Nakajima Primed for Taiheiyo Club Test

Gotemba, Japan: Keita Nakajima is set to return home for this month’s ISPS Handa Championship as Japan’s most recent DP World Tour winner.

The former Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner will be one of the star attractions at Taiheiyo Club Gotemba from April 25-28.

Nakajima, a former World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) number one, sealed his first victory in just his 11th start on the DP World Tour when he completed a wire-to-wire win at the Hero Indian Open.

The 23-year-old made it the first ever DP World Tour season with multiple winners from Japan, joining Commercial Bank Qatar Masters champion Rikuya Hoshino – who will also tee it up at the ISPS Handa Championship.

Nakajima spent a record 87 weeks at the top of the WAGR between 2020 and 2022, and also won the Japan Amateur in 2021. That same year, he beat a field full of professionals to win the Japan Golf Tour Organisation’s (JGTO) Panasonic Open.

He won three times in Japan in 2023 to top the JGTO’s Order of Merit and confirm his place on the DP World Tour for 2024. He has now become the fifth Japanese winner on the DP World Tour, with three victories coming in the past two seasons following Ryo Hisatsune’s Open de France success in 2023.

Nakajima will tee it up in the ISPS Handa Championship for a second time after finishing tied 12th last season.

He said: “It feels amazing to win in my first year on the DP World Tour and to have the chance to come back to Japan again so soon with another trophy. I’m looking forward to teeing it up in the ISPS Handa Championship again and having the chance to play alongside players from both the DP World Tour and Japan Golf Tour.”

Nakajima currently leads the DP World Tour’s Asian Swing, one of five new ‘Global Swings’ included on the 2024 Race to Dubai.

Members of the DP World Tour and JGTO will compete for a US$2.25 million prize fund at the ISPS Handa Championship, the penultimate regular event in the Asian Swing.

Last season’s inaugural ISPS Handa Championship was the first regular tournament in history to be co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the JGTO. The tournament builds on a partnership between the DP World Tour, PGA Tour and JGTO that will see the top three players on the JGTO Order of Merit earn membership onto the DP World Tour each season.