1989-10-10) 10 October 1989 (age 35)
Naha, Okinawa, Japan[1]
Height5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)
Sporting nationality Japan
Career
Turned professional2008
Current tour(s)LPGA Tour (joined 2009)
Professional wins3
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour1
LPGA of Japan Tour2
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron ChampionshipT7: 2011
Women's PGA C'shipT2: 2012
U.S. Women's Open5th: 2011
Women's British Open4th: 2012
Evian ChampionshipT19: 2013
Medal record
Asian Games
Silver medal – second place 2006 Doha Individual
Silver medal – second place 2006 Doha Women's team

Career

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As an amateur, Miyazato won the 2004 Japan Amateur Women's Championship at the age of 14, and was the youngest player to win the event. In the 2006 Asian Games, she won silver medals in the individual and team competitions. Miyazato turned professional in December 2008, after finishing in a tie for 12th in the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, a finish that gave her exempt status on the LPGA Tour. The medalist was Stacy Lewis, with Michelle Wie in a tie for seventh.[2][3]

In her first season as a professional at age 19, she had fourth-place finishes at the LPGA Corning Classic and Wegmans LPGA tournaments in 2009.[2] Miyazato's first professional victory came at the Japan Women's Open Golf Championship in October 2010.[4] That year, she also had five top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour, including two third-place results, and was 17th on the money list with more than $600,000 in earnings.[5]

In 2011, Miyazato held the 36-hole lead at the U.S. Women's Open and finished fifth.[6][7] She had three other top-10s during the season, and won nearly $600,000.[8]

Despite a slow start, 2012 was Miyazato's best season. After missing three successive cuts in the early spring, she lost in the first round of the Sybase Match Play Championship, and did not have a top twenty finish through May.[9][10] Miyazato rebounded the next week in early June with a tie for third at the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Atlantic City. The following week, she tied for second at the LPGA Championship, two strokes behind winner Shanshan Feng.[9][11] At her next start at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, Miyazato again tied for second. After two additional top ten finishes at the U.S. Women's Open and Jamie Farr Toledo Classic,[9] she won her first LPGA Tour event in August at the Safeway Classic in Oregon.[12] For the season, she earned more than $1 million and had nine top-10 finishes.[13]

In October 2013, Miyazato won her second Japan Women's Open title. With a birdie on the last hole of the tournament, she defeated Erika Kikuchi and Miki Saiki by one stroke.[14] Miyazato made less than half of her 2012 earnings during the 2013 LPGA Tour season, with a pair of top-10s.[15] Her earnings on the LPGA dipped to about $105,000 in the 2014 season, before climbing back over $500,000 in 2015.[16] Almost $200,000 of her 2015 total came at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, where she posted a second-place finish.[17] During the 2016 season, Miyazato's earnings dropped to under $300,000, putting her in 68th place on the LPGA money list.[18] She had one top-10 finish in 2016: a tie for sixth at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.[19] In 2017, she played in 10 LPGA tournaments, missing the cut in eight of them.[20] Miyazato ended the year outside the top 150 in season earnings.[18] Her LPGA schedule in 2018 was limited to two events, a missed cut at the Marathon Classic and a tie for 52nd at the Ladies Scottish Open.[21] In Miyazato's only LPGA appearance of 2019, at the Toto Japan Classic, she tied for 69th.[22]

Although both are from Okinawa, she is not related to former LPGA Tour player Ai Miyazato.[23][24]

Professional wins (3)

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LPGA Tour wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 19 Aug 2012 Safeway Classic –13 (65-68-70=203) 2 strokes   Brittany Lincicome
  Inbee Park

JLPGA wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 3 Oct 2010 Japan Women's Open Golf Championship –12 (68-67-73-68=276) 6 strokes   Miki Saiki
2 6 Oct 2013 Japan Women's Open Golf Championship E (70-70-73-75=288) 1 stroke   Erika Kikuchi
  Miki Saiki

Tournaments in bold denotes JLPGA major championships.

Results in LPGA majors

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Results not in chronological order before 2015.

! Tournament 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
ANA Inspiration T40 T7 CUT T63 CUT T29 T56 CUT
Women's PGA Championship T39 13 T8 T2 T22 CUT T41 T50
U.S. Women's Open T57 CUT 5 T7 T31 CUT CUT CUT CUT
Women's British Open T11 CUT T14 4 T59 T38 T7 T58
The Evian Championship ^ T19 T36 T34 T22

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013

  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
ANA Inspiration 0 0 0 0 1 1 8 5
Women's PGA Championship 0 1 0 1 2 4 8 7
U.S. Women's Open 0 0 0 1 2 2 9 4
Women's British Open 0 0 0 1 2 4 8 7
The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 4
Totals 0 1 0 3 7 13 37 27
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (2012 LPGA – 2013 Evian)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice)

LPGA Tour career summary

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Year Tournaments
played
Cuts
made
Wins 2nds 3rds Top 10s Best
finish
Earnings
($)
Money
list rank
Scoring
average
Scoring
rank
2007 1 1 0 0 0 0 T15 n/a n/a 70.50 n/a
2009 22 16 0 0 0 3 4 284,788 49 72.70 75
2010 23 19 0 0 2 5 3 608,889 17 71.55 22
2011 20 19 0 0 0 4 5 591,688 22 71.17 12
2012 20 17 1 2 1 9 1 1,098,749 11 70.94 10
2013 21 18 0 0 1 2 3 417,658 36 71.99 50
2014 16 10 0 0 0 0 T21 105,982 91 72.74 104
2015 24 22 0 1 0 5 2 583,141 28 71.18 19
2016 24 21 0 0 0 1 T6 270,663 68 71.72 57
2017 10 2 0 0 0 0 T35 18,390 157 72.29 110
2018 2 1 0 0 0 0 T52 5,298 170 71.50 n/a
2019 1 1 0 0 0 0 T69 0 n/a 73.33 n/a

World ranking

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Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

Year World
ranking
Source
2006 246 [25]
2007 256 [26]
2008 303 [27]
2009 60 [28]
2010 22 [29]
2011 24 [30]
2012 10 [31]
2013 22 [32]
2014 82 [33]
2015 37 [34]
2016 79 [35]
2017 243 [36]
2018 390 [37]
2019 148 [38]

Team appearances

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Amateur

Professional

References

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  1. ^ "Miyazato is hot in the heat". The Star. 23 October 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Mika Miyazato" (PDF). LPGA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  3. ^ "LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament". LPGA. 7 December 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Mika Miyazato makes amends in Japan Women's Open". Golfweek. 3 October 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  5. ^ "2010 Player Performance Record". LPGA. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
  6. ^ Shapiro, Leonard (9 July 2011). "Miyazato grabs halfway lead at storm-hit U.S. Women's Open". Reuters. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  7. ^ "LPGA Tour Leaderboard: U.S. Women's Open, Final Round". ESPN. Archived from the original on 12 July 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  8. ^ "2011 Player Performance Record". LPGA. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  9. ^ a b c "Mika Miyazato Tournament Results: 2012". LPGA. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  10. ^ Gola, Hank (17 May 2012). "New year, new approach for Gulbis at Sybase". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  11. ^ Mickey, Lisa D. (10 June 2012). "First Chinese Win on Tour Comes in L.P.G.A. Major". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  12. ^ "Mika Miyazato wins Safeway Classic". ESPN. Associated Press. 19 August 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  13. ^ "Mika Miyazato Stats: 2012". LPGA. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  14. ^ "Mika Miyazato wins Japan Women's Open by 1". Fox News Channel. The Sports Network. 6 October 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  15. ^ "Mika Miyazato Stats: 2013". LPGA. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  16. ^ "Mika Miyazato: Bio". LPGA. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  17. ^ "Mika Miyazato Results: 2015". LPGA. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  18. ^ a b c "Mika Miyazato: Stats". LPGA. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  19. ^ "Mika Miyazato Results: 2016". LPGA. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  20. ^ "Mika Miyazato Results: 2017". LPGA. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  21. ^ "Mika Miyazato Results: 2018". LPGA. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  22. ^ a b "Mika Miyazato: Results". LPGA. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  23. ^ "Miyazato Lead U.S. Women's Open As Third Round Suspended". The Sports Network. Associated Press. 9 July 2011. Archived from the original on 12 July 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  24. ^ "Mika Miyazato turns pro after qualifying for LPGA card". ESPN. Associated Press. 9 December 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  25. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 26 December 2006.
  26. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 25 December 2007.
  27. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 30 December 2008.
  28. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 29 December 2009.
  29. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 28 December 2010.
  30. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 27 December 2011.
  31. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 31 December 2012.
  32. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 30 December 2013.
  33. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 29 December 2014.
  34. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 28 December 2015.
  35. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 26 December 2016.
  36. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 25 December 2017.
  37. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 31 December 2018.
  38. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 30 December 2019.
  39. ^ "2004 World Amateur Team Championships Record Book" (PDF). International Golf Federation. pp. 4–14. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  40. ^ "2006 World Amateur Team Championships Record Book" (PDF). International Golf Federation. pp. 4–13. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  41. ^ "2008 World Amateur Team Championships Record Book" (PDF). International Golf Federation. pp. 5–10. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  42. ^ Goodwin, Cody (21 July 2014). "Meet the golfers in the inaugural International Crown". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  43. ^ Washchyshyn, Marika. "5 Things to Know About the UL International Crown". Golf Magazine. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
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