Emotional Kanaya Dedicates Win to Ailing Mother

Tokyo, Japan: An emotional Takumi Kanaya ended his two-year title drought on the Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO) with a two-shot victory at the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup.

A former number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in 2018, Kanaya dedicated his win to his mother, who has been battling breast cancer for the last 10 months.

Kanaya closed with an even-par 71 at Shishido Hills Country Club, which was enough for him to secure his first JGTO victory since the Token Homemate Cup in April, 2021.

The 25-year-old made two birdies, including a crucial one on the par-four 17th, to offset bogeys on holes 13 and 15. In so doing, he fended off challenges from fellow-Japanese Keita Nakajima (70), Hiroshi Iwata (68) and Yuki Inamori (69), and Korean Song Young-han (71).

Kanaya said: “My mother is battling breast cancer and this win is for her. Hopefully, it’ll go some way towards helping her with her recovery. It will make her happy.

“I was really looking forward to a win this week and I’m really happy I managed to do it. It has been a long week with multiple weather delays. I knew I had to play really aggressively to stand a chance of winning.”

As well as the ¥30 million prize cheque, Kanaya won a new BMW X7, an invitation to this month’s BMW International Open on the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour’s ZOZO Championship in October.

South African Shaun Norris and Justin De Los Santos of the Philippines, meanwhile, claimed morale-boosting top-10 finishes.

The 41-year-old Norris, the 2017 champion, carded a 69 to finish solo sixth on seven-under-par 277 – his best performance since winning the Japan Open in 2021, the sixth JGTO title of his career.

De Los Santos was happy with a closing 71, his 279 total giving him his first top-10 finish on the JGTO this season.