# Golf Nippon Series

The Golf Nippon Series (ゴルフ日本シリーズJTカップ, Gorufu nihon shirīzu jei-tī kappu) is a professional golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour. First played in 1963, it is one of the tour's four major championships. Since 1995, it has been held at the Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club in Inagi, Tokyo.

## History

From its inception in 1963 to 1972 the field was limited to the winners of six important tournaments in Japan: Japan Open, Japan PGA Championship, Kansai Open, Kansai Pro Championship, Kanto Open and Kanto Pro Championship. In some years a player won two of these event and the field was reduced further, to five.
It has recently been one of the season-ending events on the tour with a limited field consisting of the top 30 players from the money list and that season's tournament winners.
Since 1998 the tournament has been titled the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup, under a sponsorship agreement with Japan Tobacco. It was sponsored by Hitachi from 1988 to 1997, during which time it was titled the Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup.

## Prize money

Since 2009 the prize money has been ¥130,000,000, with ¥40,000,000 going to the winner, except in 2011 when the event was reduced to 54 holes and prize money was reduced by 25%. In 1988 prize money was ¥50,000,000, with ¥14,000,000 for the winner, increasing to ¥60,000,000, with ¥15,000,000 winner from 1989 to 1992. From 1993 to 2008 prize money was ¥100,000,000, with ¥30,000,000 for the winner.

## Tournament hosts

| Years | Venue | Location |
| 1963 (co-hosts) | Murasaki Country Club, Sumire Course | Noda, Chiba |
| 1963–90 (co-hosts), 1992, 1994 | Yomiuri Country Club | Nishinomiya, Hyōgo |
| 1964–90 (co-hosts), 1991, 1993, 1995–present | Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club | Inagi, Tokyo |
From 1963 to 1990 the event was played at two venues, one near Ozaki and another near Tokyo. The first two rounds were played at one venue and, after a travel day, the remaining two rounds were played at the second venue.

## Winners

| Japan Golf Tour (Japan major) | 2000– |
| Japan Golf Tour (Regular) | 1974–1999 |
| Pre-Japan Golf Tour | 1963–1973 |
| # | Year | Winner | Score | To par | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
| Golf Nippon Series JT Cup |||||||
| 61st | 2024 | Shaun Norris | 268 | −12 | 2 strokes | Naoyuki Kataoka |
| 60th | 2023 | Taiga Semikawa | 265 | −15 | 1 stroke | Takumi Kanaya Keita Nakajima |
| 59th | 2022 | Hideto Tanihara (2) | 268 | −12 | 1 stroke | Hiroshi Iwata Daijiro Izumida Chan Kim |
| 58th | 2021 | Hideto Tanihara | 268 | −12 | 2 strokes | Yūsaku Miyazato |
| 57th | 2020 | Chan Kim | 272 | −8 | 1 stroke | Hiroshi Iwata Tomoharu Otsuki Hideto Tanihara |
| 56th | 2019 | Ryo Ishikawa (2) | 272 | −8 | Playoff | Brad Kennedy |
| 55th | 2018 | Satoshi Kodaira | 272 | −8 | Playoff | Hwang Jung-gon Ryo Ishikawa |
| 54th | 2017 | Yūsaku Miyazato (2) | 265 | −15 | 6 strokes | Shaun Norris |
| 53rd | 2016 | Park Sang-hyun | 267 | −13 | 1 stroke | Yuta Ikeda Kim Kyung-tae Satoshi Kodaira |
| 52nd | 2015 | Ryo Ishikawa | 266 | −14 | 5 strokes | Yoshinori Fujimoto Koumei Oda |
| 51st | 2014 | Katsumasa Miyamoto (3) | 271 | −9 | 1 stroke | Prayad Marksaeng |
| 50th | 2013 | Yūsaku Miyazato | 267 | −13 | 3 strokes | Wu Ashun |
| 49th | 2012 | Hiroyuki Fujita (3) | 262 | −18 | 5 strokes | Han Lee Toshinori Muto |
| 48th | 2011 | Hiroyuki Fujita (2) | 200 | −10 | Playoff | Toru Taniguchi |
| 47th | 2010 | Hiroyuki Fujita | 265 | −15 | 1 stroke | Toru Taniguchi |
| 46th | 2009 | Shigeki Maruyama (2) | 271 | −9 | Playoff | Kim Kyung-tae |
| 45th | 2008 | Jeev Milkha Singh (2) | 268 | −12 | 2 strokes | Brendan Jones David Smail Taichi Teshima |
| 44th | 2007 | Brendan Jones | 269 | −11 | 1 stroke | Toru Taniguchi |
| 43rd | 2006 | Jeev Milkha Singh | 269 | −11 | 1 stroke | Nobuhiro Masuda |
| 42nd | 2005 | Yasuharu Imano | 269 | −11 | 2 strokes | Shinichi Yokota |
| 41st | 2004 | Paul Sheehan | 266 | −14 | 4 strokes | Katsumasa Miyamoto Yang Yong-eun |
| 40th | 2003 | Tetsuji Hiratsuka | 264 | −16 | 3 strokes | Toshimitsu Izawa |
| 39th | 2002 | Shingo Katayama (2) | 261 | −19 | 9 strokes | David Smail |
| 38th | 2001 | Katsumasa Miyamoto (2) | 268 | −12 | 1 stroke | Toshimitsu Izawa Tsuneyuki Nakajima |
| 37th | 2000 | Shingo Katayama | 271 | −9 | 3 strokes | Hirofumi Miyase |
| 36th | 1999 | Kazuhiko Hosokawa | 270 | −10 | 2 strokes | Toshimitsu Izawa |
| 35th | 1998 | Katsumasa Miyamoto | 275 | −5 | Playoff | Masashi Ozaki |
| Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup |||||||
| 34th | 1997 | Shigeki Maruyama | 268 | −16 | 2 strokes | Tateo Ozaki |
| 33rd | 1996 | Masashi Ozaki (7) | 262 | −26 | 4 strokes | Shigeki Maruyama |
| 32nd | 1995 | Masashi Ozaki (6) | 272 | −16 | 2 strokes | Shigenori Mori Tsuneyuki Nakajima |
| 31st | 1994 | Hisayuki Sasaki | 270 | −14 | 1 stroke | Naomichi Ozaki |
| 30th | 1993 | Tsuneyuki Nakajima (2) | 270 | −18 | 3 strokes | Shigeki Maruyama |
| 29th | 1992 | Chen Tze-ming | 280 | −8 | 1 stroke | Todd Hamilton |
| 28th | 1991 | Naomichi Ozaki (3) | 268 | −20 | 8 strokes | Tsuneyuki Nakajima Nobumitsu Yuhara |
| 27th | 1990 | Naomichi Ozaki (2) | 275 | −13 | Playoff | Tsuneyuki Nakajima |
| 26th | 1989 | Akiyoshi Ohmachi | 278 | −10 | 2 strokes | Tsuneyuki Nakajima Katsuyoshi Tomori |
| 25th | 1988 | Naomichi Ozaki | 275 | −13 | 5 strokes | Isao Aoki |
| Golf Nippon Series |||||||
| 24th | 1987 | Isao Aoki (4) David Ishii | 138 | −7 | Title shared | Title shared |
| 23rd | 1986 | Tōru Nakamura (2) | 275 | −15 | 2 strokes | Isao Aoki |
| 22nd | 1985 | Tateo Ozaki | 279 | −11 | 2 strokes | Masahiro Kuramoto |
| 21st | 1984 | Tōru Nakamura | 267 | −23 | 7 strokes | Masahiro Kuramoto |
| 20th | 1983 | Isao Aoki (3) | 281 | −9 | 1 stroke | Masahiro Kuramoto |
| 19th | 1982 | Tsuneyuki Nakajima | 283 | −7 | 2 strokes | Fujio Kobayashi |
| 18th | 1981 | Yutaka Hagawa | 135 | −9 | Playoff | Isao Aoki |
| 17th | 1980 | Masashi Ozaki (5) | 283 | −7 | 2 strokes | Isao Aoki |
| 16th | 1979 | Isao Aoki (2) | 276 | −14 | 13 strokes | Kikuo Arai Tōru Nakamura |
| 15th | 1978 | Isao Aoki | 282 | −8 | 1 stroke | Haruo Yasuda |
| 14th | 1977 | Masashi Ozaki (4) | 275 | −15 | 4 strokes | Isao Aoki |
| 13th | 1976 | Shinsaku Maeda | 285 | −5 | 3 strokes | Haruo Yasuda |
| 12th | 1975 | Takashi Murakami | 283 | −7 | 1 stroke | Seiichi Kanai Kosaku Shimada |
| 11th | 1974 | Masashi Ozaki (3) | 280 | −10 | 4 strokes | Takashi Murakami |
| 10th | 1973 | Teruo Sugihara (3) | 276 | −14 | 2 strokes | Haruo Yasuda |
| 9th | 1972 | Masashi Ozaki (2) | 280 | −10 | Playoff | Teruo Sugihara |
| 8th | 1971 | Masashi Ozaki | 284 | −6 | 1 stroke | Teruo Sugihara |
| 7th | 1970 | Teruo Sugihara (2) | 284 | −6 | 3 strokes | Kosaku Shimada |
| 6th | 1969 | Hideyo Sugimoto | 291 | +1 | 1 stroke | Shigeru Uchida Haruo Yasuda |
| 5th | 1968 | Takaaki Kono (2) | 283 | −7 | 3 strokes | Shiro Matsuda |
| 4th | 1967 | Takaaki Kono | 281 | −9 | 11 strokes | Tadashi Kitta Seiichi Sato |
| 1966: No tournament |||||||
| 3rd | 1965 | Teruo Sugihara | 284 | −6 | 11 strokes | Tadashi Kitta |
| 2nd | 1964 | Chen Ching-Po | 284 | −6 | 2 strokes | Hideyo Sugimoto |
| 1st | 1963 | Tomoo Ishii | 288 | −2 | 8 strokes | Koichi Ono |
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