Isao Aoki

Isao Aoki 青木 功
Personal information
Born	31 August 1942 (1942-08-31) (age 68) Abiko, Chiba
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Nationality	Japan
Career
College	None
Turned professional	1964
Current tour(s)	Champions Tour
Former tour(s)	Japan Golf Tour PGA Tour
Professional wins	77
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	1
European Tour	1
Japan Golf Tour	51
Champions Tour	9
Other	15
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament	T16: 1985
U.S. Open	2nd: 1980
The Open Championship	T7: 1978, 1979, 1988
PGA Championship	T4: 1981
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	2004 (member page)
Japan Golf Tour leading money winner	1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981

Isao Aoki (青木 功, Aoki Isao^?, born 31 August 1942) is one of Japan's most successful golfers. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004.

Aoki was born in Abiko, Chiba, Japan. He was introduced to golf while caddying at the Abiko Golf Club as a schoolboy. He turned professional in 1964. He went on to win more than fifty events on the Japan Golf Tour between 1972 and 1990, trailing only Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki on the golfers with most Japan Golf Tour wins list. He won the Japan Golf Tour money list five times in six years: 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981. He is eighth on the career money list (through 2009).

In 1983, Aoki won the Hawaiian Open on the U.S. based PGA Tour and the Panasonic European Open on the European Tour. He also won the prestigious World Match Play Championship in England in 1978, which was not a European Tour event at that time, and picked up a win on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

Aoki played 165 times on the PGA Tour between 1974 and 1999, primarily from 1981 to 1990. His best finish in a major championship was a second place finish to Jack Nicklaus (by two strokes) in the 1980 U.S. Open. That finish, combined with his recent record in Japan and around the globe, meant that Aoki would finish 1980 ranked third in the unofficial McCormack's World Golf Rankings, a position he would hold at the end of 1981. After the Official World Golf Rankings debuted in 1986, he was ranked in the top-10 for several weeks in 1987.^[1]

As a senior, Aoki has played mainly in the United States on the Champions Tour, winning nine times between 1992 and 2003. He has eight senior victories outside the United States, including five victories in the Japan Senior Open where he shot his age, 65, during his most recent triumph in 2007.^[2]

Professional wins (77)

Japan Golf Tour wins (51)

• 1973 (5) Chunichi Crowns, Pepsi-Wilson Tournament, Sapporo Tokyu Open, KBC Augusta, Japan PGA Championship
• 1974 (4) Tozai Taiko (JPGA East-West Match), Kanto Open, Kanto Pro Championship, Sanpo Classic
• 1975 (2) Chunichi Crowns, Kanto Open
• 1976 (1) Tokai Classic
• 1977 (3) Tohoku Classic, Jun Classic, ABC Japan vs USA Golf Matches
• 1978 (6) Chunichi Crowns, Japan PGA Match-Play Championship, Sapporo Tokyu Open, Kanto Pro Championship, Nippon Series, ABC Japan vs USA Golf Matches
• 1979 (4) Chunichi Crowns, Japan PGA Match-Play Championship, Kanto Pro Championship, Nippon Series
• 1980 (5) Chunichi Crowns, Yomiuri Open, KBC Augusta, Kanto Open, Jun Classic
• 1981 (3) Shizuoka Open, Japan PGA Match-Play Championship, Japan PGA Championship
• 1982 (2) Japan PGA Match-Play Championship, Daikyo Open
• 1983 (4) Sapporo Tokyu Open, Kanto Pro Championship, Japan Open, Nippon Series
• 1986 (4) Sapporo Tokyu Open, Japan PGA Championship, KBC Augusta, Kanto Open
• 1987 (4) Dunlop International Open, ANA Open, Japan Open, Nippon Series (tie with David Ishii)
• 1989 (2) Tokai Classic, Casio World Open
• 1990 (1) Mitsubishi Galant Tournament
• 1991 (1) Bridgestone Open
• 1992 (2) Mitsubishi Galant Tournament, Casio World Open

The lists from the PGA Tour and World Golf Hall of Fame sites, contain 52 wins, the 1974 Kanto Open is missing from those. His profile on the Japan Golf Tour site says he has 51 wins from 1973 (the official start of the tour).

PGA Tour wins (1)

• 1983 Hawaiian Open

European Tour wins (1)

• 1983 Panasonic European Open

Other wins (7)

• 1971 Kanto Pro Championship (Japan)
• 1972 Kanto Pro Championship (Japan)
• 1973 Gold Beck
• 1978 Colgate World Match Play Championship (England)
• 1982 Old Sones Invitational
• 1987 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Payne Stewart)
• 1989 Coca Cola Golf Classic (Australia)

Champions Tour wins (9)

• 1992 (1) Nationwide Championship
• 1994 (2) Bank One Senior Classic, Brickyard Crossing Championship
• 1995 (1) Bank of Boston Senior Classic
• 1996 (2) BellSouth Senior Classic at Opryland, Kroger Senior Classic
• 1997 (1) Emerald Coast Classic
• 1998 (1) BellSouth Senior Classic at Opryland
• 2002 (1) The Instinet Classic

Japan Senior PGA Tour wins (8)

• 1994 Japan Senior Open
• 1995 American Express Grand Slam, Japan Senior Open
• 1996 Japan Senior Open
• 1997 Japan Senior Open
• 2000 N. Cup Senior Open
• 2002 N. Cup Senior Open
• 2007 Japan Senior Open

Results in major championships

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Results in senior majors

Results are not in chronological order before 2011.

Note: The Senior British Open Championship did not become a major until 2003.
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the halfway cut
DQ = disqualified
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10.

See also

• List of golfers with most Japan Golf Tour wins

References

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Isao Aoki at the Japan Golf Tour official site
• Isao Aoki at the PGA Tour official site
• Isao Aoki at the European Tour official site
• Profile of World Golf Hall of Fame site