There’s something about the first win that just hits different.
For the first time on Sunday, Ayaka Furue stood next to a winner’s trophy on the LPGA Tour. The silver prize for winning the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open sat atop a blue platform emblazoned with the tournament’s logo. While the champion waited to hoist her hardware and give it a celebratory kiss, she stared at it longingly. She gestured at it with both hands. She stood with her hands clasped down in front of her as she danced one leg in front of the other. She then bent over at the waist in a stretching motion trying to dispel the energy that at any minute might propel the rookie to snatch the trophy right off its perch and into her waiting hands.
“I didn't think I would win as a rookie,” Furue said about capturing her first win on Sunday. “I’m very happy and I'm very grateful and very happy that I was able to win at a links course.”
The 22-year-old’s breakthrough victory on the LPGA Tour came on the heels of a tournament and course record 10-under par 62 on Sunday. Furue came from four strokes back to win by as many over titans like Lydia Ko and Celine Boutier, who shared the 54-hole lead. The victory came just one week after the rookie held the first-round lead at the Amundi Evian Championship with an opening 63, one of the lowest rounds ever in major championship history.
“My best part was I was very straight this week. And I made a lot of putts, short ones, and was able to make a few long ones, also,” Furue said after her victory.
The Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open marks the first of back-to-back weeks in Scotland for the LPGA Tour. Dundonald Links, which hosted the Scottish Open for the first time since 2017 is a traditional links that puts a premium on accuracy. And that’s where Furue excelled. She hit 80 percent of her fairways and 84 percent of her greens - not a small feat given the unpredictable changes in weather compounded with the signature bumps, ridges, and rises that define links golf.
Expect accuracy to be on a long list of skills tested on week two in Scotland, as the world’s best drive two hours east to Muirfield. It’s where players will make history as the first women to compete in a major at the historic venue.
Created by Old Tom Morris in 1891, Muirfield has hosted 16 Open Championships, the Curtis, Ryder, and Walker Cups, and nearly a dozen amateur championships. And come Thursday, the AIG Women’s Open.
And like Furue, who patiently waited to pull her trophy into her arms, the best female golfers in the world have long awaited the opportunity to showcase their game at Muirfield. The one who excels on the storied course will see her name etched beside greats like Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Se Ri Pak, and Inbee Park as a winner of the AIG Women’s Open, and alongside champions like Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tom Watson as a winner at Muirfield.
That is a first that just hits different.
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