Hinako Shibuno
Shibuno in October 2019
Personal information
Full nameHinako Shibuno
NicknameSmiling Cinderella,[1] Shibuko[2]
Born (1998-11-15) 15 November 1998 (age 25)
Okayama, Okayama, Japan
Height1.67 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in)[3]
Sporting nationality Japan
ResidenceJapan
Career
Turned professional2018
Current tour(s)LPGA of Japan Tour
LPGA Tour
Professional wins7
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour1
Ladies European Tour1
LPGA of Japan Tour6
Best results in LPGA major championships
(wins: 1)
Chevron ChampionshipT4: 2022
Women's PGA C'shipT40: 2021
U.S. Women's Open4th: 2020
Women's British OpenWon: 2019
Evian ChampionshipT59: 2023
Achievements and awards
LPGA of Japan Tour
Player of the Year		2019

Hinako Shibuno (渋野 日向子, Shibuno Hinako, born 15 November 1998) is a Japanese professional golfer who won the 2019 Women's British Open.

Early years

Shibuno was born in Okayama, Japan on 15 November 1998.[4] Her father was a discus thrower and her mother was a javelin thrower. She is the middle child of their three daughters.[5]

She started playing golf and softball when she was a second grader. As a softball player, she was a pitcher and a converted left-handed hitter.[5] As a golfer, she finished third in the 2010 Okayama Prefecture Junior Golf Championship (4th, 5th, and 6th grader division).[6]

At Jōtō junior high school,[7] she joined the school's baseball club as the only female player. However, after winning the 2011 Okayama Prefecture Junior Golf Championship (junior high school division), she decided to focus on golf, taking advice from her baseball coach.[8]

In 2014, she was enrolled at Sakuyō High School where she continued to play golf for the school. In the same year, she won the Chūgoku Region Women's Amateur Championship.[9] As a member of the school team, she won the team competition in the National High School Golf Championship in 2015.[10]

Professional career

In 2017, after graduating from the high school, she was qualified to take a final test to be a professional but failed.[11]

In 2018, she mainly played in the step-up tour circuit. The only JLPGA competition she played in that year was the Earth Mondahmin Cup in June where she was qualified after a successful Monday qualifier. She scored a hole-in-one at the 9th hole of the first day of the competition and earned 6 million yen for the feat, despite missing the cut.[12]

In July 2018, she passed the test and turned professional.[13]

In May 2019, Shibuno won the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup, one of the four major golf tournaments for women on the LPGA of Japan Tour.[14] In July 2019, she won the Shiseido Anessa Ladies Open after a playoff.[15]

In August 2019, she won the AIG Women's British Open,[16] which was her first LPGA Tour event and her first time outside of Japan. She is the second Japanese player to win a women's major championship, after Hisako Higuchi, who won the 1977 LPGA Championship, as well as the second player this decade to win in her major debut, after Kim Hyo-joo at the 2014 Evian Championship.[17]

Shibuno earned her card for the 2022 LPGA Tour through qualifying school.[18]

Professional wins (7)

LPGA Tour wins (1)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other LPGA Tour (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 4 Aug 2019 AIG Women's British Open^ 66-69-67-68=270 −18 1 stroke United States Lizette Salas

^ Co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (6)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 12 May 2019 World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup 71-68-66-71=276 −12 1 stroke South Korea Bae Seon-woo
2 7 Jul 2019 Shiseido Anessa Ladies Open 71-68-66-71=276 −12 Playoff South Korea Lee Min-young
3 22 Sep 2019 Descente Ladies Tokai Classic[19] 69-70-64=203 −13 2 strokes Japan Mayu Hamada
South Korea Lee Ji-hee
Taiwan Teresa Lu
South Korea Jiyai Shin
Japan Momoko Ueda
4 24 Nov 2019 Daio Paper Elleair Ladies Open 67-70-66-66=269 −19 1 stroke Japan Ai Suzuki
5 10 Oct 2021 Stanley Ladies Golf Tournament 71-67-68=206 −10 Playoff South Korea Bae Seon-woo
Japan Ayako Kimura
Japan Miyu Sato
6 31 Oct 2021 Mitsubishi Electric/Hisako Higuchi Ladies Golf Tournament 69-68-70=207 −9 Playoff South Korea Bae Seon-woo

Tournaments in bold denotes major tournaments in LPGA of Japan Tour.

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
2019 AIG Women's British Open 2 shot lead −18 (66-69-67-68=270) 1 strokes United States Lizette Salas

Results timeline

Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Chevron Championship T51 CUT T4 T28
Women's PGA Championship T58 T40 WD CUT
U.S. Women's Open 4 CUT CUT CUT
The Evian Championship NT CUT T59
Women's British Open 1 CUT T34 3 CUT
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Chevron Championship 0 0 0 1 1 1 4 3
Women's PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3
U.S. Women's Open 0 0 0 1 1 1 4 1
The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
Women's British Open 1 0 1 2 2 2 5 3
Totals 1 0 1 4 4 4 19 11

LPGA Tour career summary

Year Tournaments
played		 Cuts
made*		 Wins 2nd 3rd Top
10s		 Best
finish		 Earnings
($)		 Money
list rank		 Scoring
average		 Scoring
rank
2019 3 3 1 0 0 1 1 n/a n/a 69.45 n/a
2020 7 5 0 0 0 1 4 n/a n/a 72.26 n/a
2021 8 6 0 0 0 0 T31 n/a n/a 71.68 n/a
2022 23 13 0 1 1 5 2 1,011,830 27 71.37 72
2023 23 17 0 0 0 1 T7 263,069 87 71.36 65
Totals^ 64 44 1 1 1 8 1 1,274,899 265

^ Official as of 2023 season[20][21][22]
*Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

Year Ranking Source
2018 563 [23]
2019 11 [24]
2020 13 [25]
2021 37 [26]
2022 42 [27]
2023 95 [28]

Team appearances

Professional

References

  1. ^ "Shibuno captures hearts everywhere with enchanting Women's British triumph". Golf Channel. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  2. ^ "シブコの名付け親・大出瑞月があだ名誕生秘話を明かす「世界中で呼ばれてすごい」". Sports Hochi (in Japanese). Hochi Shimbun. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Hinako Shibuno – Profile". LPGA of Japan Tour.
  4. ^ "Hinako Shibuno". Fox Sports. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  5. ^ a b "渋野日向子の"いま"を作り上げたソフトボール「ゴルフよりも好き」" (in Japanese). Golf Digest Online. 10 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  6. ^ "平成22年度岡山県ジュニアゴルフ選手権競技（小学生・女子の部／高学年）" (PDF) (in Japanese). 岡山県ゴルフ協会. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  7. ^ "2011岡山県ジュニアゴルフ選手権競技（中学生・女子の部）" (PDF) (in Japanese). 岡山県ゴルフ協会. 26 August 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  8. ^ "ルーキーの肖像～渋野日向子" (in Japanese). ALBA.net. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  9. ^ "2014中国女子アマチュアゴルフ選手権" (PDF) (in Japanese). 岡山県ゴルフ協会. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  10. ^ "2015全国高等学校ゴルフ選手権大会団体の部" (PDF) (in Japanese). 日本高等学校ゴルフ連盟. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  11. ^ "【2017】LPGA 最終プロテスト フルリーダーボード" (in Japanese). LPGA of Japan Tour. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  12. ^ "【2018】アース・モンダミンカップ ホールバイホール初日" (in Japanese). LPGA of Japan Tour. 21 June 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  13. ^ "【2018】LPGA 最終プロテスト フルリーダーボード" (in Japanese). LPGA of Japan Tour. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  14. ^ "20歳・渋野日向子がメジャーでツアー初優勝 涙の大会史上最年少V" (in Japanese). Golf Digest Online. 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  15. ^ "【2019】資生堂 アネッサ レディスオープン 過去大会・歴代優勝者" (in Japanese). LPGA of Japan Tour. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  16. ^ Murray, Scott (4 August 2019). "Hinako Shibuno wins the 2019 Women's British Open - as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  17. ^ "In the Winner's Circle with Hinako Shibuno". LPGA. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  18. ^ "2021 LPGA Q-Series". LPGA. 14 December 2021.
  19. ^ "【2019】第50回デサントレディース東海クラシック" (in Japanese). LPGA of Japan Tour. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  20. ^ "Hinako Shibuno stats". LPGA. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Hinako Shibuno results". LPGA. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  22. ^ "Career Money". LPGA. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  23. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 31 December 2018.
  24. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 30 December 2019.
  25. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 28 December 2020.
  26. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 27 December 2021.
  27. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2022.
  28. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 25 December 2023.

External links

Women's British Open champions (major era only)
Categories