Winner's bag
The clubs Yuka Saso used to win the 2024 U.S. Women's Open
Sarah Stier
Yuka Saso had a U.S. Women’s Open title to her credit, having won the 2021 edition at Olympic Club about a month short of her 20th birthday. As such she knew the two-shot deficit she faced heading into the final round at Lancaster C.C. in Pennsylvania was well within reason. She rebounded from a four-putt double bogey with four birdies on the final nine to become the youngest player to win two U.S. Women’s Opens.
That four-putt came on the sixth hole, but from there on our Saso was money. At the treacherous 163-yard, par-3 12th Saso dropped her tee shot 10 feet, six inches from the hole and made the putt. On the following hole Saso clipped a nifty wedge from 73 yards to a few feet on the par-5 13th to take the lead. Min Woo Lee then watched as her tee shot on 12 hit the green but rolled back in water—the same hole Nelly Korda made a 10 on in the opening round.
On the par-4 15th, Saso pured a 5-iron from 189 yards that caught the slope and rolled to within six feet. The ensuing putt dropped stretching the lead to two and when Saso drove the green with her tee shot at the par-4 16th for a fourth birdie in five holes, it gave her the cushion she needed to offset a three-putt bogey at 17 and secure her second open win.
That 5-iron was a Callaway Apex CB, part of a split set of irons where the 4- and 5-irons are the CB and the 6-iron through 9-iron are the company’s 2021 model.
It was off the tee and on the green, however, where Saso won the Open. She ranked third in driving distance at 280.7 yards and third in strokes gained off the tee as well, gaining 1.18 shots on the field with her 9-degree Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond driver. And despite the four-putt stumble, Saso ranked first in strokes gained/putting, grabbing 3.4 shots on the field.
Not to mention grabbing the Harton S. Semple trophy given to the champion in the process.
What Yuka Saso had in the bag at the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open
Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour X
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond, 9 degrees
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max, 16.5 degrees
5-wood: Callaway Apex UW, 18 degrees
Irons (4-5): Callaway Apex CB; (6-9): Callaway Apex MB 21
Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (46, 52, 56, 60 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey Ai One Milled 3T