10 Things You Didn't Know About Nasa Hataoka
1. Hataoka was born 13th January 1999, in Ibaraki in Japan.
2. She first started playing golf at 11-years-old and, just five years later, she won the IMG Academy Junior World Championship, Kanto Junior Championship, and the Faldo Series Asia Championship in 2015. A year later, she retained all three events and added the Ciputra World Junior Championship to her collection.
3. While still an amateur, Hataoka won the 2016 Japan Women's Open Golf Championship, a Major tournament on the LPGA of Japan Tour. In the process, she became the youngest player and the first amateur to win a JLPGA Major.
4. After her JLPGA win, Hataoka turned professional and competed in the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament. She finished 14th to earn her LPGA Tour card for 2017 and played on both the LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour that season.
5. In 2017, she won twice on the JLPGA, including her second Japan Women's Open but a 140th place finish on the LPGA Tour money list meant that Nasa lost her card for 2018. She did finish first though in the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to secure her card for the following season.
6. Hataoka won her first LPGA Tour event in 2018 at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. Since then, she has won five more times, with the most recent being the 2022 DIO Implant LA Open.
7. The 2018 Toto Japan Classic win, which is co-sanctioned with the LPGA of Japan Tour, saw Hataoka climb into the Top 10 of the Women's World Golf Rankings for the first time.
Hataoka celebrates her Walmart NW Arkansas Championship victory
8. Hataoka has lost all four play-offs she has played in on the LPGA Tour, including the 2018 Women's PGA Championship and 2021 Women's US Open.
9. She has represented Japan on three occasions in her combined professional and amateur career - Espirito Santo Trophy in 2016, the International Crown in 2018, and the Amata Friendship Cup in 2018. She also played for Asia/Pacific at the Patsy Hankins Trophy in 2016, which her team won.
10. Hataoka represented Japan at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She finished in a tie for ninth with her teammate, Mone Inami, finishing second, securing the silver medal.