![Yuka Saso Makes Top 15 Leap Following Victory at US Women’s Open presented by Ally | LPGA Yuka Saso Makes Top 15 Leap Following Victory at US Women’s Open presented by Ally | LPGA](https://i0.wp.com/www.lpga.com/-/media/images/lpga/tournaments/us-womens-open/2024/rd4/sasoy_24uswo_0602_18445528__e7a8125_2000x1125.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
After a tough test dashed the major championship dreams of the world’s top talent at Lancaster Country Club, it was finally Yuka Saso who stood tall Sunday in Pennsylvania, victorious once again at the US Women’s Open presented by Ally.
Saso won by three strokes over Hinako Shibuno en route to her second US Women’s Open title, and the victory catapulted her into both the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and the Olympic Golf Rankings. After missing the cut at the Mizuho Americas Open, the 22-year-old entered the second major championship of the 2024 LPGA Tour season ranked 30th in the world and was not yet qualified to represent Japan at the Paris 2024 Olympics. .
Her second LPGA Tour title sent Saso into the top 15 of the Rolex Rankings as high as No. 6 in the world, having knocked out Miyu Yamashita to claim a spot in the Le Golf National field with three weeks left to qualify. Saso is now the highest-ranked Japanese player in the world and Olympic golf rankings, ahead of Nasa Hataoka, who is ranked 17th.
The 2024 Olympics would mark Saso’s second time competing in the Games, as he represented the Philippines in 2021 in Tokyo, but it will likely be his first time playing for Japan, as Saso chose to take up Japanese citizenship in 2021 after of the Olympic Games.
Other notable moves in the Olympic Golf Rankings involved players from New Zealand, Chinese Taipei, Ecuador and Norway. New Zealand’s Momoka Koburi replaced compatriot Fiona Xu, who won the Copper Rock Championship earlier this year on the Epson Tour, in the top 60.
Chinese Taipei native Wei-Ling Hsu’s top-25 finish at the U.S. Women’s Open has placed her inside the top 60 in the Olympic Golf Rankings, overtaking Chia Yen Wu for the second available spot.
Additionally, Megan Khang has fallen out of the top 15, leaving the United States with only three representatives: Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang. Khang was replaced by Daniela Darquea of Ecuador, who is currently ranked 59th in the Olympic Golf Rankings.
The United States is one of four countries with two or more representatives in the top 15 right now, along with the People’s Republic of China, which has Ruoning Yin and Xiyu Lin in the top 15; Australia, which currently has major champions Hannah Green and Minjee Lee qualified; and the Republic of Korea, represented by Jin Young Ko and Hyo Joo Kim.
The qualification period for the women’s golf competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games ends on June 24 following the conclusion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club.
Collin Morikawa continues his late push towards the Olympics
With less than two weeks (including the upcoming US Open) remaining until the deadline to finish the field in men’s Olympic golf competition, no player has taken more advantage of this late breakthrough than American Collin Morikawa.
After a series of less-than-stellar (by his standards) performances at the start of the year caused a drop to 20th in the Official World Golf Ranking, Morikawa finished T3 at the Masters Tournament to fuel a streak of four top-10 finishes. in five events. Over the past two weeks, Morikawa finished T4 at the PGA Championship and fourth at the Charles Schwab Challenge. The good run has taken him to ninth place in the world, overtaking Patrick Cantlay and Max Homa to become the world’s No. 4 American. Countries can only have more than two representatives if they have more than two within the top 15 of the Olympic Golf Ranking (OGR) with a maximum of four players, making the fourth position among Americans a coveted one.
After bursting onto the scene as a rookie in 2019 and into the 2020 season, Collin Morikawa won the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship to cement himself as one of the best players in the game. He entered the 2021 Tokyo Olympics as the highest-ranked player in the field and narrowly missed out on a podium performance, falling in a seven-man bronze medal playoff to CT Pan.
“I knew… let’s say two or three months ago where I was, and I knew I had to start playing some good golf and we played some good golf to put myself in contention,” Morikawa said. “So, at the end of the day, these next two weeks are going to be important and I know what’s at stake.”
Elsewhere in the OGR, Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger jumped into the top-60, the threshold needed to qualify for the men’s competition, after finishing T2 at the DP World Tour’s European Open last week. Wiesberger, who finished T11 eight years ago at the 2016 Rio Olympics, will now likely join compatriot Sepp Straka to represent Austria in Paris later this summer.
With less than two weeks left on the calendar before the deadline, all eyes will be on the results of major events such as the Memorial Tournament, the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed and the US Open.
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