# Tsuneyuki Nakajima

Tsuneyuki "Tommy" Nakajima (Japanese: 中嶋常幸; born 20 October 1954) is a Japanese professional golfer.

## Career

Nakajima was born in Gunma. He turned professional in 1975. He has won 48 events on the Japan Golf Tour, ranking third on the most Japan Golf Tour wins list. He also was the leading money winner four times in five years: 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986. He is second on the career money list (through 2009).
Nakajima featured in the top 5 of the Official World Golf Rankings and was ranked in the top-10 for 85 weeks from their debut in 1986 to 1987. He ranked as high as fifth on its predecessor McCormack's World Golf Rankings.
At the 1978 Masters Tournament, Nakajima made a 13 on the par-5 13th hole. After hitting his fourth shot into Rae's Creek, Nakajima elected to play the ball rather than take a drop. He popped the ball straight up and it landed on his foot, causing a two-stroke penalty. When he handed the club to his caddie, it slipped out of his hand and fell into the creek, incurring another two-stroke penalty. He chipped over the green, chipped back on and two-putted for the highest single-hole score in the history of the tournament.
Also in 1978, Nakajima was in contention at The Open Championship on the third day at St Andrews until he putted into – and then took four attempts to escape from – the Road Hole bunker at the 17th for a quintuple bogey, which led the British tabloids to christen that bunker, for a while, "the Sands of Nakajima". Nakajima's best finish in a major was third at the 1988 PGA Championship.
He would also feature in an epic match at the 1982 Suntory World Match Play Championship at Wentworth when he lost to Sandy Lyle only after an extended playoff.

## Amateur wins

this list may be incomplete
* 1973 Japan Amateur Championship

## Professional wins (58)
### Japan Golf Tour wins (48)

| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
| 1 | 24 Oct 1976 | Golf Digest Tournament | −9 (68-73-67-71=279) | 2 strokes | Kikuo Arai |
| 2 | 25 Sep 1977 | Japan PGA Championship | −11 (73-65-67-72=277) | 2 strokes | Teruo Sugihara, Yoshitaka Yamamoto |
| 3 | 1 Jun 1980 | Mitsubishi Galant Tournament | −12 (65-71-72-68=276) | 4 strokes | Yoshihisa Iwashita, Graham Marsh |
| 4 | 25 Apr 1982 | Dunlop International Open$^1$ | −12 (71-66-68-71=276) | 5 strokes | Saburo Fujiki |
| 5 | 9 May 1982 | Fujisankei Classic | −7 (67-73-66-71=277) | Playoff | Graham Marsh |
| 6 | 1 Jul 1982 | Naganoken Open | −7 (70-67=137) | 1 stroke | Yoshiharu Takai |
| 7 | 15 Aug 1982 | JPGA East-West Tournament | −17 (65-62=127) | 6 strokes | Norio Suzuki |
| 8 | 5 Dec 1982 | Golf Nippon Series | −17 (72-72-66-73=283) | 2 strokes | Fujio Kobayashi |
| 9 | 20 Mar 1983 | Shizuoka Open | −5 (72-72-68-71=283) | 4 strokes | Takashi Kurihara, Masaji Kusakabe |
| 10 | 15 May 1983 | Japan PGA Match-Play Championship | 38 holes | 38 holes | Hideto Shigenobu |
| 11 | 22 May 1983 | Mitsubishi Galant Tournament (2) | −10 (65-70-71-72=278) | 6 strokes | Lu Hsi-chuen |
| 12 | 31 Jul 1983 | Japan PGA Championship (2) | −9 (66-72-69-72=279) | 2 strokes | Isao Aoki |
| 13 | 14 Aug 1983 | JPGA East-West Tournament (2) | −5 (68-71=139) | Playoff | Saburo Fujiki |
| 14 | 11 Sep 1983 | Suntory Open | −14 (66-73-67-68=274) | 2 strokes | Saburo Fujiki |
| 15 | 18 Sep 1983 | ANA Sapporo Open | −6 (71-70-72-69=282) | 5 strokes | Isao Aoki |
| 16 | 13 Nov 1983 | Goldwin Cup Japan vs USA | −3 (76-65=141) | 1 stroke | Hale Irwin |
| 17 | 5 Aug 1984 | Japan PGA Championship (3) | −9 (68-69-67-71=275) | 2 strokes | Seiichi Kanai, Shinsaku Maeda, Tōru Nakamura |
| 18 | 2 Sep 1984 | Kanto Open | −8 (73-69-65-69=276) | | |
| 19 | 23 Jun 1985 | Yomiuri Sapporo Beer Open | −17 (65-71-67-72=275) | 3 strokes | Katsuji Hasegawa |
| 20 | 7 Jul 1985 | Kanto Pro Championship | −6 (68-70-69-67=274) | 3 strokes | Koichi Suzuki |
| 21 | 22 Sep 1985 | ANA Open (2) | −11 (68-71-69-69=277) | 2 strokes | Masahiro Kuramoto |
| 22 | 13 Oct 1985 | Japan Open Golf Championship | −3 (75-68-72-70=285) | 2 strokes | Hiroshi Makino |
| 23 | 17 Nov 1985 | Taiheiyo Club Masters | −8 (67-72-67-74=280) | Playoff | David Graham |
| 24 | 24 Nov 1985 | Dunlop Phoenix Tournament | −13 (67-68-70-70=275) | 3 strokes | Seve Ballesteros, Chen Tze-chung |
| 25 | 18 May 1986 | Japan PGA Match-Play Championship (2) | 6 and 5 | 6 and 5 | Keiichi Kobayashi |
| 26 | 1 Jun 1986 | Mitsubishi Galant Tournament (3) | −8 (73-68-69-70=280) | 1 stroke | Chen Tze-ming |
| 27 | 29 Jun 1986 | Mizuno Open | −13 (69-65-68-37=239)* | 6 strokes | Tsukasa Watanabe |
| 28 | 29 Jun 1986 | Kanto Pro Championship | −19 (68-69-65-67=269) | 3 strokes | Naomichi Ozaki |
| 29 | 12 Oct 1986 | Japan Open Golf Championship (2) | −4 (70-73-72-69=284) | 1 stroke | Isao Aoki, Masashi Ozaki |
| 30 | 19 Oct 1986 | Polaroid Cup Golf Digest Tournament (2) | −9 (68-68-67-72=275) | Playoff | David Ishii |
| 31 | 4 Oct 1987 | Tokai Classic | −6 (71-72-73-66=282) | 1 stroke | Masashi Ozaki |
| 32 | 1 Jul 1990 | Kanto Pro Championship (2) | −13 (67-67-68-69=271) | 3 strokes | Kiyoshi Murota |
| 33 | 16 Sep 1990 | ANA Open (3) | −11 (69-70-68-70=277) | 3 strokes | Masashi Ozaki |
| 34 | 7 Oct 1990 | Japan Open Golf Championship (3) | −7 (68-71-73-69=281) | 2 strokes | Masashi Ozaki |
| 35 | 23 Jun 1991 | Yomiuri Sapporo Beer Open (2) | −16 (65-65-71-71=272) | 3 strokes | Rick Gibson |
| 36 | 13 Oct 1991 | Japan Open Golf Championship (4) | +2 (72-74-71-73=290) | Playoff | Noboru Sugai |
| 37 | 24 May 1992 | Pepsi Ube Kosan Open | −13 (67-72-64-72=275) | 5 strokes | Hirofumi Miyase |
| 38 | 2 Aug 1992 | NST Niigata Open | −13 (70-68-67-70=275) | 2 strokes | Shigenori Mori |
| 39 | 6 Sep 1992 | Japan PGA Match-Play Championship Promise Cup (3) | 3 and 1 | 3 and 1 | Naomichi Ozaki |
| 40 | 19 Sep 1993 | ANA Open (4) | −14 (67-67-67-73=274) | 4 strokes | Naomichi Ozaki, Peter Senior, Katsunari Takahashi |
| 41 | 5 Dec 1993 | Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup (2) | −18 (69-65-69-67=270) | 3 strokes | Shigeki Maruyama |
| 42 | 20 Mar 1994 | Dydo Shizuoka Open | −8 (71-71-69-69=280) | Playoff | Tōru Nakamura |
| 43 | 17 Apr 1994 | Tsuruya Open | −9 (68-70-70-71=279) | Playoff | Tsutomu Higa |
| 44 | 22 May 1994 | Pepsi Ube Kosan Open (2) | −16 (65-67-67-69=268) | 3 strokes | Tsukasa Watanabe |
| 45 | 7 May 1995 | Fujisankei Classic (2) | −12 (66-70-70-66=272) | 2 strokes | Masahiro Kuramoto |
| 46 | 2 Jun 2002 | Diamond Cup Tournament (4) | −19 (67-66-68-68=269) | 2 strokes | Tomohiro Kondo, Hirofumi Miyase, Christian Peña |
| 47 | 17 Nov 2002 | Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (2) | −16 (69-66-67-70=272) | 1 stroke | Hidemichi Tanaka |
| 48 | 12 Nov 2006 | Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (3) | −13 (71-68-71-65=275) | 1 stroke | Toru Taniguchi |
*Note: The 1986 Mizuno Open was shortened to 63 holes due to rain. $^1$Co-sanctioned by the Asia Golf Circuit
Japan Golf Tour playoff record (7–6)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
| 1 | 1978 | Japan PGA Championship | Fujio Kobayashi | Lost to birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 1981 | Golf Digest Tournament | Toyotake Nakao | Lost to par on fifth extra hole |
| 3 | 1982 | Fujisankei Classic | Graham Marsh | Won with par on first extra hole |
| 4 | 1983 | JPGA East-West Tournament | Saburo Fujiki | Won with birdie on second extra hole |
| 5 | 1985 | Taiheiyo Club Masters | David Graham | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 6 | 1986 | Polaroid Cup Golf Digest Tournament | David Ishii | Won with par on fifth extra hole |
| 7 | 1990 | Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup | Naomichi Ozaki | Lost to birdie on third extra hole |
| 8 | 1991 | Japan Open Golf Championship | Noboru Sugai | Won with par on first extra hole |
| 9 | 1992 | Japan PGA Championship | Masahiro Kuramoto | Lost to par on second extra hole |
| 10 | 1994 | Dydo Shizuoka Open | Tōru Nakamura | Won with par on first extra hole |
| 11 | 1994 | Tsuruya Open | Tsutomu Higa | Won with par on second extra hole |
| 12 | 2002 | JCB Classic Sendai | Toru Suzuki | Lost to par on second extra hole |
| 13 | 2004 | JCB Classic Sendai | Takashi Kamiyama, Tomohiro Kondo | Kamiyama won with birdie on first extra hole |

### Other wins (5)

* 1976 Mizuno Pro Rookies Tournament, Young Lions Tournament
* 1977 Young Lions Tournament, Nihon Kokudo Keikaku Summers
* 1986 Nissan Cup Individual Trophy

### Japan Senior PGA Tour wins (5)

* 2005 Japan Senior Open
* 2006 Japan PGA Senior Championship, Japan Senior Open
* 2008 Japan Senior Open
* 2013 Starts Senior Golf Tournament

## Results in major championships

| Tournament | 1978 | 1979 |
| Masters Tournament | CUT | |
| U.S. Open | | |
| The Open Championship | T17 | CUT |
| PGA Championship | | |
| Tournament | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
| Masters Tournament | T16 | T33 | T47 | T8 | CUT | T33 | CUT |
| U.S. Open | T26 | CUT | | T53 | T9 | T32 | |
| The Open Championship | | T36 | | T8 | T59 | | |
| PGA Championship | CUT | T10 | CUT | T47 | CUT | 3 | |
| Tournament | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 |
| Masters Tournament | T10 | CUT | | | CUT | |
| U.S. Open | | | | | | |
| The Open Championship | | CUT | | T55 | T49 | |
| PGA Championship | CUT | T21 | CUT | T61 | CUT | T52 |
| Tournament | 2002 |
| Masters Tournament | |
| U.S. Open | |
| The Open Championship | CUT |
| PGA Championship | |
CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" indicates a tie for a place

### Summary

| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 6 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 6 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 37 | 22 |
* Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (1986 Masters – 1986 PGA)
* Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (six times)

## Results in The Players Championship

| Tournament | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
| The Players Championship | T16 | T54 | CUT | T64 | T15 | T27 | CUT |
CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" indicates a tie for a place

## Team appearances

* World Cup (representing Japan): 1996
* Nissan Cup/Kirin Cup (representing Japan): 1985, 1986 (winners), 1987, 1988
* Dunhill Cup (representing Japan): 1986
* Dynasty Cup (representing Japan): 2003