Ayaka Furue

Ayaka Furue (古江 彩佳, Furue Ayaka) (born 27 May 2000) is a Japanese professional golfer. After playing on the LPGA of Japan Tour where she has eight wins, she currently plays on the LPGA Tour.[1] She won her first LPGA Tour championship on 31 July 2022, at the Trust Golf Women's Scottish Open. At 5 ft 0 in, she is the shortest active player on the LPGA Tour.

Ayaka Furue
古江 彩佳
Personal information
Born (2000-05-27) 27 May 2000
Kobe, Kansai, Japan
Height153 cm (5 ft 0 in)
Sporting nationality Japan
Career
Turned professional2019
Current tour(s)LPGA of Japan Tour
LPGA Tour
Professional wins9
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour1
Ladies European Tour1
LPGA of Japan Tour8
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron ChampionshipT44: 2022
Women's PGA C'shipT8: 2023
U.S. Women's OpenT6: 2023
Women's British OpenT20: 2021
Evian Championship4th: 2021
Achievements and awards
LPGA of Japan Tour
Player of the Year		2020-21

Early life and amateur career

Furue was born in Kobe and started playing golf at the age of 3, coached by her father. She has also been a swimmer since the age of four in parallel with golf.[2]

Furue won the Kansai Elementary School Golf Championship in 2012, and the Kansai Junior High School Golf Championship in 2014 and 2015, and while attending Kobe Municipal Nagata Junior High School she won the National Junior High School Golf Championship in 2015 and the Kansai High School Golf Championship in 2016. She participated in the 2016 Japan Women's Open Golf Championship where she made the cut and finished tied for 28th place.[1]

She played for the Japan National Team in 2017 and 2018. She won the 2018 Junior Golf World Cup with the team and finished 4th individually. She was also 4th individually at the 2018 Asian Games, where the Japan team finished 5th.

Furue won the 2019 Fujitsu Ladies on the LPGA of Japan Tour as an amateur, and turned professional shortly afterwards.[1]

Professional career

Furue recorded three victories and two runner-up finishes on the LPGA of Japan Tour in 2020. She shot up to No. 42 in the Women's World Golf Rankings to secure a spot at the 2020 U.S. Women's Open, where she did not make the cut.[3]

In 2021, she won a further three tournaments and rose to No. 14 in the world rankings. She was in contention at the 2021 Evian Championship where she birdied three of the last four holes to claim fourth ahead of Atthaya Thitikul.[4]

At the 2021 Women's British Open, Furue started the final round four shots behind co-leaders Anna Nordqvist and Nanna Koerstz Madsen, but lost ground on the leaders and ended tied for 20th as she carded a level-par round of 72 that featured an eagle, two birdies and four bogeys.[5]

Furue earned her card for the 2022 LPGA Tour through qualifying school.[6]

She won her first LPGA Tour tournament, at the Trust Golf Women's Scottish Open on 31 July 2022, shooting a course record 10-under-par 62 (267, −21) in the final round to win by three strokes over Céline Boutier, after trailing by four strokes after 54 holes to co-leaders Boutier and Lydia Ko.[7]

Amateur wins
  • 2012 Kansai Elementary School Golf Championship
  • 2014 Kansai Junior High School Golf Championship
  • 2015 Kansai Junior High School Golf Championship, National Junior High School Golf Championship
  • 2016 Kansai High School Golf Championship
  • 2018 Kansai Women's Amateur Championship[8]

Professional wins (9)

LPGA Tour wins (1)
Legend
Major championships (0)
Other LPGA Tour (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up Winner's
share ($)
1 31 Jul 2022 Trust Golf Women's Scottish Open[1] 69-68-68-62=267 −21 3 strokes France Céline Boutier 300,000

1 Co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour.

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (8)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 20 Oct 2019 Fujitsu Ladiesa 67-65-67=199 −17 2 strokes Japan Mone Inami
Japan Kana Mikashima
2 20 Sep 2020 Descente Ladies Tokai Classic 66-67-68=201 −15 Playoff Japan Hiroko Azuma
3 15 Nov 2020 Ito En Ladies Golf Tournament 69-65-70=204 −12 Playoff Japan Miki Sakai
4 22 Nov 2020 Daio Paper Elleair Ladies Open 65-71-64-69=269 −15 3 strokes South Korea Lee Min-young
5 17 Oct 2021 Fujitsu Ladies 65-67=132 −12 Playoff Japan Minami Katsu
6 24 Oct 2021 Nobuta Group Masters GC Ladies 69-71-67-69=276 −12 1 stroke Japan Mao Saigo
7 7 Nov 2021 Toto Japan Classic 68-67-68-69=272 −16 3 strokes Japan Mone Inami
8 16 Oct 2022 Fujitsu Ladies 66-65-69=200 −16 1 stroke Japan Akie Iwai

a Ayaka won the 2019 Fujitsu Ladies as an amateur.

Results in LPGA majors

Results not in chronological order.

Tournament2020202120222023
Chevron Championship T44 T52
Women's PGA Championship CUT T8
U.S. Women's Open CUT CUT T6
The Evian Championship NT 4 T19 T36
Women's British Open T20 CUT T21
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Chevron Championship00000022
Women's PGA Championship00001121
U.S. Women's Open00001131
The Evian Championship00011233
Women's British Open00000232
Totals000136139

LPGA Tour career summary
YearTournaments
played		Cuts
made*		Wins2nd3rdTop
10s		Best
finish		Birdies
(rank)		Earnings
($)		Money
list rank		Scoring
average		Scoring
rank
2020 1 0 0 0 0 0 CUT n/a
(n/a)		 n/a n/a n/a n/a
2021 2 2 0 0 0 1 4 n/a
(n/a)		 n/a n/a n/a n/a
2022 27 24 1 1 1t 4 1 322
(11)		 957,831 29 70.34 21
2023 11 10 0 1 2 5 2 128
(9)		 710,363 5 70.35 12
Totals^ 38 (2022) 34 (2022) 1 2 3 10 1 450 1,668,194 209

^ official as of 9 June 2023[9][10] [11]
*Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

YearRankingSource
2016768[12]
2017600[13]
2018413[14]
201982[15]
202016[16]
202114[17]
202222[18]
202317^[19]

^ as of 12 June 2023

Team appearances

Amateur

Source:[8]

Professional

References
  1. "Member Guide: Ayaka Furue". LPGA of Japan. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  2. "ジュニアは参考にしたい 古江彩佳の強じんな体のつくり方". Golf Digest Japan (in Japanese). 21 October 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  3. "Player Bio: Ayaka Furue". USGA. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  4. "Evian Championship: Minjee Lee snatches maiden major title with play-off win over Jeongeun Lee6". Sky Sports. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  5. "Golf: Sweden's Nordqvist wins Women's British Open, Japan's Furue 20th". Kyodo News. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  6. "Na Rin An Secures Medalist Honors At LPGA Q-Series". LPGA. 13 December 2021.
  7. "Scottish Bang for Furue as LPGA Tour Heads to AIG Women's Open". LPGA. 1 August 2022.
  8. "Ayaka Furue". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  9. "Ayaka Furue stats". LPGA. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  10. "Ayaka Furue results". LPGA. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  11. "Career Money". LPGA. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  12. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2016.
  13. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 25 December 2017.
  14. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 31 December 2018.
  15. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 30 December 2019.
  16. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 28 December 2020.
  17. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 27 December 2021.
  18. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2022.
  19. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 12 June 2023.
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