Pennsylvania, United States: Yuta Sugiura, who delivered the winning point for the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) team in the 2023 Bonallack Trophy, will make his US Open debut this week.
The 23-year-old Japanese secured his starting spot in the year’s third Major at Oakmont Country Club after earning medallist honours in the Japan final qualifier.
At the Tarao Country Club’s West Course in Shiga Prefecture in mid-May, Sugiura shot rounds of 68 and 66 for a winning total of 10-under 134.
Last year, Sugiura won the Japan PGA Championship on the Japan Golf Tour, one of his three victories on the circuit. He also claimed the 2023 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament and the 2023 Dunlop Phoenix Challenge in Fukushima, both as an amateur.
Sugiura’s success at the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament came just weeks after he missed the cut in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) at Royal Melbourne in Australia.
He was the first amateur to win the Dunlop title and only the seventh amateur to win on the JGTO, following in the footsteps of Hideki Matsuyama and Keita Nakajima, both former AAC winners.
Sugiura enjoyed an outstanding amateur career during which he led his country to victory in the 2022 edition of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship for the Nomura Cup in the Philippines, finishing as the low individual.
In 2023, he represented Japan in the World Amateur Team Championships for the Eisenhower Trophy and had the distinction of scoring the winning point for the APGC team against the European Golf Association in the Ryder Cup-style Bonallack Trophy at La Manga in Spain.
In a thrilling finale, Sugiura got up-and-down from a greenside bunker on the last hole to defeat England’s Barclay Brown one-up and ensure a 17-15 triumph for the Asian team.
Thus far in 2025, he has one second-place showing in the International Series Japan presented by Moutai.
Two other Japanese who have qualified for the Oakmont showpiece are Takumi Kanaya and Riki Kawamoto.
Winner of the AAC in 2018, Kanaya will be competing in his third US Open. He was the first alternate from the Canada qualifying site. The 27-year-old owns two top-20 finishes on the PGA Tour this season.
In total, he has claimed seven Japan Golf Tour titles, including the 2023 BMW Tour Championship Mori Building Cup. In 2020, he was exempt after receiving the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the world’s leading male in the WAGR. Last year, he advanced from the Dallas, Texas, final qualifier.
Kawamoto, who tied for 16th on his sole AAC appearance in Dubai in 2021, is playing in his second consecutive US Open. He was the first alternate from the Japan qualifier. He carded a 36-hole score of 135 and was involved in a four-for-one play-off.
Kawamoto claimed the first of his two Japan Golf Tour victories in 2022 when he won the Sansan KBC Augusta. His sister, Yui, tied for 36th in this year’s US Women’s Open Presented by Ally at Erin Hills.
