Delhi, India: Keita Nakajima won his first DP World Tour title in emphatic style as a closing 73 handed him a four-shot wire-to-wire win at the Hero Indian Open.
The Japanese entered the final round with a four-shot advantage and that was extended to nine after he turned in 33 and threatened to blow the rest of the field away at DLF Golf & Country Club.
He could not quite maintain that incredible pace on the back nine but his 17-under-par total gave him a comfortable victory over home favourite Veer Ahlawat, Swede Sebastian Söderberg and American Johannes Veerman.
The win in just his 11th start moves Nakajima to 13th in the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex and to the top of the Asian Swing standings.
Nakajima becomes the fifth Japanese winner in DP World Tour history and his victory, the seventh by a Japanese player, comes as part of a remarkable purple patch for his nation on Tour.
When Ryo Hisatsune won the Open de France in September just over 40 years after Isao Aoki had become the Tour’s first winner from Japan, only Hideki Matsuyama's Masters Tournament win and two World Golf Championships triumphs had come in between.
But we now have multiple Japanese winners in the same season for the first time after Rikuya Hoshino – who sits second in the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex – won last month’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Hoshino took the same pathway to the DP World Tour as Nakajima, finishing second in the Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO) Order of Merit in 2022, an Order of Merit which Nakajima won in 2023 with the help of three of his four wins on that Tour.
Nakajima could now also follow Hisatsune’s path to the PGA Tour by obtaining Dual Membership via the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex in another potential chapter in a career that saw him spend 87 weeks at the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Winner of the 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC), Nakajima said: “It feels amazing. I feel like this is the first win of a new professional career. This is my first year playing on the DP World Tour and I’m very proud to have won on the DP World Tour and very honoured to be playing here."
Nakajima’s overnight lead was quickly increased to six as he holed a 15-footer from the fringe on the first and made a smart up-and-down on the par-five fourth to get to 20-under.
He looked to be in trouble on the sixth when his tee-shot found an awkward spot in the rough but a fantastic second left him around 35 feet for birdie and he drained it to open up a seven-shot advantage.
A bogey on the next after finding sand off the tee may have given the field a tiny glimmer of hope but with none of them able to make a big move, an up-and-down for birdie on the par-five eighth put Nakajima nine ahead.
He had bogeyed the 14th in the first three rounds and it haunted him again as he missed the green, went over the putting surface and then failed to get up and down to surrender a double-bogey.
That dropped him back to 19-under and all of a sudden his lead was down to five shots with four to play as Söderberg looked to post a threatening target.
The 33-year-old turned in 34 before holing a 10-footer on the 10th and also birdieing the next. The par-five 15th brought another gain and when he left himself a tap-in at the 17th, he was the nearest challenger and two clear of the players in third.
A 20-footer on the 15th had the lead back at six but Nakajima missed the green at the 16th, 17th and 18th to make bogeys, with Söderberg also dropping a shot at the last in his 67. “I was a little nervous and I had a tough back nine but I hit some great shots," said Nakajima.
Meanwhile, Takumi Kanaya, like Nakajima an ex-AAC winner, was also in celebratory mood after securing his sixth JGTO title by emerging victorious at the Token Homemate Cup for the second time.
The 25-year-old posted a final-round six-under 65 to conclude the tournament with a winning 72-hole record of 23-under 261, edging out second-placed Tatsunori Shogenji by two shots.
Kanaya had put himself in the driver’s seat in the morning at the 54-hole mark, birdieing four of his eight remaining holes to card a bogey-free third-round 64 to claim a one-shot lead over Taihei Sato.
With his confidence soaring, Kanaya continued his impressive form, birdieing four times in his opening five holes to distance himself from the chasing pack. He solidified his lead by picking up another shot on the eighth before putting the result beyond doubt with two more birdies on the 14th and 17th.
Although Kanaya eventually conceded a bogey, his first in 38 holes, it was still sufficient for him to reclaim the title he last won in 2021, finishing with a two-shot cushion.
“I made several changes to my swing during the off-season, and I’m really pleased it paid off this week. Looking ahead, I hope to maintain this consistency. My goal is to be in contention every week, and not just for one week.
“I hope to be able to compete on the DP World Tour soon. This win will set me up for this opportunity and I’m particularly focused on the next ISPS Handa Championship, which I hope to replicate my winning performance.
"It’s so good to see Keita Nakajima doing well in India. It will be a great motivation for all of us,” said Kanaya, winner of the AAC in Singapore in 2018.