Japan Golf Tour

The Japan Golf Tour is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after the PGA Tour and the European Tour. However since the early 1990s, the growth in prize money has not kept pace with that on the two larger tours. Official events on the Japan Golf Tour count for World Golf Ranking points, and success on the tour can also qualify members to play in the majors.

Most of the leading players on the tour are Japanese, but players from many other countries also participate. The tour is currently run by the Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO), which was established in 1999. The JGTO also organises a developmental tour called the Japan Challenge Tour.

Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki has been the dominant player on tour, leading the career wins list with 94, the career money list with over 2 billion ¥, and winning the money title twelve times between 1973 and 1998.

Schedule

The table below shows the 2007 schedule. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Japan Golf Tour events he had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Japan Golf Tour members. All tournaments are played in Japan.

Dates	Tournament	Prize fund (￥JPY)	Winner	OWGR pts
Apr 12-15	Token Homemate Cup	110,000,000	Yui Ueda (1)	16
Apr 19-22	Tsuruya Open	100,000,000	Brendan Jones (6)	16
Apr 26-29	The Crowns	120,000,000	Hirofumi Miyase (7)	18
May 10-13	Japan PGA Championship	130,000,000	Toshimitsu Izawa (16)	16
May 17-20	Munsingwear Open KSB Cup	100,000,000	Ryo Ishikawa (amateur)	16
May 24-27	Mitsubishi Diamond Cup Golf	110,000,000	Tetsuji Hiratsuka (4)	16
May 31-June 3	JCB Classic	100,000,000	Tomohiro Kondo (3)	16
June 21-24	Gate Way To The Open Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic	130,000,000	Lee Dong-hwan (1)	16
June 28-July 1	Japan Golf Tour Championship	150,000,000	Shingo Katayama (22)	16
July 5-8	Woodone Open Hiroshima	100,000,000	Toru Taniguchi (12)	16
July 12-15	Nagashima Shigeo INVITATIONAL SEGA SAMMY Cup	150,000,000	Toru Taniguchi (13)	16
Aug 2-5	Sun Chlorella Classic	150,000,000	Jun Kikuchi (1)	16
August 23-26	KBC Augusta	100,000,000	Katsumasa Miyamoto (6)	16
August 30-Sep 2	Fujisankei Classic	150,000,000	Hideto Tanihara (5)	16
Sep 6-9	Suntory Open	100,000,000	Hideto Tanihara (6)	16
Sep 13-16	ANA Open	100,000,000	Norio Shinozaki (1)	16
Sep 27-30	Coca-Cola Tokai Classic	120,000,000	Camilo Villegas (n/a)	16
Oct 11-14	Japan Open Golf Championship	200,000,000	Toru Taniguchi (14)	32
Oct 18-21	Bridgestone Open	110,000,000
Oct 25-28	ABC Championship	120,000,000
Nov 8-11	Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters	150,000,000
Nov 15-18	Dunlop Phoenix	200,000,000
Nov 22-25	Casio World Open	140,000,000
Nov 29-Dec 2	Golf Nippon Series JT Cup	100,000,000

Money list winners

The official prize money list on the Japan Golf Tour includes money won by members in the majors and the World Golf Championships events. All of the players who have topped the money list are Japanese nationals, except for the Japanese American David Ishii.

Multiple money list titles

The following players have won more than one money list title through 2006:

• 12: Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki
• 5: Isao Aoki
• 4: Shingo Katayama, Tsuneyuki "Tommy" Nakajima
• 2: Toshimitsu Izawa, Naomichi "Joe" Ozaki

Career money leaders

The table shows the top ten career money leaders on the Japan Golf Tour through the 2006 season. The figures shown include money won in the four global major championships from 1998 onwards and in the three individual World Golf Championships events from their introduction in 1999. The leading non-Japanese money winner on the tour is Japanese-American David Ishii with earnings of over 800 million ¥. The leading non ethnic-Japanese player is the American Todd Hamilton with earnings of over 630 million ¥.

There is a full list on the Japan Golf Tour's website here.

Records

• Youngest winner: Ryo Ishikawa (amateur) 15 years, 238 days (Munsingwear Open KSB Cup, 2007)

See also

• Professional golf tours
• Golfers with most Japan Golf Tour wins
• Japan Golf Association

External link

• Japan Golf Tour - official English language site

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