Rookie wins rave reviews
MIHO Mori turned 14 in December. At an age when most kids are contemplating the beginning of another school year, Miho is in Sydney playing the Australian Open.
Officials believe the Japanese teenager is the youngest player in Australian Open history, no mean feat in a tournament of this size and stature.
She gained her place in the quality field after winning the girls division at the Aaron Baddeley International Junior Championship in China in December, blitzing the competition by five shots thanks to two sub-70 rounds to close the tournament.
Her reward was a
place at Royal Sydney, where she will play alongside her childhood hero Karrie Webb, a two-time winner of the Open in 2000 and 2002.
Miho, who is being chaperoned by Japanese journalist Tomoka Ikeda, can barely contain her excitement as she prepares to tee up in the opening group today.
“This is the first professional tournament of my life,” Miho said through an interpreter in the lush confines of the Royal Sydney clubhouse yesterday.
“I’m not really nervous. I really want to enjoy it.”
Although she only arrived in the country this week, Miho has already made an impression.
Peter Hines, the Australian PGA executive officer of tournament operations, is acting as her caddie and his reaction was one of awe as he received a first-hand view of Miho completing her practice round with birdie at the 18th.
“My eyes nearly dropped out,” Hines said.
But when the talk turns to age on the women’s tour, the conversation begins and ends with Hawaiian Michelle Wie.
Wie holds LPGA records as the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA tournament (age 12) and the youngest player to make a cut in an LPGA tournament and major (13).
She is also the youngest player to have played in a PGA Tour event, having appeared in the Sony Open as a 14-year-old.
Queensland-based Korean Amy Yang won the Ladies Masters on the Gold Coast last year as a 16-year-old.
