Mao Saigo's victory plunge at the LPGA Chevron turned scary because she can't swim

USA Today

28-04-2025

Mao Saigo's victory plunge at the LPGA Chevron turned scary because she can't swim
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – The 2025 Chevron Championship will be remembered for a lot of things. Most of those things happened before a trophy was handed out. But perhaps the most shocking turn of events came after Japan's Mao Saigo jumped into the murky waters just off the 18th green.
Here's the thing no one watching knew: Saigo can't swim.
'It was scary,' said Saigo's caddie, Jeffrey Snow, who was part of a second wave of jumpers after Saigo went in with her manager, Rika Arai, and television reporter Mitsuki Katahira.
Snow asked Saigo during the final round if she could swim, and she said no. Neither of them, however, thought the pond on the Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods was that deep.
After the three women jumped, three men followed suit, including Snow and two trainers, Yonguk Shin and Yonghee Lee.
What started out as fun turned stressful for all as the women grabbed hold of the men to try to stay above water. Snow believes Saigo panicked when she couldn't touch ground, and she wasn't the only one pulling on him.
'Every time I broke the surface, I got pulled under again,' he said. 'They were trying to grab someone.'
The men helped the women get back to the dock safely. Most of the onlookers weren't aware of how stressful the celebration had turned.
Saigo, 23, made the lone birdie in a five-way playoff against major champions Ariya Jutanugarn, Ruoning Yin, Hyo Joo Kim and journeywoman Lindy Duncan to make her first LPGA victory a major. By jumping into the water, the 2024 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year winner carried on a tradition Sunday that first started back in 1988, more than dozen years before Saigo was born.
Saigo, who yelled for help in the water, had this to say through an interpreter when asked about her swimming.
'I'm not really a good swimmer,' she said. 'When I went inside, it was deep and at first, I thought I was going to drown.'
Pat Hurst waded into Poppie's Pond when she won the 1998 Nabisco Dinah Shore. Yani Tseng wasn't a strong swimmer either, but the man-made pond at Mission Hills wasn't anything like what's here in Texas.
In fact, officials at the old tournament site actually had to deepen the pond on 18 after Stacy Lewis' mother suffered a leg injury and was hospitalized.
When the LPGA's first major moved to Texas three years ago, there was no pool-like area for the traditional jump. The club originally intended to dredge the entire area to deepen the pond. The Nicklaus design team, however, was afraid the green could potentially slough, so they changed course.
The club instead built a dock and then dredged from the end of the dock to the rock wall border. At the end of the dock, it's 5 feet and progresses down close to 10 feet.
They also sent divers down to check for rocks and concrete blocks beneath the surface. And for peace of mind, they installed a gator net to protect the area.
'In the future, they probably should ask, can you swim?' said Snow.
Maybe have a lifeguard on duty.