Ayaka_Furue
Ayaka Furue
Japanese professional golfer
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 (age 23) Kobe, Kansai, Japan | ||
| Height | 153 cm (5 ft 0 in) | ||
| Sporting nationality |  Japan | ||
| Career | |||
| Turned professional | 2019 | ||
| Current tour(s) | LPGA of Japan Tour LPGA Tour | ||
| Professional wins | 9 | ||
| Number of wins by tour | |||
| LPGA Tour | 1 | ||
| Ladies European Tour | 1 | ||
| LPGA of Japan Tour | 8 | ||
| Best results in LPGA major championships | |||
| Chevron Championship | T44: 2022 | ||
| Women's PGA C'ship | T8: 2023 | ||
| U.S. Women's Open | T6: 2023 | ||
| Women's British Open | T20: 2021 | ||
| Evian Championship | 4th: 2021 | ||
| Achievements and awards | |||
| |||
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, thus was awarded exemption of the JLPGA Player Certification Test, and turned professional shortly afterwards.[1]
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]
- 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]
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 |  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 | Mone Inami Kana Mikashima |
| 2 | 20 Sep 2020 | Descente Ladies Tokai Classic | 66-67-68=201 | −15 | Playoff | Hiroko Azuma |
| 3 | 15 Nov 2020 | Ito En Ladies Golf Tournament | 69-65-70=204 | −12 | Playoff | Miki Sakai |
| 4 | 22 Nov 2020 | Daio Paper Elleair Ladies Open | 65-71-64-69=269 | −15 | 3 strokes |  Lee Min-young |
| 5 | 17 Oct 2021 | Fujitsu Ladies | 65-67=132 | −12 | Playoff | Minami Katsu |
| 6 | 24 Oct 2021 | Nobuta Group Masters GC Ladies | 69-71-67-69=276 | −12 | 1 stroke | Mao Saigo |
| 7 | 7 Nov 2021 | Toto Japan Classic | 68-67-68-69=272 | −16 | 3 strokes | Mone Inami |
| 8 | 16 Oct 2022 | Fujitsu Ladies | 66-65-69=200 | −16 | 1 stroke | Akie Iwai |
a Ayaka won the 2019 Fujitsu Ladies as an amateur.
Results not in chronological order.
| Tournament | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevron Championship | T44 | T52 | T50 | ||
| U.S. Women's Open | CUT | CUT | T6 | ||
| Women's PGA Championship | CUT | T8 | |||
| The Evian Championship | NT | 4 | T19 | T36 | |
| Women's British Open | T20 | CUT | T21 |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied
Summary
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevron Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| U.S. Women's Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Women's PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| The Evian Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Women's British Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 10 |
| Year | Tournaments played | Cuts made* | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top 10s | Best finish | Earnings ($) | Money list rank | Scoring average | Scoring rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CUT | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 2021 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 2022 | 27 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 957,831 | 29 | 70.34 | 21 |
| 2023 | 24 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 1,637,334 | 13 | 70.30 | 16 |
| Totals^ | 51 (2022) | 46 (2022) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 2,595,165 | 164 |
^ official as of 2023 season[9][10][11]
*Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.
Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.
Amateur
- Neighbors Trophy Team Championship (representing Japan): 2017
- Queen Sirikit Cup (representing Japan): 2017, 2018
- Junior Golf World Cup (representing Japan): 2017, 2018 (winners)
- Asian Games (representing Japan): 2018
Source:[8]
Professional
- International Crown (representing Japan): 2023
- "Member Guide: Ayaka Furue". LPGA of Japan. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- "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.
- "Player Bio: Ayaka Furue". USGA. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- "Evian Championship: Minjee Lee snatches maiden major title with play-off win over Jeongeun Lee6". Sky Sports. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- "Golf: Sweden's Nordqvist wins Women's British Open, Japan's Furue 20th". Kyodo News. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- "Na Rin An Secures Medalist Honors At LPGA Q-Series". LPGA. 13 December 2021.
- "Scottish Bang for Furue as LPGA Tour Heads to AIG Women's Open". LPGA. 1 August 2022.
- "Ayaka Furue". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- "Ayaka Furue stats". LPGA. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
- "Ayaka Furue results". LPGA. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
- "Career Money". LPGA. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
- "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2016.
- "Women's World Golf Rankings". 25 December 2017.
- "Women's World Golf Rankings". 31 December 2018.
- "Women's World Golf Rankings". 30 December 2019.
- "Women's World Golf Rankings". 28 December 2020.
- "Women's World Golf Rankings". 27 December 2021.
- "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2022.
- "Women's World Golf Rankings". 25 December 2023.
- Ayaka Furue at the LPGA Tour official site
- Ayaka Furue at the LPGA of Japan Tour official site
- Ayaka Furue at the Women's World Golf Rankings official site
- Ayaka Furue on Twitter