Hinako Shibuno is not just a breath of fresh air, she’s a hurricane-force blast of it.

With an astonishing display of composed, classy, clinical golf amid the carefree, cheery nonchalance you used to get in those Pro-Celebrity thingymebobs with Terry Wogan, Shibuno penned a quite delightful and memorable chapter in the history of the game as she won her maiden major at the first time of asking in the AIG Women’s British Open at Woburn.

Having watched her two shot overnight lead evaporate with a grisly four-putt early on, Shibuno showed wonderful resolve and eventually finished the job in style on the last with a bold putt which had so much pace on it, it would’ve ended up on the outside lane of the M1 had it not rattled the hole and dropped in.

That decisive birdie from some 15-feet gave the 20-year-old a closing four-under 68 for an 18-under 270 and a slender one stroke win over the brave, luckless Lizette Salas.

Known as the Smiling Cinderella, Shibuno’s conquest really was the stuff of fairytales and had gasping commentators, pundits and scribblers dishing out so many ropey references to glass slippers and going to the ball, we’ll all be getting a visit from the Cliché Overuse Police this morning.

The Herald:

On a thrilling afternoon of ebb and flow, Shibuno continued to play the game with a smile on her face despite the intolerable tension that major championship golf can generate.

“I feel like I’m going to vomit,” said Shibuno in suggesting anxiety that was not at all in evidence on the outside. “Contending at a tournament like this is nerve-racking but I was determined to enjoy it.”

Gleefully chomping sweeties, high-fiving spectators and laughing down the camera lens as she bounded along the fairways is not a sight you often see as tournaments build to a nail-nibbling, stomach churning conclusion.

Nor do you often see a manager like hers either. The endearingly bonkers Hiroshi Shigematsu, who was urging on her every shot while dressed in his kimono and novelty blue wig while waving a comedy duck, continues to set new standards in golfing eccentricity.

There was nothing absurd about Shibuno’s win, though. Well, apart from the jaw-dropping scale of it. She’s a winner in Japan but she had never played outside her native land before. In fact, she’d only been as far as Thailand and that wasn’t for golf.

What she produced over four days here at Woburn was extraordinary. After that early wobble, Shibuno was, once again, simply inspired by the Marquess layout’s back nine.

She came home in 30 during Saturday’s third round to surge into the lead and she raced through it yesterday in 31 blows to seal the victory. Over the course of the week, Shibuno played the back nine in 18-under, the same as her winning tally. Forget a fairy tale, Shibuno and the inward half was something of a love story.

Her cheque for £540,000 was richly deserved. For runner-up Salas, it was hard not to feel some sympathy.

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The American Solheim Cup player had mounted a robust assault but her eventual 65 ended on an agonising note. A birdie putt of barely five feet on the last to get to 18-under lipped out.

She waited in the hope of a play-off but Shibuno’s nerveless excellence on the last ensured Salas wouldn’t get another chance at a first major title.

In the 2015 Women’s Open at Turnberry, the 30-year-old, who is of Mexican descent, was the focus of much unwanted attention from the salivating newshounds after the then President elect, Donald Trump, had made disparaging remarks about the people of Mexico.

The Herald:

The British Open, therefore, did not hold many happy memories for her. Last night’s agony probably didn’t help either. “I told myself, ‘you got this, you’re made for this’,” said a tearful Salas of that last putt.

“I put a good stroke on it. I’m not going to lie. I was nervous. I haven’t been in that position in a long time. I controlled all my thoughts, it just didn’t drop.”

An absorbing afternoon was heightened by the superb effort of Ko Jin-young who was aiming to become just the seventh player – male or female – to win three majors in one season.

She gave it a good go too but her birdie putt on the last reared up inches short and her 66 left her in third on 16-under.

The home challenge petered out as Charley Hull sagged to a 76 for five-under alongside last year’s winner Georgia Hall.

Bronte Law, who hadn’t dropped a shot in 54 holes, leaked five going out in a grisly 78 to fall away too.

In the end it was smiling Shibuno who captured the prize and the hearts.