Ai Miyazato On The Lpga Tour

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"Ai’s stamp sold as well as Ichiro’s," reports Dave Otsuka, her manager. "And half as many as Hideki’s."

After cleaning up on her home tour in 2005, she could have stayed in Japan and been the big fish in a small pond like 31-year-old Yuri Fudoh, the J.L.P.G.A.’s leading money winner from 2000 to 2005. Five years ago, Fudoh—who rarely ventures outside the Land of the Rising Sun—became the first player to win 10 tournaments in a year and earned more prize money than the top male player on the Japan Golf Tour. Over the last 12 years, she has won 43 events and pocketed nearly $10 million.

Miyazato chose the small fish-big pond route by joining the Stateside tour. In late 2005, the shot-making shogun set off for the Home of the Brave to earn her exempt card for the 2006 L.P.G.A. season.
   
She enrolled in Q School and graduated magna cum laude—finishing under par for five of the six qualifying rounds, and an astonishing 12 shots better than her closest competitor. It was the tour’s largest Q School margin of victory ever.
   
Miyazato seemed poised to become Japan’s first true crossover star in the women’s game, just as Hall of Famer Pak Se Ri and 2006 L.P.G.A. Rookie of the Year Lee Seon Hwa have been for South Korea.
   
But her three seasons on U.S. soil have not been an unqualified romp. Over 21 events in her maiden campaign, she made 19 cuts and recorded seven top-10 finishes—her best a third-place tie at the McDonald’s L.P.G.A. Championship. Miyazato was 22nd in the rankings and earned $532,053. The following year she finished in the top 10 seven times, crossed the $1 million threshold in career earnings, and vaulted to 17th in the rankings.
   
This season she has struggled mightily, missing the cut in three of 10 starts, and placing no better than 14th. She blew up in the final round of the Sybase Classic: Miyazato’s 76 tied her for 42nd and earned her a meager $7,756 payday. She’s now winless in 65 L.P.G.A. tournaments.
   
"Obviously, Ai is a great player," says the obviously great Sörenstam. "For someone so petite, her tee shots travel surprising distances and always right down the middle of the fairway."

Still, Miyazato’s drives don’t measure up to those of the L.P.G.A. elite. Plying an extra-long driver that comes up to her shoulder, she averages 242.9 yards out of the box, about 30 yards behind leader Sophie Gustafson.

Miyazato’s swing may be the most languid in golf. "Ai putts beautifully, and there’s no sense of urgency to her game," Sörenstam says. "She’s going to win over here. It’s just a matter of time."

Miyazato, meanwhile, has been eclipsed by a countrywoman, Momoko Ueda.
   
Last November the 21-year-old Kumamoto native carded an albatross (double-eagle) on the final day of Mizuno Classic in Shima, her nation’s only L.P.G.A. tournament. Ueda became the first Japanese winner in nine years, and only the 16th non-L.P.G.A. member in history to win a tour event.

This year the 5-foot-3 L.P.G.A. rookie has two top-10 finishes and nearly double Miyazato’s prize money.

"Ai is still a good bet to turn into an international star," Sörenstam says. "In golf, though, there is no sure thing."
   
The only certainty at this week’s Ginn Tribute in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, is that Sörenstam will be chasing her 73th career title, while Miyazato will be chased by camera crews.

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