Momoko Ueda

Japanese professional golfer

Momoko Ueda
上田桃子

Ueda before 2009 Women's British Open

Personal information

Born

(1986-06-15) 15 June 1986 (age 37)
Kumamoto, Japan

Height

5 ft 3.5 in (1.61 m)

Sporting nationality

Japan

Residence

Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan

Career

College

none

Turned professional

2005

Current tour(s)

LPGA of Japan Tour (joined 2005)

Former tour(s)

LPGA Tour (2008–13)

Professional wins

Number of wins by tour

LPGA Tour

LPGA of Japan Tour

Best results in LPGA major championships

Chevron Championship

T27: 2010

Women's PGA C'ship

T25: 2008

U.S. Women's Open

T13: 2008

Women's British Open

6th: 2020

Evian Championship

T27: 2013

Achievements and awards

LPGA of Japan Tour Player of the Year	2007
LPGA of Japan Tour leading money winner	2007
LPGA of Japan Tour Rookie of the Year	2007

Momoko Ueda (上田桃子, Ueda Momoko, born 15 June 1986) is a Japanese female professional golfer who in 2007 at the age of 21 became the youngest player in the history of the LPGA of Japan Tour (JLPGA) to finish first on the money list.^[1] She also played on the United States-based LPGA Tour for six years.

Amateur career

Ueda was born in Kumamoto, Japan. She started playing golf at the age of nine, and entered the prestigious Sakata School at ten. In twenty three amateur events, she placed in the top 10 fifteen times, including three wins, and five second-place finishes.^[2]

Professional career

Ueda turned pro in August 2005 and won the JLPGA rookies cup that year.^[3] In 2006, she placed 4th in two JLPGA events, and tied for 9th in the Mizuno Classic, a joint JLPGA and LPGA event.

2007 was her breakout year on the JLPGA, with five wins, six runners-up, a 3rd and a 5th. Internationally, she represented Japan in the World Cup, and played in the Women's British Open at St Andrews. In April she won the Life Card Ladies at her home town of Kumamoto. She went on to win the Resort Trust Ladies and the Stanley Ladies, and placed 2nd in the Fujitsu Ladies, before winning the Mizuno Classic in November.^[4] A highlight of her tournament was a double-eagle during the tournament's final round. She became the tournament's first Japanese winner in nine years and only the 16th non-LPGA member in history to win an LPGA event. Two weeks later at the Elleair Ladies she won her fifth tournament and became the youngest money title winner in the history of the JLPGA tour.^[1]

Her win at Mizuno qualified her to play on the LPGA tour in 2008. In her first tournament of the year, the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, she finished fifth.^[5]

Ueda again won the Mizuno Classic in 2011. She birdied the 3rd hole of a sudden death playoff to defeat Shanshan Feng.^[6]

Professional wins (17)

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (17)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	15 Apr 2007	Life Card Ladies	70-71-70=211	−5	6 strokes	Erina Hara
2	3 Jun 2007	Resort Trust Ladies	69-68-68=205	–11	Playoff	Yuri Fudoh
3	15 July 2007	Stanley Ladies Golf Tournament	71-35=106	–2	Playoff	Chie Arimura Sakura Yokomine
4	4 Nov 2007	Mizuno Classic^a	70-67-66=203	–13	2 strokes	Maria Hjorth Reilley Rankin
5	18 Nov 2007	Daio Paper Elleair Ladies Open	66-71-72=209	–7	3 strokes	Erina Hara Yui Kawahara Shinobu Moromizato Mikiyo Nishizuka
6	15 Jun 2008	Suntory Ladies Open	70-69-70-72=281	–7	1 stroke	Lim Eun-a Song Bo-bae
7	28 Sep 2008	Miyagi TV Cup Dunlop Women's Open	70-72-69=211	–5	1 stroke	Akane Iijima Julie Lu Yuko Mitsuka
8	9 Aug 2009	AXA Ladies	68-69-68=205	–11	Playoff	Chie Arimura Lee Ji-hee
9	6 Nov 2011	Mizuno Classic^a	67-64-69=200	–16	Playoff	Shanshan Feng
10	24 Aug 2014	CAT Ladies	70-71-69=210	–9	1 stroke	Rikako Morita
11	2 Nov 2014	Hisako Higuchi – Morinaga Ladies	68-69-69=206	–10	1 stroke	Junko Omote
12	21 May 2017	Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open	66-69-65=200	–16	2 strokes	Teresa Lu
13	22 Oct 2017	Nobuta Group Masters GC Ladies	73-65-67=205	–11	2 strokes	Asako Fujimoto Nasa Hataoka Jiyai Shin
14	24 Mar 2019	T-Point ENEOS Golf Tournament	69-69-69=207	–6	2 strokes	Minami Katsu Jiyai Shin
15	9 Jun 2019	Yonex Ladies Golf Tournament	70-68-65=203	–13	6 strokes	Yuki Ichinose Kim Hyo-joo Rumi Yoshiba
16	2 May 2021	Panasonic Open Ladies Golf Tournament	70-68-73=202	–5	Playoff	Momoko Osato
17	10 Apr 2022	Fujifilm Studio Alice Ladies Open	69-69-69=207	–9	3 strokes	Eri Fukuyama Mone Inami Seira Oki Mao Saigo

^a Co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour.

LPGA Tour wins (2)

Legend

Major championships (0)

Other LPGA Tour (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	4 Nov 2007	Mizuno Classic^a	70-67-66=203	–13	2 strokes	Maria Hjorth Reilley Rankin
2	6 Nov 2011	Mizuno Classic^a	67-64-69=200	–16	Playoff	Shanshan Feng

^a Co-sanctioned by the LPGA of Japan Tour.

LPGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2011	Mizuno Classic	Shanshan Feng	Won with birdie on third extra hole

Results in LPGA majors

Tournament	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2016	2019	2020	2022	2023
Chevron Championship	T47	T30	T27	T33	T66	T41
Women's PGA Championship	T25	T57	CUT	T30	CUT	CUT
U.S. Women's Open	T13	T40	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT			CUT	CUT	CUT
The Evian Championship ^						T27			NT
Women's British Open	T7	T55	T9	T22	CUT	CUT	CUT	T51	6

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013.

Top 10

Did not play

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

LPGA Tour career summary

Year	Events played	Cuts made	Wins	2nds	Top 10s	Best finish	Earnings ($)	Rank	Scoring average	Scoring rank
2006	1	1	0	0	1	T9	24,442	n/a	69.67	n/a
2007	4	4	1	0	2	1	302,550	n/a	72.07	n/a
2008	19	16	0	0	3	5	413,592	45	71.74	23
2009	18	15	0	1	2	T2	416,333	33	71.68	28
2010	9	7	0	0	1	T6	114,509	45	71.81	31
2011	16	13	1	0	1	1	333,494	34	72.19	31
2012	19	14	0	0	0	T12	210,197	58	71.85	33
2013	17	12	0	0	0	T27	83,283	88	72.66	76

Official as of the 2013 season

JLPGA prize money

Year	Earnings (¥)	Rank
2005	0	–
2006	46,751,163	13
2007	166,112,232	1
2008	54,617,651	17
2009	42,380,260	21
2010	21,771,999	39
2011	35,710,800	22
2012	6,383,200	80
2013	19,256,000	48
2014	74,315,585	10
2015	88,731,118	7
2016	31,085,815	35
2017	101,820,977	6
2018	49,337,685	21
2019	81,089,991	9
2020–21*	57,140,302	13
Total*	876,504,778	9

* As of 13 June 2021

Team appearances

Professional

World Cup (representing Japan): 2007
The Queens (representing Japan): 2015 (winners), 2017 (winners)

References

^ ^a ^b "Ueda's fifth victory clinches money title". The Japan Times. 19 November 2007. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
^ "Momoko Ueda" (PDF). LPGA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
^ "Momoko Ueda". Egg Times. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
^ "Ueda shoots 66 for 2-stroke victory in Mizuno Classic". ESPN. Associated Press. 4 November 2007. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
^ "Sorenstam wins 70th LPGA Tour title, ends long winless streak". CBS Sports. Associated Press. 16 February 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
^ Momoko Ueda wins Mizuno in playoff