 "Fly like a bird to the world!"Ai Miyazato dropped 2 meters of winning putt in the cup at Miyagi TV Cup Dunlop Ladys Open Golf Tournament on September 28. This is the first time in 30 years that an amateur player wins a victory in women golf tour. Of course, this was also the 1st time for an 18-years old high school student to win the tournament. It is her hometown Higashi Mura of northern Okinawa prefecture where Ai started to play golf. Her father Masaru who used to be personnel of the village office stood as a candidate of the village mayor and was defeated when Ai was 2 years old. He lost his job and the family lapsed into the bottom of poverty. Ai had a first grasp of club at the age of 4. While the environment was not especially blessed, she learned to play golf under the instruction of her father who took license of a teaching pro at the age of 43. What made her father admirable and different from other Japanese instructors was that he never forced her into golf. Since the policy of Miyazato family was " schoolwork is no.1 and golf the no.2 priority", Ai played piano until she was 3rd grade of primary school and started to play basketball and track and field from upper class and continued until she became junior high school student. She was mentioned to have a top-class performance in her studies as well. Thus raised in the spontaneous environment, she learned to become naturally open-minded and gradually cultivated a sense of independence. The instantaneous power required for a first-class golfer was obtained by enjoying sports other than golf. Meanwhile, her father, who said that one should be a person of decent character before becoming a great golfer, was strict for manners even though he never criticized golf scores. Ai is determined to be professional golfer by taking advantage of winning the entry in the Miyagi TV Cup Dunlop Ladys Open Golf Tournament. She is now backed by a leading sponsor and is planning to play in the U.S. woman tour in 2005. It is said that the reason why Japanese sports players cannot demonstrate power in real stage is that they were managed by the coach in all aspects from the player's lifestyles to the training. However, I believe that Ai, who possesses her own sense of value and judgment, would be able to get through anything whatever the surrounding environment may be without losing track of herself. I 'd like to cheer for the future of Ai who is ready to tour the U.S. and talks about her dream, "I'd like to grow up not only a decent golf player, but also as a reasonable person." End |
