Ayako Uehara (上原 彩子, Uehara Ayako, born 23 December 1983 in Naha, Okinawa) is a Japanese professional golfer.

Ayako Uehara
上原 彩子
Personal information
Born (1983-12-23) 23 December 1983 (age 40)
Naha, Okinawa, Japan
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Sporting nationality Japan
Career
Turned professional2004
Current tour(s)LPGA of Japan Tour
LPGA Tour (joined 2013)
Ladies European Tour
Professional wins3
Number of wins by tour
LPGA of Japan Tour3
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron Championship8th: 2018
Women's PGA C'shipT44: 2013
U.S. Women's OpenT20: 2015
Women's British OpenT17: 2013
Evian ChampionshipT10: 2017
Medal record
Asian Games
Silver medal – second place 2002 Busan Women's team

Uehara started playing golf at age 12, turned professional in 2003, and made her way onto the LPGA Tour on her first attempt. Together with Ai Miyazato and Sakura Yokomine, she was a member of the Japanese team that won a silver medal at the 2002 Asian Games.[1]

In 2016, Uehara made two holes-in-one during the Canadian Pacific Women's Open, tying the LPGA record for most holes-in-one in a single tournament.[1] In November the same year, she set another record when she posted a score of 141 during round one of the Ito En Ladies Golf Tournament on the LPGA of Japan Tour. Uehara mistakenly applied the local rule of "lift, clean, and place" (common on the LPGA) when it should have been "lift, clean, and replace", earning her 68 penalties, two for each of the 19 violations and one for each of the 15 holes with an incorrect score on her scorecard.[2]

Uehara, in solo second place just one shot off of the lead, played in the final group at a major championship for the first time in her career at the 2017 Evian Championship.[3]

Professional wins (3)

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LPGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 27 Apr 2008 Fujisankei Ladies Classic 70-72-66=208 −8 1 stroke   Erina Hara
2 22 Mar 2009 Yokohama Tire PRGR Ladies Cup 64-71=135 −9 5 strokes   Hwang Ah-reum
  Midori Yoneyama
3 3 Jul 2011 Nichi-Iko Ladies Open 66-68-66=200 −16 1 stroke   Song Bo-bae

Results in LPGA majors

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Results not in chronological order.

Tournament 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
ANA Inspiration T19 CUT T35 T56 T27 8 T26 CUT CUT
Women's PGA Championship T44 T53 CUT CUT CUT T60 CUT CUT
U.S. Women's Open T36 CUT T20 CUT CUT T41 CUT
The Evian Championship T27 T32 T46 70 T10 CUT CUT NT
Women's British Open T17 T54 T63 CUT T21
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
ANA Inspiration 0 0 0 0 1 2 9 6
Women's PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 3
U.S. Women's Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 3
The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 1 1 7 5
Women's British Open 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 4
Totals 0 0 0 0 2 6 36 21
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (2013 Kraft Nabisco – 2013 Evian)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2017 Evian – 2018 ANA)

Team appearances

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Amateur

Professional

References

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  1. ^ a b "Ayako Uehara Bio". LPGA. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  2. ^ "史上ワーストの「141」 上原彩子に前代未聞の68罰打" (in Japanese). Golf Digest Japan. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  3. ^ "Feng In The Mix, New Ground for Uehara And More from Evian". LPGA. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
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