The reigning AIG Women’s Open champion says she’s relishing the return, with her brother watching her play outside Japan for the first time.

Miyu Yamashita begins the defence of her AIG Women’s Open title this week with the chance to do something only one player has managed since 2011 — successfully defend the trophy.

Chasing history

Yani Tseng was the last champion to retain the title, back in 2011. Asked what it would mean to join her, Yamashita kept her focus narrow: “To be here again, to have the chance to be the defending champion, is something I really look forward to, and just got to focus on the golf and my performance this week.”

A course built on bunkers and wind

Yamashita’s first impressions of Royal Lytham & St Annes centred on its defences. “I think first impression was that there was just a lot of bunkers on this golf course,” she said, adding that the course’s exposure to the sea brings a different challenge: “The wind, because this course is so close to the sea, the wind is very strong. That’s something I’m going to have to navigate through this week.” Staying out of the sand, she said, will be central to her week.

Family in the gallery

Yamashita’s brother, a professional golfer who she said has “had a mixed run of results” on tour, is following her outside Japan for the first time. The pair train together at home under their father, who coaches them both, and Yamashita said she is hoping he enjoys the week as much as she is looking forward to having him there.

Reflecting on her win at Royal Porthcawl last year, Yamashita said the scale of the reaction back home caught her by surprise: “It was more than what I realized as a reaction he would get. So many people cheering me on… something I couldn’t have imagined.” She described having her family on site for the win itself as “a lot of fun,” and said reconnecting with people close to her once she returned to Japan was something she’ll “treasure.”

Short game over distance

Yamashita, not among the tour’s longest hitters, said her attention to short game and distance control has been central to her success: “I don’t hit it the longest but things like short game and putting are really important to me and getting my distance control right is something I paid really, really close attention to.”

She traced her love of the sport back to watching Tiger Woods as a child, saying it was what first made her want to compete on tour. Asked what she enjoys most about playing week to week, she pointed to golf’s variety: “I really look forward to every week the course is completely different, layout is different.”

Yamashita begins her title defence at the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes this week, with the Championship marking its 50th edition.

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