What about that then? With a fine display of poise and purpose, Ayaka Furue demolished Dundonald Links and surged to victory in the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open.
At one point of a terrific afternoon, there were 11 players within three shots of the lead. By the end of it, Furue’s thrilling 10-under 62 had left her rivals lagging so far behind, they may as well have been playing in the 2021 edition of the championship.
This rampaging course-record was a golfing tour de force from the 22-year-old Japanese as she finished with a 21-under aggregate – another record for the event – and won by three shots from France’s Celine Boutier to earn her first title on the LPGA Tour.
She may be a rookie on the LPGA circuit but Furue is hardly a raw recruit to the frontline. She had won seven times on the Japan Tour prior to earning her card for the LPGA stage at the qualifying series last year. This breakthrough conquest on the biggest tour in women’s golf was a significant statement of intent ahead of this week’s AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield
Four shots off the lead held by Boutier and Lydia Ko heading into the final round, Furue, aided by the canny guidance of Glasgow caddie Michael Scott, rattled through the gears and accelerated up the leaderboard with such gusto, you could just about catch a whiff of burning rubber wafting in the Ayrshire air.
“I thought it would be difficult to catch the leaders, but I had the right mind set and I knew I had to go low,” she said through her interpreter. “I made the birdie putts that I needed to make. I didn’t think I would come out on this tour and win as rookie so I’m very, very happy.”
With her unflappable rhythm, tremendous distance control and ruthless form on the greens, Furue was unstoppable. Six birdies in a row from the sixth illuminated a bold thrust of class and composure. Asked if this was the best round of her career, her response was emphatic. “Yes,” she beamed with a jubilantly simple reply.
While Ko, the former world No 1, just couldn’t get going on the final day, it was Boutier who emerged as the main pacesetter early on. The Frenchwoman, a star of Europe’s Solheim Cup win at Gleneagles back in 2019, was four-under through 10 holes of her closing round but the pressure being exerted by Furue up ahead of her was relentless. With the Japanese blasting so many birdies she could have got a ticking off from the RSPB, Boutier leaked a couple of shots at 11 and 13 to suddenly find herself two behind.
Two great birdies at 15 and 17 from Furue had fortified her position at the summit and left Boutier with a mountain to climb. By the time Furue had posted her score, Boutier needed to pick up three shots on her last three holes to at least force a play-off. Those fading hopes were scuppered when she bogeyed the 16th. A birdie on the last in a 69 ensured she seized second place on her own, with Hyo-joo Kim and Cheyenne Knight sharing third.
Ko, the joint-runner-up last year, had to settle for a share of fifth on 16-under while defending champion, Ryann O’Toole, barged into the top-15 with a 65 for 11-under. Aberdeen’s Gemma Dryburgh, who vaulted up the field with a 66 on day three, sagged to a closing 74 for six-under but still picked up the Jock MacVicar award for the highest finishing Scot.
In the end, it was the golfing girl named Furue who created quite the furore.
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