Japanese golfer Mao Saigo celebrates first major trophy by jumping in a pond

Japanese golfer Mao Saigo won her first LPGA major at the Chevron Championship on Sunday, and she certainly did it the hard way.

Japanese golfer Mao Saigo won her first LPGA major at the Chevron Championship on Sunday, and she certainly did it the hard way. The 23-year-old won a dramatic five-way playoff after getting a birdie on the final hole to share the lead with America’s Lindy Duncan, Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn, China’s Yin Ruoning and South Korea’s Kim Hyo-joo on seven under par. The five women then teed off again on the 18th at The Club at Carlton Woods in Texas – marking the largest ever play-off at an LPGA major. Jutanugarn, Kim and Yin made par on the playoff hole as Duncan settled for a bogey. It left the door open for Saigo who clinched her maiden major trophy with a birdie, holding her nerve to sink a three-foot putt. “I did my best to calm down and I shot and it went in,” Saigo said in Japanese through a translator after the win. As has become tradition at the tournament, Saigo celebrated by jumping into the nearby pond with members of her team, a smile plastered across her face.