Yuka Saso jumped to a career-high No. 5 in the latest Rolex women’s world golf rankings to mark another milestone on her young career.
The 20-year-old Fil-Japanese sensation climbed two rungs from last week after finishing tied for fourth at the Cognizant Founders Cup in West Caldwell, New Jersey over the weekend.
Prior to this achievement, Saso ranked No. 6 early this month after also finishing tied for fourth at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
The Tokyo Olympian has been inside the Top 8 for 19 consecutive weeks since propelling from No. 40 after her stunning US Women’s Open victory last June.
So far, she has yet to follow up that title feat.
All the Top 4 players remained in their seats: world No. 1 Nelly Korda of the United States, and Koreans Jin Young Ko, Inbee Park and Sei Young Kim.
Completing the Top 10 were No. 6 Minjee Lee of Australia, Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, Canada’s Brooke M. Henderson and Korean Hyo-Joo Kim.
Since barging into the Top 10, Saso has competed in eight tournaments including the Tokyo Olympics where she finished tied for ninth.
She is also ranked third in the LPGA official money list this year, earning $1,474,010 from playing in eight tournaments (around P74.8 million) behind Nelly Korda ($1.97 million in 15 tournaments), and Ko ($1.65 million in 16 tournaments).
The bulk of her earnings came from winning the $1 million purse at the US Open, followed by $138,664 at the Cognizant Founders Cup.