Yuka Saso seems to like golf’s toughest test at the U.S. Open after capturing her 2nd U.S. Women’s Open Championship with a come-from-behind effort at Lancaster Country Club on Sunday. Saso won the 2021 U.S. Open during her rookie season on the LPGA Tour and hadn’t won another event until this year’s U.S. Open. She was 1 of just 13 players to shoot under-par in the final round, and her 2-under 68 on Sunday helped separate her from the pack en route to her 2nd career U.S. Open Title at the age of 22.

Saso is a Callaway staffer and plays strictly Callaway clubs throughout her Major Championship winning bag.

Starting off Saso’s bag is the latest driver from Callaway, the Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond. The Triple Diamond provides golfers with low-spin, workability and optimal ball speeds, making it an ideal setup for better players that are consistent ball-strikers and looking to work the ball off the tee. This club was one of the stars for Saso during her victory. Saso averaged 280.7 yards off the tee, which was 3rd best for the tournament. While she wasn’t the most accurate, hitting 61% of the fairways wjhich was tied for 34th best, her length, which was more than 23 yards longer than the field average, offset any issues there helping her finish 2nd in Strokes Gained off the Tee. 

Moving to the fairway wood section where Saso games just one in her bag, staying with the Ai Smoke line, but playing a MAX model instead. The MAX model gave her a higher launching, more forgiving option that she could use off the tee, or more often than not, attack par 5’s in two from distance. The higher launch and spin give this fairway wood a lot more stopping power than if she stayed with the lower-spinning option. While maybe it isn't quite as long as the Triple Diamond, it still provides her with plenty of distance with increased spin.

Utility Wood: Callaway Apex UW

While Saso only plays with one fairway-wood, she pairs that with a utility wood, playing the Callaway Apex UW. Her 19 degree Utility Wood gives her another option for her long game, and while still plenty forgiving, it mostly gives her a more versatile club, which was needed with a tough U.S. Open setup. Interestingly, most the clubs in Saso's bag are current generation models, but she goes with the original Callaway Apex UW rather than the Apex UW 24. Either way, this club gives her the best of both fairway wood and hybrid technology, and gives her a little more precise of a club in her long game.

For her irons, Saso plays a combination of Callaway Apex CB’s and MB’s. She uses the CB’s for her longer 4 and 5-irons, while going with the MB’s for her middle and short irons. The CB’s are still a players iron, but with the small cavity provide a touch more launch and more forgiveness, while the MB’s are a true players iron, that give a player consistency and control. For the tournament, Saso really didn’t strike the ball well with her irons, and had she, she might have run away with the tournament. She finished 41st in Greens In Regulation, finding just 46 of the 72, and was 55th in the field in Strokes Gained Approach, losing 0.12 strokes to the field. While over the course of four rounds they weren’t performing as she would probably hope, they were much, much better in the final round. She hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation, tied for 6th best, and finished 4th in the field in Strokes Gained Approach, gaining 2.71 strokes on the field in just the final round.

Like her irons, Saso plays a mix of different Callaway models for her four wedges. For her 46 and 50-degree wedges, she goes with the Jaws Forged. She then opts for a Jaws Raw for her 56-degree, and a Jaws Raw Prototype for her 60-degree. Also like her irons, her wedges were just ok over the course of 4 rounds as she finished 54th in Strokes Gained Short Game. Much like her irons though, her wedges were much better in Sunday’s final round, as she finished 17th for the day in Strokes Gained Approach, gaining 0.69 strokes on the field.

Finally we get to the best club in Saso’s bag her putter, an Odyssey Ai-One Milled 3T. While her irons and wedges were just average over the course of the tournament, and great on Sunday, her putter was the opposite. She lost 0.82 strokes to the field on Sunday with her putter, which was 52nd best in the field. But even with that lackluster performance for her standards on Sunday, Saso still led the U.S. Open in Strokes Gained Putting for the entire tournament gaining 3.19 strokes on the field, which included being the best putter in the tournament for both the first and third rounds.