The pinnacle event in women's golf is surely the Japan Women's Open Golf Championship, commonly called the "Women's Open." This year's venue is Sagamihara Golf Club in Kanagawa Prefecture, held October 3–6.
Sagamihara Golf Club is a familiar course where Palaceside Building tenants join an annual friendship golf outing each September. The Women's Open will be played on the East Course, renowned for its length and demanding layout. Total prize money of 140 million yen and a winner's share of 28 million yen are exceptional amounts on the women's tour, showing how big this event is.
This is the 46th edition. From the first tournament in 1968 through the fourth, Hisako Higuchi achieved a four-peat. Later champions include Ayako Okamoto, Yukiko Morikawa, Hiromi Kobayashi, A-Tam Tu, and Shinobu Moromizato. Active players who have won include Michiko Hattori, Yuri Fudo, Ai Miyazato, Mika Miyazato, and Yukari Baba. Last year at Yokohama Country Club West Course, China's Feng Shanshan won.
First champion Hisako Higuchi was 23 years and 60 days old—a youth that caused a sensation and became a major trigger for the golf boom among office workers to spread to women. Ai Miyazato, who won the 2005 tournament (Totsuka Country West Course) at 20 years and 3 months, drew a gallery of 20,000 in the final round, setting a record for the largest crowd in Japanese women's golf history.
Sagamihara Golf Club was founded by Takashi Takama, chairman and chief editorial writer of The Mainichi Newspapers, who served as its first president. Takama, valued for his long experience as a foreign correspondent, became an IOC (International Olympic Committee) member without being a JOC (Japanese Olympic Committee) member and contributed to bringing the Tokyo Olympics (1964). With deep ties to The Mainichi Newspapers and Palaceside Building, this year's Women's Open at Sagamihara Golf Club will be exciting to watch for performances by the Miyazato sisters, Chie Arimura, and others.