JGTO stars feted at awards ceremony

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Updated 2023/12/04 16:00

JGTO stars feted at awards ceremony

The stars of JGTO this season were honoured at an awards ceremony held at the ANA InterContinental Hotel located in downtown Tokyo on Monday afternoon.

Keita Nakajima was crowned the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the 2023 JGTO season following a series of superb performances that saw him clinch three titles this year.

In just his second year as a professional, the 23-year-old Nakajima lived up to the hype of being the next big thing in Japanese golf.

Nakajima, a former world No. 1 amateur golfer, strongly contended for most of the season, leading up to the season-ending Golf Nippon Series JT Cup last week. Unfortunately, he missed out on a fourth title by a whisker.

Had he emerged triumphant, Nakajima could have become only the fifth golfer in JGTO history to surpass the £200,000,000 in season earnings.

His triumphs were attained at the ASO Iizuka Challenge Golf Tournament, Yokohama Minato Championship Fujiki Centennial, and Mynavi ABC Championship.

The ASO Iizuka win was his second on JGTO but the first as a professional. He claimed his breakthrough when he was still an amateur, winning the 2021 Panasonic Open.

Nakajima completed his impressive record with 10 other top-five finishes, five of which were runner-ups, including last Sunday. In total, he missed only one cut in 23 starts.

Nakajima also claimed five other awards- the Prize Money King (£184,986,179), Scoring Average (69.341), Birdie or Better (4.789), Rookie of the Year Shimada Trophy, and Golf Writers’ Prize.

"I’m so happy I to be able to win three times since my first professional victory. The fact that I have a formidable rival (in Takumi Kanaya) and engaged in a year-long battle for the prize money crown made it even more memorable.

“It has been an exceptionally rewarding and enjoyable year and all of these would not have been possible without the support of my entire team including my family,” said Nakajima.

In other awards, Kanaya topped the Par or Better category for the second time, averaging 90.863, adding to his previous success in 2021.

The other notable second-time winners of their respective categories were long-hitting Riki Kawamoto for Driving Distance, averaging 322.58 yards (2022, 2023), and veteran Shingo Katayama for Sand Save (2007, 2003).

No one can claim himself a sharper shooter than Yuki Inamori. He has now won the Driving Accuracy Percentage for eight consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2023.

South Korea's Song Young-han and Australia's Anthony Quayle were the two international recipients of the day for dominating the Greens in Regulation and Putting Average charts.

Special mention was also given to Ryo Hisatsune who became the first Japanese player to clinch the DP World Tour Rookie of the Year award.