Michiko Hattori

Michiko Hattori
服部道子
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name Michiko Hattori
Born (1968-09-08) 8 September 1968
Nisshin, Aichi, Japan
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Nationality  Japan
Career
College University of Texas
Turned professional 1992
Current tour(s) LPGA of Japan Tour
Professional wins 18
Number of wins by tour
LPGA of Japan Tour 18
Best results in LPGA major championships
ANA Inspiration T58: 1999
Women's PGA C'ship CUT: 2005
U.S. Women's Open T21: 1987
du Maurier Classic DNP
Women's British Open T24: 2003
Achievements and awards
LPGA of Japan Tour
Player of the Year		 1998
LPGA of Japan Tour
leading money winner		 1998
LPGA of Japan Tour
Rookie of the Year		 1992

Michiko Hattori (Japanese: 服部道子, born 8 September 1968) is a Japanese professional golfer and former Player of the Year on the Japan LPGA.

Prior to turning professional, Hattori was among the most decorated amateur and collegiate golfers in history. At age 16 in 1985 she became the third youngest,[1] and only Japanese born, champion of the U.S. Women's Amateur, and in 1986 became the first golfer to win medalist honors at the U.S. Women's Amateur and U.S. Girls' Junior in the same year.[2] Hattori is a three-time U.S. Women's Amateur stroke play medalist (1985–1987), and the youngest ever winner of the Japan Women's Amateur Championship (age 14). She won three Japan Women's Amateur titles and the 1988 Canadian Women's Amateur. She is one of 12 foreign winners of the U.S Women's Amateur in its 115-year history, and one of 11 golfers to have won the title on their first attempt. She is one of six to have won U.S. Amateur medalist honors three or more times, and the only golfer to have done so for the past 70 years.[3] Hattori lead Japan to four consecutive top-5 finishes at the IGF World Amateur Team Championships, the country's best ever performances in the bi-annual competition, and in 1987 won the individual title and led Japan to a team victory in the Queen Sirikit Cup, a prestigious annual competition between Asian nations; other former individual winners of the cup include Hiromi Kobayashi and current LPGA members Yani Tseng, Mi Hyun Kim, Hee-Won Han and Jeong Jang. She had a storied collegiate career at the University of Texas, where she won 10 individual titles and was twice named Collegiate Golfer of the Year. She was the 1990 recipient of the Honda-Broderick Award for Golf. Among her achievements was finishing in the top ten in 38 of 40 events in which she competed during her four years at Texas, including three individual top-ten finishes at the NCAA Women's Golf Championship (tied for 1st at the end of regulation in 1989; lost in playoff).

In her first season as a professional, Hattori recorded 11 top-10 finishes and placed 8th on the money list on her way to being named the 1992 Japan LPGA Rookie of the Year. She won three times with 15 top-10s in her second season on tour (1993), and in 1998 won five titles, including the Japan LPGA Championship, and placed second three times. She was named the JLPGA Player of the Year and won the season-ending money title. Her most recent win was the Studio Alice Women's Open in 2005. Hattori has won 18 Japan LPGA titles and finished in the top three on tour 56 times; she boasts career totals of 150 top-10 and 300 top-25 finishes through the end of the 2008 season. She has finished in the top-10 on the JLPGA money list seven times, and placed in the top-25 for fifteen consecutive seasons (1992–2006).

Among Hattori's professional wins are two Japan Women's Open Golf Championships, the Japan LPGA Championship, and two Fujitsu Ladies Open titles. She is also winner of the 1998 IDC Otsuka Ladies Championship, succeeding 1997 winner Annika Sörenstam.

Professional wins (18)

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (18)

Tournament in bold denotes major championships in LPGA of Japan Tour.

Awards

1987–1991 4-Time 1st Team All-American
1987–1991 4-Time Southwest Conference Player of the Year
1989 Golfweek Collegiate Golfer of the Year
1989 NGCA Collegiate Golfer of the Year
1990 Honda-Broderick Award – Nation's Top Collegiate Golfer

Major amateur titles

1984 Japan Women's Amateur Champion
1985 Japan Women's Amateur Champion
1985 United States Women's Amateur Champion
1985 United States Women's Amateur Stroke Play Medalist
1986 United States Women's Amateur Stroke Play Medalist
1986 United States Girl's Amateur Stroke Play Medalist
1987 United States Women's Amateur Stroke Play Medalist
1987 Queen Sirikit Cup Individual & Team Champion
1988 Japan Women's Amateur Champion
1988 Canadian Women's Amateur Champion

Japan LPGA history

Year Wins 2nd 3rd Top 10 Top 25
1991 2 5
1992 3 1 11 21
1993 3 1 1 15 24
1994 2 2 1 12 21
1995 1 1 11 19
1996 2 2 11 21
1997 2 1 3 15
1998 5 3 11 19
1999 1 2 3 10 20
2000 1 6 16
2001 1 1 1 7 14
2002 1 1 4 11
2003 2 1 8 18
2004 1 2 10 20
2005 1 2 1 10 17
2006 2 10 22
2007 1 5 11
2008 4 6
2009 2
2011
2012
Total 18 25 13 150 302

References

  1. ↑ Laura Baugh was 16 years/2 months/21 days old when she won the title in 1971, and 1896 champion Beatrix Hoyt won at 16 years/3 months/ 4 days. Hattori is currently the event's 5th youngest winner, having been surpassed by 1989 winner Vicki Goetze (16/9/19) and 2006 champion Kimberly Kim (14/11/21).
  2. ↑ http://www.sportingnews.com/golf/article/2009-08-03/anderson-takes-lead-us-womens-amateur-0 Sporting News, 3 August 2009. Vicki Goetze equaled Hattori by taking medalist honors at both events in 1990.
  3. ↑ Estelle Lawson Page was the last golfer to win medalist honors at the U.S. Women's Amateur three or more times (1936–1938), prior to Hattori winning for the third time in 1987.


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