Kani, Gifu, Japan: Yuta Sugiura repelled the challenges of fellow-Japanese Yuki Inamori and Taiga Semikawa to claim his maiden professional title at the Japan PGA Championship.
Two shots clear at the top of the leaderboard heading into the final round, the 22-year-old Sugiura fired a closing even-par 72 at the Fuji Country Kani Club.
With a four-day total of 18-under-par 268, Sugiura finished one shot clear of Inamori and Semikawa.
It was Sugiura’s second Japan Golf Tour Organisation triumph having defied the odds to win the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament while still an amateur last November, just weeks after missing 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.
Last year, he had the distinction of scoring the winning point for the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation team against the European Golf Association in the Ryder Cup-style Bonallack Trophy at La Manga in Spain
At the ¥150 million (about US$1.5 million) Japan PGA Championship, a birdie on the penultimate hole in the final round gave Sugiura a two-stroke advantage. But a bogey on the par-four 18th left the door ajar for Inamori and Semikawa, who needed to birdie the home hole to force a sudden-death play-off.
To the relief of Sugiura, however, both could only manage pars leaving them to ponder what might have been.
Reflecting on his victory, Sugiura said: “It was definitely nerve-racking after I bogeyed 18. I was prepared for a play-off but thankfully I did not have to. This victory is especially sweet as it’s my win since turning profession last year.
“It’s a huge confidence booster for my career and I’m definitely looking forward to lifting more trophies.”
