2000 Japan Golf Tour

The 2000 Japan Golf Tour, titled as the 2000 iiyama Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th season of the Japan Golf Tour (formerly the PGA of Japan Tour), the main professional golf tour in Japan since it was formed in 1973.

2000 Japan Golf Tour season

Duration	9 March 2000 (2000-03-09) – 10 December 2000 (2000-12-10)
Number of official events	33
Most wins	Shingo Katayama (5)
Money list	Shingo Katayama
Most Valuable Player	Shingo Katayama
Rookie of the Year	Dean Wilson
← 1999 2001 →

Iiyama title sponsorship

It was the first season in which the tour had 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.^[1]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2000 season.^[2]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner[lower-alpha 1]	OWGR points	Notes
12 Mar	Token Corporation Cup	Kagoshima	100,000,000	Nobuo Serizawa (5)	16
19 Mar	Dydo Drinco Shizuoka Open	Shizuoka	100,000,000	Hidemichi Tanaka (7)	16
16 Apr	Tsuruya Open	Hyōgo	100,000,000	Richard Backwell (1)	16
23 Apr	Asia Pacific Open Golf Championship Kirin Open	Ibaraki	100,000,000	Shingo Katayama (3)	16
30 Apr	The Crowns	Aichi	110,000,000	Hidemichi Tanaka (8)	24
7 May	Fujisankei Classic	Shizuoka	110,000,000	Tateo Ozaki (15)	16
14 May	Japan PGA Championship	Chiba	110,000,000	Nobuhito Sato (3)	16	Japan major
21 May	Munsingwear Open KSB Cup	Okayama	120,000,000	Shingo Katayama (4)	16	New tournament
28 May	Mitsubishi Motors Tournament	Shiga	100,000,000	Hirofumi Miyase (3)	16
4 Jun	JCB Classic Sendai	Miyagi	100,000,000	Nobuhito Sato (4)	16
11 Jun	PGA Philanthropy Tournament	Nara	50,000,000	Masashi Shimada (1)	16
18 Jun	Tamanoi Yomiuri Open	Hyōgo	90,000,000	Yoshi Mizumaki (7)	16
25 Jun	Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open	Okayama	90,000,000	Yasuharu Imano (2)	16
2 Jul	JGTO TPC iiyama Cup	Tochigi	120,000,000	Toshimitsu Izawa (5)	16	New tournament Japan major
9 Jul	Juken Sangyo Open Hiroshima	Hiroshima	90,000,000	Keiichiro Fukabori (3)	16
16 Jul	Aiful Cup	Aomori	90,000,000	Dean Wilson (1)	16
30 Jul	NST Niigata Open Golf Championship	Niigata	50,000,000	Hidezumi Shirakata (1)	16
6 Aug	Sun Chlorella Classic	Hokkaidō	100,000,000	Masashi Ozaki (93)	16
27 Aug	Hisamitsu-KBC Augusta	Fukuoka	90,000,000	Toshimitsu Izawa (6)	16
3 Sep	Japan PGA Match-Play Championship Promise Cup	Hokkaidō	80,000,000	Kaname Yokoo (3)	16
10 Sep	Suntory Open	Chiba	90,000,000	Kiyoshi Maita (1)	16
17 Sep	ANA Open	Hokkaidō	100,000,000	Nobuhito Sato (5)	16
24 Sep	Acom International	Ibaraki	110,000,000	Toru Taniguchi (2)	16
8 Oct	Tokai Classic	Aichi	100,000,000	Hirofumi Miyase (4)	16
15 Oct	Japan Open Golf Championship	Chiba	120,000,000	Naomichi Ozaki (29)	32	Flagship event[lower-alpha 2]
22 Oct	Bridgestone Open	Chiba	110,000,000	Nobuhito Sato (6)	16
29 Oct	Philip Morris Championship	Hyōgo	200,000,000	Toru Taniguchi (3)	16
5 Nov	Ube Kosan Open	Yamaguchi	140,000,000	Keiichiro Fukabori (4)	16
12 Nov	Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters	Shizuoka	140,000,000	Toshimitsu Izawa (7)	16
19 Nov	Dunlop Phoenix Tournament	Miyazaki	200,000,000	Shingo Katayama (5)	34
26 Nov	Casio World Open	Kagoshima	140,000,000	Toru Suzuki (5)	22
3 Dec	Golf Nippon Series JT Cup	Tokyo	90,000,000	Shingo Katayama (6)	16	Japan major
10 Dec	Fancl Open in Okinawa	Okinawa	90,000,000	Shingo Katayama (7)	16

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse	Winner	OWGR points	Notes
9 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$4,600,000	Vijay Singh	100	Major championship
18 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$4,500,000	Tiger Woods	100	Major championship
23 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	£2,800,000	Tiger Woods	100	Major championship
20 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$5,000,000	Tiger Woods	100	Major championship

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Japanese yen.^[3][4]

Position	Player	Prize money (¥)
1	Shingo Katayama	177,116,489
2	Toru Taniguchi	175,829,742
3	Nobuhito Sato	155,246,900
4	Toshimitsu Izawa	120,316,633
5	Hidemichi Tanaka	108,807,851

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Most Valuable Player	Shingo Katayama	[5]
Rookie of the Year (Shimada Trophy)	Dean Wilson	[6][7]

Japan Challenge Tour

2000 Japan Challenge Tour season

Duration	13 April 2000 (2000-04-13) – 2 November 2000 (2000-11-02)
Number of official events	13
Most wins	Masanori Kobayashi (2)
Money list	Masanori Kobayashi
← 1999 2001 →

The 2000 Japan Challenge Tour was the 16th season of the Japan Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the Japan Golf Tour.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2000 season.^[8]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner[lower-alpha 3]
14 Apr	PRGR Cup (East)	Tochigi	10,000,000	Naoki Hattori (1)
20 Apr	Kourakuen Cup (1st)	Oita	10,000,000	Mitsuhiro Tateyama (1)
27 Apr	Nishino Cup Open	Ibaraki	10,000,000	Koichi Nogami (1)
12 May	Hisamitsu Seiyaku KBC Challenge	Fukuoka	10,000,000	Masanori Kobayashi (1)
2 Jun	Aiful Challenge Cup Spring	Hyōgo	10,000,000	Yukiharu Morita (1)
6 Jul	Kourakuen Cup (2nd)	Tochigi	10,000,000	Hajime Tanaka (1)
19 Jul	PRGR Cup (West)	Shiga	10,000,000	Masanori Kobayashi (2)
3 Aug	JGTO iiyama Challenge 1	Shiga	10,000,000	Taisuke Kitajima (4)
21 Sep	Aiful Challenge Cup Autumn	Fukushima	10,000,000	Yoshimitsu Fukuzawa (1)
5 Oct	JGTO iiyama Challenge 2	Hyōgo	10,000,000	Takeshi Ohyama (1)
21 Oct	Shinwa Golf Classic	Shiga	10,000,000	Tatsuo Takasaki (1)
2 Nov	Kourakuen Cup (3rd)	Chiba	10,000,000	Yui Ueda (1)

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Japanese yen.^[9] The top five players on the money list earned status to play on the 2001 Japan Golf Tour (iiyama Tour).

Position	Player	Prize money (¥)
1	Masanori Kobayashi	3,851,250
2	Tatsuo Takasaki	3,838,130
3	Naoki Hattori	3,477,724
4	Yoshimitsu Fukuzawa	3,414,967
5	Taisuke Kitajima	3,058,938

Notes

1. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Japan Golf Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Japan Golf Tour members.
2. Also a Japan major championship.
3. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Japan Challenge Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. It is rare for someone to accumulate many wins on the Japan Challenge Tour as success at this level usually leads to promotion to the Japan Golf Tour.

References

1. "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.
2. "2000 Tour Tournaments". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
3. "2000 Money Rankings". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
4. "片山晋呉が、今季５勝目で逆転賞金王に！！" [Shingo Katayama comes from behind to become the prize money champion with his 5th win of the season!!] (in Japanese). Japan Golf Tour Organization. 11 December 2000. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
5. "Katayama picks up MVP title". The Japan Times. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 2 January 2024. Katayama, who claimed the money rankings crown for the third time overall, won the MVP title for the first time in five years and second time in his career.
6. "Short putts". The Honolulu Advertiser. Honolulu, Hawaii. 17 January 2001. p. 13 (C6 in paper). Retrieved 6 March 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "2004 PGA Tour Media Guide" (PDF). PGA Tour. 2004. p. 170 (2-156 in document). Retrieved 2 January 2024. Dean Wilson | 2000: JPGA rookie of the year.
8. "2000 Challenge Schedule". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
9. "2000 Challenge Money Ranking". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 30 December 2022.

External links

• Official website