LANCASTER, Pa. — As she stood on the 18th green at Lancaster Country Club late Sunday, clutching the Harton S. Semple Trophy for the second time in her young career, Yuka Saso paused, looked down and let the wave of emotion register.
“My family,” she said tearfully, eventually speaking after the horde of onlookers gathered around the hole clapped and cheered encouragement, “I wouldn’t be here without their support.”
It was fitting then that three years after gifting her mom with a U.S. Women’s Open win, Saso, 22, could give a similar present to her father.
“It’s just a wonderful feeling that I was able to give back to my parents in the same way,” Saso said.
In 2021, Saso became the first golfer from the Philippines — the country of her mother’s origin — to win the U.S. Women’s Open. Months later, while holding dual Philippine/Japanese citizenship, she decided to instead solely represent her father’s native Japan and has been playing underneath that…
