A dream realised

Miyu Yamashita has been working towards moments like these her whole life.

So to get her hands on the AIG Women’s Open trophy and become golf’s newest major winner is the stuff dreams are made of.

The 24-year-old delivered a links golf masterclass to win at Royal Porthcawl by two shots, becoming the third Japanese player to win the Championship after Ayako Okamoto and Hinako Shibuno.

She first hit the front on Friday morning and never really relinquished control from there, going on to card a seven-under-par round of 65 on day two and remaining in control across the weekend.

After tapping in her final putt on 18 and ending her week on 11-under-par – a couple clear of nearest challengers Charley Hull and Minami Katsu - there was an outpouring of emotion.

The celebrations then started and she has been beaming ever since.

That euphoria came through as she reflected on the long journey she’s taken to the top table in golf when speaking to media afterwards.

“This was a goal of mine from a very young age to win a major championship, and to be able to do that is a very satisfying feeling, very special,” she said.

“This [is] something I've worked towards my whole life, a dream you could say. It's been the result of hard work every single day, making changes, making improvements, and to be able to do it now and call myself a champion is a very special thing.”

She added: “[It was] so great to see [Mao] Saigo win [the Chevron Championship] earlier this year and just kind of push me a little bit harder. To join that elite group is something that's very unique, and it's going to be an amazing feeling.”

A two-over-par round of 74 on Saturday didn’t put Yamashita off – in fact it allowed her to refocus ahead of the biggest round of her career.

She said: “Yesterday [Saturday] I didn't quite have my best stuff.

“After the round, I spoke to my father, who's my coach, and we went through a few things just in my swing and my game, and I'm really happy with how I made the adjustments today to get the victory.

“When we got home, we were together, we looked through some of the finer details on the swing, found some points to improve, and today it felt a lot better just from the get go.”

Yamashita might have looked at home, but she was in new territory in this corner of south Wales – something she was ready to embrace coming into the Championship.

“I knew that there was a lot of nature, a lot of wildlife”, she said.

“So to be able to be here in the nature and in the countryside was something that I was looking forward, to and something that was great to experience this week.”