2019 Japan Golf Tour

The 2019 Japan Golf Tour was the 47th 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.

2019 Japan Golf Tour season

Duration	17 January 2019 (2019-01-17) – 8 December 2019 (2019-12-08)
Number of official events	25
Most wins	Ryo Ishikawa (3)
Money list	Shugo Imahira
Most Valuable Player	Shugo Imahira
Rookie of the Year	Jazz Janewattananond
← 2018 2020–21 →

Changes for 2019

The Shinhan Donghae Open was added to the schedule and was co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Korean Tour. Additionally, a new tournament that was to be played in Japan as part of the 2019–20 PGA Tour season; the Zozo Championship was also added to the schedule as a co-sanctioned event between the Japan Golf Tour and the PGA Tour.^[1]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2019 season.^[2]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner[a]	OWGR points	Other tours[b]	Notes
20 Jan	SMBC Singapore Open	Singapore	US$1,000,000	Jazz Janewattananond (1)	24	ASA
21 Apr	Token Homemate Cup	Mie	130,000,000	Brendan Jones (15)	16
5 May	The Crowns	Aichi	120,000,000	Katsumasa Miyamoto (12)	16
12 May	Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf	Chiba	150,000,000	Yosuke Asaji (1)	15	ASA
26 May	Kansai Open Golf Championship	Nara	70,000,000	Tomoharu Otsuki (1)	16
2 Jun	Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open	Ibaraki	100,000,000	Yuta Ikeda (21)	16
9 Jun	Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills	Ibaraki	150,000,000	Mikumu Horikawa (1)	16		Japan major
30 Jun	Dunlop Srixon Fukushima Open	Fukushima	50,000,000	Rikuya Hoshino (2)	16
7 Jul	Japan PGA Championship	Kagoshima	150,000,000	Ryo Ishikawa (15)	16		Japan major
25 Aug	Shigeo Nagashima Invitational Sega Sammy Cup	Hokkaido	150,000,000	Ryo Ishikawa (16)	16
1 Sep	RIZAP KBC Augusta	Fukuoka	100,000,000	Kazuki Higa (1)	16
8 Sep	Fujisankei Classic	Yamanashi	110,000,000	Park Sang-hyun (2)	16
15 Sep	ANA Open	Hokkaido	110,000,000	Yosuke Asaji (2)	16
22 Sep	Shinhan Donghae Open	South Korea	₩1,200,000,000	Jbe' Kruger (1)	14	ASA, KOR	New to Japan Golf Tour
29 Sep	Panasonic Open Golf Championship	Hyōgo	150,000,000	Toshinori Muto (7)	15	ASA
6 Oct	Tokai Classic	Aichi	110,000,000	Shaun Norris (4)	16
13 Oct	Bridgestone Open	Chiba	150,000,000	Shugo Imahira (3)	16
20 Oct	Japan Open Golf Championship	Fukuoka	210,000,000	Chan Kim (4)	32		Flagship event[c]
28 Oct	Zozo Championship	Chiba	US$9,750,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	64	PGAT	New limited-field event
3 Nov	Mynavi ABC Championship	Hyōgo	150,000,000	Hwang Jung-gon (4)	16
10 Nov	Heiwa PGM Championship	Okinawa	200,000,000	Choi Ho-sung (3)	16
17 Nov	Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters	Shizuoka	200,000,000	Takumi Kanaya (a) (1)	16
24 Nov	Dunlop Phoenix Tournament	Miyazaki	200,000,000	Shugo Imahira (4)	26
1 Dec	Casio World Open	Kōchi	200,000,000	Kim Kyung-tae (14)	19
8 Dec	Golf Nippon Series JT Cup	Tokyo	130,000,000	Ryo Ishikawa (17)	19		Japan major

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(s)	OWGR points	Other tours[b]	Notes
14 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$11,500,000	Tiger Woods	100		Major championship
19 May	PGA Championship	United States	US$11,000,000	Brooks Koepka	100		Major championship
16 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$12,500,000	Gary Woodland	100		Major championship
21 Jul	The Open Championship	Northern Ireland	US$10,750,000	Shane Lowry	100		Major championship
15 Dec	Hitachi 3Tours Championship	Chiba	57,000,000	LPGA of Japan Tour	n/a		Team event

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	Shugo Imahira	168,049,312
2	Shaun Norris	145,044,149
3	Ryo Ishikawa	132,812,990
4	Chan Kim	95,880,318
5	Hwang Jung-gon	94,985,827

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Most Valuable Player	Shugo Imahira	[5]
Rookie of the Year (Shimada Trophy)	Jazz Janewattananond	[5]

Japan Challenge Tour

2019 Japan Challenge Tour season

Duration	5 April 2019 (2019-04-05) – 25 October 2019 (2019-10-25)
Number of official events	15
Most wins	Todd Baek (2) Yoshikazu Haku (2) Ham Jeong-woo (2) Park Jun-won (2)
Money list	Yoshikazu Haku
← 2018 2020–21 →

The 2019 Japan Challenge Tour, titled as the 2019 AbemaTV Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 35th season of the Japan Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the Japan Golf Tour.

OWGR inclusion

In July 2018, it was announced that all Japan Challenge Tour events, beginning in 2019, would receive Official World Golf Ranking points at the minimum level of 4 points for the winner of a 54-hole event.^[6]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2019 season.^[7]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner[d]	OWGR points
7 Apr	Novil Cup	Tokushima	15,000,000	Park Jun-won (1)	4
19 Apr	i Golf Shaper Challenge	Fukuoka	15,000,000	Danthai Boonma (1)	7
26 Apr	Japan Create Challenge	Fukuoka	15,000,000	Justin De Los Santos (1)	7
17 May	Heiwa PGM Challenge I Road To Championship	Ibaraki	15,000,000	Kim Seong-hyeon (1)	7
31 May	Taiheiyo Club Challenge Tournament	Saitama	15,000,000	Yoshikazu Haku (1)	4
14 Jun	Landic Challenge 7	Fukuoka	15,000,000	Scott Vincent (1)	7
21 Jun	Minami Akita CC Michinoku Challenge	Akita	15,000,000	Park Jun-won (2)	4
29 Jun	Daisendori Cup	Tottori	16,000,000	Eric Sugimoto (1)	4
3 Aug	TI Challenge	Hyōgo	15,000,000	Ham Jeong-woo (1)	4
13 Sep	Delight Works ASP Challenge	Tochigi	15,000,000	Ham Jeong-woo (2)	4
20 Sep	Heiwa PGM Challenge II Road To Championship	Saga	15,000,000	Todd Baek (1)	4
27 Sep	Elite Grips Challenge	Hyōgo	15,000,000	Peter Karmis (1)	4
4 Oct	Toshin Challenge	Shiga	15,000,000	Todd Baek (2)	4
11 Oct	Ryo Ishikawa Everyone Project Challenge	Tochigi	15,000,000	Taiga Sugihara (a) (1)	4
25 Oct	JGTO Novil Final	Ibaraki	15,000,000	Yoshikazu Haku (2)	4

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Japanese yen.^[8][9] The top 20 players on the money list earned status to play on the 2020–21 Japan Golf Tour.^[10]

Position	Player	Prize money (¥)
1	Yoshikazu Haku	6,797,444
2	Todd Baek	6,560,781
3	Eric Sugimoto	6,462,858
4	Park Jun-won	6,280,270
5	Ham Jeong-woo	5,400,000

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. ASA − Asian Tour; KOR − Korean Tour; PGAT − PGA Tour.
3. Also a Japan major championship.
4. 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. "First annual, official Tour event in Japan The Zozo Championship will debut October 2019". PGA Tour. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
2. "2019 Tour Tournaments". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
3. "2019 Money Rankings". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
4. "今平周吾が４冠" [Shuga Imahira won 4 crowns] (in Japanese). Japan Golf Tour Organization. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
5. "部門別ランキング賞、受賞者とスポンサー一覧" [List of ranking awards by category, winners and sponsors] (in Japanese). Japan Golf Tour Organization. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2023. 最優秀選手賞　今平周吾... 最優秀新人賞　島田トロフィ　ジャズ・ジェーンワタナノンド [Most Valuable Player Award: Shugo Imahira... Best Newcomer Award Shimada Trophy: Jazz Janewattananond]
6. "Board Announcement". Official World Golf Ranking. 20 July 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2022. The Abema TV Tour will be introduced to the OWGR at minimum points levels of 4 first place points for its tournaments that are played over 54 holes.
7. "2019 Challenge Schedule". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
8. "2019 Challenge Money Ranking". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
9. "白佳和が今季２勝目を飾り逆転賞金王に輝く！" [Yoshikazu Haku wins his second win of the season and is crowned the comeback prize king!] (in Japanese). Japan Golf Tour Organization. 26 October 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
10. "ホームコースで意地を見せた北川祐生がギリギリ滑り込み" [Yuki Kitagawa, who showed his will on the home course, slipped in at the last minute.] (in Japanese). Japan Golf Tour Organization. 26 October 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2023. 上位20名が来季のツアートーナメントの出場権を得るわけだが [The top 20 players will qualify for next season's Tour tournaments...]

External links

• Official website