Nasa Hataoka

Named after the American space agency, Nasa Hataoka was only 17 when she became the first amateur and youngest player to win the Japan Women’s Open.

That was in 2016 and, after representing her country in the Espirito Santo Women’s World Team Championship, she turned professional later that year.

She made a successful defence of the Japan Open in her rookie season and then won twice on the LPGA Tour in 2018.

In the Women's PGA Championship that same year, Hataoka shot a closing 64 from nine strokes back to be part of a three-way play-off with Koreans Park Sung-hyun and Ryu So-yeon. Park won at the second extra hole.

Hataoka has won six times on the LPGA Tour, six times on the LPGA of Japan Tour, and has earned nine top-10 finishes in majors, including another play-off defeat, to Yuka Saso in the US Women's Open in 2021.

Hataoka finished T11 at the AIG Women's Open at Walton Heath in 2023 and T7 at Muirfield the year before.