Nasa Hataoka has achieved victory at the TOTO Japan Classic of the LPGA Tour, which concluded abruptly this Sunday at the Seta Golf course in Otsu. Bad weather wiped out the fourth and final round. The day was cancelled, and only the two players who finished Saturday tied after the third round went out to play a playoff: Hataoka and the young Yuna Araki. The former won on the first playoff hole with a par. It was all so strange and improvised that they played the 18th hole, a par 5 this week, as a par 3. There was no other way to tackle it with all the water that had fallen.
Regardless of the poor conditions, the LPGA Tour found a way to finish the tournament and declare a winner. And it’s not just anyone. It’s the rebirth of a great champion. Hataoka emerges from the tunnel three years later. She hadn’t won since 2022. From there, it was a journey through the desert, especially in the last two years.
A definitive fact. Her last victory in April 2022, at the DIO Implant LA Open, her sixth career win on the LPGA, placed her in sixth position in the world rankings. Right now, she is 32nd and had even fallen out of the top 50 in 2025. She found something in August this year, at the FM Championship. She finished seventh there, and since then, she had played six tournaments with a record of four top 10 finishes. Now comes the victory. She now has seven on the LPGA, her second in this tournament.
On another note, Hataoka breaks a jinx that had been following her throughout her career. Until this Sunday in Japan, she had played four playoffs in her career and lost all four, the most painful being the 2018 KPMG won by Sung Hyun Park and the 2021 US Open against Yuka Saso.
The cancellation of the final day prevented Julia López from improving her position in the tournament. She finished in 70th place. With this result, she loses three positions in the Race to CME Globe. She is now in 68th place. She will need to perform very well next week at The Annika in Florida to break into the top 60 and compete in the circuit’s grand final a week later.
