Hinako Shibuno

I'll be honest, I don't follow golf closely, but Hinako Shibuno is impossible not to root for. They call her the "Smiling Cinderella," and the name fits: while most pros lock their jaws and grind in silence, here's this kid from Okayama beaming at the gallery, snacking between shots, somehow looking like she's having the best afternoon of her life with a major on the line. Her 2019 British Open run came out of nowhere and felt like a fairy tale precisely because she wore that grin the whole way. Sure, her form has its ups and downs and she's kept fans biting their nails since, but that easy, genuine smile is exactly why people keep pulling for her.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Hinako Shibuno is a Japanese professional golfer born on November 15, 1998, in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture. She attended Sakuyo Gakuen High School and has built her career on the professional golf circuit. Standing 167 cm tall, she is widely recognized for her cheerful demeanor on the course, earning the nickname "Smiling Cinderella." She maintains an official website and an Instagram presence under the handle pinacoooon.

Name (English)

Hinako Shibuno

Name (Japanese)

渋野日向子

Reading

しぶの ひなこ

Born

November 15, 1998 (age 27)

Origin

Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

Height

167cm

Occupation

Professional Golfer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Scorpio / Tiger

High school

Sakuyo Gakuen High School

• Official sitehttps://hinako-shibuno.jp/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/pinacoooon/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B8%8B%E9%87%8E%E6%97%A5%E5%90%91%E5%AD%90
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q64783623

Tags

• From Okayama Prefecture
• Golfer
• Professional Golfer

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.