Current season, competition or edition: 2024 Japan Golf Tour | |
| Formerly | iiyama Tour PGA of Japan Tour |
|---|---|
| Sport | Golf |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Founder | PGA of Japan |
| First season | 1973 |
| Director | Isao Aoki |
| Countries | Based in Japan[a] |
| Most titles | Money list titles: Masashi Ozaki (12)Tournament wins:  Masashi Ozaki (94) |
| Related competitions | Japan Challenge Tour |
| Official website | http://www.jgto.org/en |
The Japan Golf Tour (Japanese: 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent professional golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offered 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 Official 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 Organization (JGTO), which was established in 1999 to separate the tour from the PGA of Japan.[1] The JGTO also organises a developmental tour called the Japan Challenge Tour.
Masashi 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.[2]
Entry to The Open Championship is given to Order of Merit winner and runner-up, Japan Open Golf Championship winner, two players not already exempt from the money list up to the Japan Golf Tour Championship and the top four non-exempt players from the Mizuno Open.
In 2000, the tour signed a title sponsorship agreement with Iiyama, being renamed as the iiyama Tour. The agreement was reported to be worth ¥1,500,000,000 over three years.[3]
In 2008, the tour ventured outside of Japan for the first time, co-sanctioning the Pine Valley Beijing Open in China, alongside the Asian Tour.[4] In 2013, the tour also co-sanctioned two events at the beginning of the year in Thailand and Indonesia with the OneAsia Tour.[5][6]
In December 2022, a new agreement involving the JGTO, PGA Tour and European Tour was announced. As part of the deal, from 2023 onwards the top three on the Japan Golf Tour's season-ending money list earned status to play on the European Tour for the following season.[7]
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- ^ "Japan golf touring pros on own". The Honolulu Advertiser. Honolulu, Hawaii. 27 January 1999. p. 27. Retrieved 10 April 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Zak, Sean (8 December 2016). "Before Hideki Matsuyama, There Was Jumbo Ozaki". Golf.com. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ "年間スポンサーのイーヤマ撤退を正式発表" [Official announcement of the withdrawal of annual sponsor iiyama]. Golf Digest Japan (in Japanese). 11 May 2002. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ "Aoki tipped to play at Pine Valley Beijing Open". china.org.cn. 23 April 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
- ^ "Japan Tour expands OneAsia link". The Sporting News. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ Thongsombat, Kittipong (13 December 2012). "Japanese addition for Thai Open". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ Beall, Joel (5 December 2022). "PGA Tour and DP World Tour announce alliance with Japan Golf Tour". Golf Digest. Retrieved 8 December 2022.