Who is Mao Saigo? And how is it leading US women open?

Erin, Wis. – Mao Saigo’s caddy called his goal approximately a year ago. As a one-week filling during last June Dow championship, Jeffrey Snow sat next to Mao during a break in their pro-am. He had seen it in just a few days, but that was a lot.

“I said,” Mao, I’m saying, “” Remember Friday, “” You may not win in 2024, but you will win in 2025. You are so good of a player. “

“And she did.”

She came to last month’s Chevron Championship, the first first in the LPGA calendar. It is happening again in the opening of American women.

Saigo is a 23-year-old star growing from Japan, who, in a tournament played (and watched) mainly in the United States, can limit her exposure to America. English-speaking golf media are often inclined to cover English-speaking players, and Saigo-like many Japanese players-develops her press conferences with a translator who can make them a little separate. Her site Wikipedia only tells you two things: where she is and what she has gained – six times in Japan, once in America. Very little is written for her besides the fact that she performed the traditional dance of victory in the chevron pond… Without knowing how to swim.

This victory raised it to a new level in the sport. Only 141 women have won large championships. Only 59 have won two. But before she adds to Tally… Who is she, exactly?

“I’ve never seen a player prepare just like her,” Snow said Friday afternoon. He is naked for Marina Alex and Celine Boutier in the past. “She does a lot of work that a caddy would normally do.”

Before the common responsibilities began, Saigo was designing the ridges in the greens and measuring the slopes.

“When I started spending more time around her,” says Snow, “I’m thinking, Mao, your practice rounds are spending a lot of time, and you are doing work you should not do. You need to chop and decide, that kind of stuff. “

But the saigo is intense. “All business,” Snow said. And faith takes time. Before last year, Saigo used only Japanese cadds. They joined at the end of 2024, just at the time for Saigo to seek honors Rookie of the Year. Her English is “good,” Snow says, but she does not need a caddy holding the conversation for 18 holes. She just needs information, going for her work, sometimes, in a little bubble. And why would you not be when you play in the group BEHIND Super group.

Friday’s crowd in US Women Open leaned a lot towards Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson and Charley Hull until late in the morning when it became clear that the round of the week was developing BEHIND They Saigo scored a 66 with a single, absolutely crazy Bogey. In par-5 14, she hit her approach perfectly that one-hop waved the flag, turning back into a Greenside bunker. She called her “unfortunate”, “not my mistake” and “a lost bird chance”.

Correct in all three. With any other results, she is holding a three or four-shop lead. On the contrary, it is only two.

“Her type of game revolves around her driver,” Snow said. “If she is running it well and she gets confidence with the driver, then she shoots results like this in a course like this because her cuffs are so good.”

Statistics support it. Saigo leads the field to the winning strokes: access, even with that wedge shaking with flag.

Some cadets have joked in the snow that only Saigo Slam is in the game this year, in the impossible world, where she just continues to earn diplomas. But the former released it only a little bit, Snow says. Practice rounds have become quieter. She has changed slightly from her game schedule, throwing some events now that she won a big one. But otherwise, she is very private and likes her golf in a certain way.

While most of the best decorate their corporate bags With personalized lids – perhaps a favorite dog breed or their Alma Mater mascot – Saigo is as much business as he gets. Its trees are protected by five black and white covers with the newest title logo. She is shaking a new layer this week and had to draw (with a charpie) an extra help of visual extension on it. When a brave rain arrived Friday afternoon, she made sure the snow was covering it.

“She’s very, very special,” he said.

If there is a part of the personality there, it lies in the snow of the shield used to keep that line of pure charpie. Saigo’s putter cover has a word on it – “Champs” – and is mostly pink. Her favorite color.