All About Sports: Yuri Fudoh

Yuri Fudoh (born 14 October 1976 in Kumamoto, Kumamoto) is a Japanese golfer. She was the leading money winner on the JLPGA Tour six times in a row 2000-2005. She became the first player on the JLPGA Tour to earn in excess of 100 million yen in 2000, she has subsequently achieved that in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In 2003, Fudoh became the first player to win 10 tournaments in a year and had the distinction of earning more prize money than the leading male player on the Japan Golf Tour. In 2004 Fudoh became the youngest player to earn permanent seeding on the Tour following her 30th career victory at the Golf 5 Ladies Open. In 2005 Fudoh became the first JLPGA Player to earn in excess of 800 million yen. In 2005, she topped the money list for the sixth consecutive year following her second place finish at the Ricoh JLPGA Tour Championship. In 2006, she became the youngest player on the JLPGA Tour to win 40 tournaments following her win at the Life Card Ladies Open. In 2008, she became the first player on the JLPGA Tour to break the billion-yen barrier in career winnings with her victory in the Meiji Chocolate Cup, and also took the lead at Sunningdale in the Women's British Open. Fudoh has stated that her primary goal is to compete in Japan and has no interest competing on the U.S. LPGA Tour fulltime apart from the majors. She was fourth on the debut edition of the Women's World Golf Rankings, released in February 2006. She currently has endorsement deals with Titleist, Ellesse & Nomura Asset Management.