Into the Stage of Intense Competition
Japan Open 1995 and 2006,
Japan Women’s Open 1999,
and Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship 2010

1995

Japan Open 1995

Thirty-eight years on from the Canada Cup, in September 1995, the East Course was the venue for the 60th Japan Open Golf Championship.

The total course length was extended about 100 yards and the rough cut higher than for the Canada Cup. 108 players were invited to engage in fierce competition on a tough course.

Toshimitsu Izawa recorded his first professional win, with Kazuhiko Hosokawa taking second place, and Hidemichi Tanaka third. With promising professionals in their twenties filling the top positions, the event set in motion the rise of young talent that followed in later years.

1999

Japan Women’s Open 1999

Four years on from the Japan Open, in June 1999, the East Course staged the 32nd Japan Women’s Open Golf Championship, the first event of its kind hosted by the KCC.

Despite adverse conditions marked by three days of rain, a large gallery watched as Mayumi Murai took the first prize.

Here again, the event showcased solid performances by up-and-coming female professionals who would go on to star in tours thereafter: Yuri Fudoh, Hee-Won Han, Midori Yoneyama, and Mikino Kubo.

2006

Japan Open 2006

In October 2006, the Kasumigaski Country Club hosted the 71st Japan Open Golf Championship, this time at the West Course.

This was the fourth Japan Open held at the KCC following the 7th edition at the East Course in 1933, the 21st at the West Course in 1956, and the 60th at the East Course in 1995. It represented the first in eleven years since the previous event, and the first in a quarter century since Torakichi Nakamura won the day at the West Course.

The crisp and clear autumn sky saw a gallery of more than 20,000 watch the four-day championship.

The result was a victory by Paul Sheehan from Australia with his cool and collected play, followed by Azuma Yano in second place, and Katsumasa Miyamoto and Takuya Taniguchi tying in third.

With each open tournament it hosted, the KCC left a stronger impression on golf fans throughout Japan of the beauty and the course’s high level of strategic difficulty.

2010

Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship 2010

In October 2010, the West Course was the venue for the 2nd Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, which was broadcast live in some 130 countries and regions.

One of the largest individual events for male amateurs in the Asia-Pacific, the tournament is administered by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation in partnership with Augusta National Golf Club and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. That year it attracted the highest ranked players in the R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking representing 27 countries.

The winner receives an invitation to the following year’s Masters Tournament (Augusta, US) and the final qualifying round of the Open Championship (UK). The victor that year was Hideki Matsuyama, who went on be a high ranked international player and Japan representative.