Ai Miyazato – Former women’s world No. 1 golfer, who won nine LPGA Tour titles in her career announced her retirement on Friday.
Miyazato, started golf at the age of four, under the supervision of her father. When she was 18 years, after winning the Miyagi TV Cup Dunlop Women’s Open she decided to become a professional. Having joined the LPGA Tour in 2006 she won her first title at the Evian Masters in 2009. In total Miyazato has won a total of nine LPGA titles, including five in the 2010 season when she became the top-ranked golfer on the LPGA Tour.
Since announcing her retirement Miyazato for the first time explained that the reason for retirement is – lack of motivation to keep playing competitively. Talking to the media at a press conference Miyazato elaborated:
- “I have been finding it difficult to keep my motivation for the last four or five years,” “Without motivation, I can’t force myself to train hard. You have to be satisfied with your results as a professional golfer, but I can’t with this mentality. This is not how I think I should be.”
- “(During 2009-12) I kept winning and I thought it was my peak as a golfer and the best in my career,” Miyazato said. “But still I couldn’t win the majors. That was the time I started questioning myself — ‘I’m in my best form and I still can’t win a major title. What should I do?’
- “My mental coach advised me not to worry too much because (losing motivation) could happen to any player,” Miyazato continued. “But when you haven’t won a championship for five years as I haven’t, you lose the feeling of winning and the formula to win.”
- “I have no plans for what I’m going to do next year. I’m just focusing on the rest of the tournaments that I’m playing in and I’m looking forward to seeing as many fans as possible.”
She will keep playing during this season, including in LPGA Tour events, but will do away her clubs for good after that.
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