It’s not often you miss two short putts to lose two tournaments in the same week. But that’s what happened to Japan’s Nasa Hataoka (above), who has begun her 2020 campaign with back-to-back runner-up finishes. She left Florida leading the season-long Race to the CME Globe as the LPGA Tour takes a week off before its early overseas swing. But the way Hataoka did it will leave a knot in her stomach for some time.
It began last Monday, when Hataoka’s trip to Boca Raton, Fla., for the inaugural Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio tournament was delayed when her Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions playoff against Inbee Park and eventual winner Gaby Lopez looked like it might go on until Wednesday. The seven-hole marathon that stretched from sundown on Sunday through Monday morning was impacted by the fact that the Four Seasons Golf & Sports Club in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., has only four holes convenient for spectators – the first, second, 17th and 18th. With most of the grandstands around the 18th, that long par-3 was chosen as the sole playoff hole. So, Hataoka and Lopez went back time and time again (Park was eliminated on the third hole Sunday.)
It looked like it was going to finally, mercifully end the seventh time around, which it did but not in the way that seemed imminent. Hataoka hit a hybrid behind the hole, the best shot of the playoff, which left her a relatively simple putt of less than 10 feet. Lopez hit a good shot but had just more than 20 feet for birdie.
Lopez made her birdie and Hataoka didn’t come close with her much shorter effort.
Not quite a full week later, on Sunday afternoon, Hataoka seemed to have another tournament victory in hand. On the 72nd hole of the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio, Hataoka, who was 4-under par for the day and tied for the lead with Madelene Sagström, striped a 5-iron from 186 yards. The ball flew flag-high and ended up 22 feet behind the hole, leaving her a relatively simple left-to-right downhill putt. With Sagström well left of the green, it looked like redemption time for the 21-year-old Hataoka.
That assumption gained steam when Sagström chipped short, leaving herself a difficult 8-footer for par. Trundle the birdie putt slowly down the hill. If it died in the hole, Hataoka would have her fourth LPGA Tour win. If she left herself a tap-in, all the pressure would be on Sagström to make a tough putt to force a playoff.
Instead, Hataoka jammed the birdie putt 4 feet past. And just like earlier the week, the script flipped. Sagström made her par and Hataoka hit a terrible putt, shoving the 4-footer across the right edge.
“It kind of makes me feel like I missed it really bad,†Hataoka said afterward. “So that will kind of give me power to keep on going. Missing the win gives me more motivation to keep on going for the next tournaments.â€
Staff and Wire Reports
