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Hisako Higuchi

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Hisako Higuchi
樋口久子
Personal information
Full nameHisako Higuchi
NicknameChako
Born (1945-10-13) 13 October 1945 (age 79)
Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan
Height1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Sporting nationality Japan
Career
Turned professional1967
Former tour(s)LPGA of Japan Tour
LPGA Tour
Professional wins73
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour2
LPGA of Japan Tour69
ALPG Tour1
Other1
Best results in LPGA major championships
(wins: 1)
Western OpenDNP
Titleholders C'shipDNP
Chevron ChampionshipT3: 1975, 1976
Women's PGA C'shipWon: 1977
U.S. Women's OpenT13: 1976
du Maurier ClassicDNP
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame2003 (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. Year Tournament Opponents Result
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)

Other (1)

  • 1983 Sports Nippon Team Match

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year Championship Winning score Margin Runners-up
1977 LPGA Championship −9 (71-67-72-69=279) 3 strokes United States Pat Bradley, Canada Sandra Post, United States Judy Rankin

References

  1. ^ Higuchi takes Classic
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