She’s more comfortable with the traditional Okinawan kachashi dance. But when you’ve just won an LPGA tournament, it’s easy to be a good sport.
“Oh my God. So embarrassing,” Ai Miyazato said. “(But) I was … relaxing and had a good time.”
Actually, she had nothing to be ashamed of. It wasn’t her best performance of the day at the Lotte Championship at Ko Olina, but Miyazato’s first attempt at the hula was pretty decent. She said she had no preparation, but good coaches, a professional dancer on each side of her. Miyazato learned as she went along.
And she made it look easy.
Sort of like her golf game — except that the 26-year-old, now eight-time LPGA winner has been swinging the sticks since she was 4.
If I didn’t know that and a few other things, I’d take my brother up on his standing offer right now, grab that old set of clubs in his garage and start hitting balls down the range.
That’s how easy Miyazato makes it look.
But anyone who has ever tried to play golf knows it’s just the opposite.
It’s a brutally difficult game under the best conditions. Toss in the intense pressure of a final round, with a pack of the world’s best gnawing at your heels. And the wind. That made Miyazato’s calm demeanor and confident smile — even after she lost her three-stroke edge — even more telling.
“It’s definitely a compliment when people say that I make it look easy, but I also feel that if it looks that way that maybe I’m playing simple and also playing in a good state of mind,” she said through an interpreter.
That mind-set was at question before she arrived here, since Miyazato suffered a rare letdown in her game two weeks ago at the season’s first major, the Kraft Nabisco.
But she just did what champions do. She went back to work. She managed the wind and stayed on the fairways. Oh, and her putter caught fire.
That still doesn’t answer the question that mystifies many and makes what she does look do-able to novices. How does that replay-slow back swing generate power, especially from such a tiny human being?
It defies the laws of physics. The only explanation can be tireless repetition matched with laser focus and rare athleticism. What she lacks in torque and power, Miyazato makes up for in precision and control.
Still, this was no leisurely pro-am or practice round. With a stellar leaderboard, Miyazato knew she’d have to fend off some challenges.
“I was pretty nervous toward the end because I know that everyone is playing well,” she said. “I have to finish really strong.”
Not really, since she had a four-stroke cushion at No. 18. Overshooting the green and avoiding the water in front was smart, and even smarter after an equally spectacular and efficient sand save put a bow on what had already been wrapped.
And then it was time to dance.