Hisako Higuchi

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Hisako Higuchi
樋口久子
 Golfer 
Personal information
Full name Hisako Higuchi
Nickname Chako
Born (1945-10-13) 13 October 1945
Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan
Height 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Nationality  Japan
Career
Turned professional 1967
Former tour(s) LPGA of Japan Tour
LPGA Tour
Professional wins 73
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour 2
LPGA of Japan Tour 69
ALPG Tour 1
Other 1
Best results in LPGA Major Championships
(Wins: 1)
Western Open DNP
Titleholders C'ship DNP
Kraft Nabisco C'ship T3: 1975, 1976
LPGA Championship Won: 1977
U.S. Women's Open T13: 1976
du Maurier Classic DNP
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame 2003 (member page)
LPGA of Japan Tour
leading money winner
1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979

Hisako "Chako" Higuchi (Japanese: 樋口久子, born 13 October 1945 in Kawagoe, Saitama) is a Japanese professional golfer.

Higuchi won the LPGA Championship on 12 June 1977,[1] making her the first Asian-born player to win a major championship for either men or women. (No Asian-born player would win a men's major until Yang Yong-eun won the 2009 PGA Championship.) She remains the only Japanese woman to win an LPGA major championship. Alongside Ayako Okamoto, she dominated the 1970s and 1980s in Japanese women's golf.

Higuchi studied golf from Torakichi Nakamura, a member of Japan's winning team at the 1957 World Cup of Golf. She turned pro in 1967 and went on to win 69 titles on the LPGA of Japan Tour. She was 31 when she won her LPGA Championship.

Higuchi became President of the LPGA of Japan Tour in 1996. In 2003, she became the first Japanese golfer to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. She was soon to be followed by Isao Aoki (2004), Okamoto (2005), and Masashi Ozaki (2011).

Professional wins

LPGA of Japan Tour (69)

LPGA Tour (2)

Legend
LPGA Tour major championships (1)
Other LPGA Tour (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runners-up
1 7 Aug 1976 Colgate European Open −12 (68-74-68-74=284) 6 strokes United States Sandra Palmer, United States Kathy Whitworth
2 12 Jun 1977 LPGA Championship −9 (71-67-72-69=279) 3 strokes United States Pat Bradley, Canada Sandra Post,
United States Judy Rankin

LPGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 1979 Women's Kemper Open United States Donna Caponi, United States JoAnne Carner,
United States Nancy Lopez, Australia Jan Stephenson
Carner won with par on second extra hole
Caponi, Lopez, and Stephenson eliminated with par on first hole

ALPG Tour (1)

  • 1974 Wills Australian Ladies Open

Other (1)

  • 1983 Sports Nippon Team Match

Major championships

Wins (1)

YearChampionshipWinning scoreMarginRunners-up
1977 LPGA Championship −9 (71-67-72-69=279)3 strokesUnited States Pat Bradley, Canada Sandra Post, United States Judy Rankin

References

External links

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