Golf – Women’s British Open – Woburn Golf Club, Milton Keynes, Britain – August 4, 2019 Japan’s Hinako Shibuno celebrates with trophy after making a birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the Women’s British Open Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra
(Reuters) – ‘Smiling Cinderella’ Hinako Shibuno completed a fairytale week by winning the Women’s British Open in her first LPGA event at Milton Keynes on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Japanese player, who earned her nickname because of her radiant smile, rammed home a lengthy birdie putt at the final hole to edge out American Lizette Salas by one stroke.
Shibuno, a rank outsider at the start of the event, reacted with glee after her winning putt rattled in at Woburn for a closing four-under-par 68.
She finished on 18-under 270 to become the second Japanese woman to win a major, after Hisako “Chako” Higuchi in 1977.
Reporting by Andrew Both in Greensboro, North Carolina; editing by Tony Lawrence