Takumi Kanaya – Syndication Server

Japan’s next star golfer: Is it Takumi Kanaya or Keita Nakajima? Or will it be both?

The reverberations from Hideki Matsuyama’s rise to international golfing star can already be felt in two of the Japan’s most promising talents.

As the first Japanese winner of a men’s major, Hideki Matsuyama’s victory at the Masters in April is expected to making a lasting impact in golf crazed Japan. But the reverberations from his rise to international golfing star can already be felt in two of the country’s most promising talents.

Keita Nakajima, the current No. 1-ranked amateur in the world and winner of the 2021 Mark McCormack Medal, and Takumi Kanaya, a former World No. 1 amateur who competes mainly on the Japan Golf Tour (JGTO) and finished the year at No. 49 in the Official World Golf Ranking, are both in the field this week at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii just as they will be in April at the Masters. Neither pro needed much prodding to heap praise on Matsuyama, who enters the week ranked No. 19 in the world and won the Zozo Championship in November.

“First and foremost, his playing self is second-to-none, and not only me but a lot of the Japanese players have been inspired to play well on U.S. soil,” said Kanaya.

Nakajima added of Matsuyama, “He’s a superstar in Japan. I want to catch up to Mr. Hideki and Mr. Takumi, as well.”

The 21-year-old golfer is off to a good start. He canned a 25-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to defeat Taicho Kho and win the Asia-Pacific Amateur and book his ticket to the Masters.

Keita Nakajima hits his tee shot on the 11th hole during the second round of the Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club on October 22, 2021 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images)

Nakajima became the third Japanese winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur following in the footsteps of Matsuyama (2010-11) and Kanaya (2018). In September, Nakajima won a professional event, the Panasonic Open on the JGTO, and he competed in the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship this fall, including playing a practice round with reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa.

“Keita was awesome. Striped the ball, that’s one of the biggest things I saw. Everything sounded amazing. He was hitting it really straight. You don’t get to be the No. 1 player in the world for the amateur rankings unless you’re playing pretty well and you’re a good player, but I could see why. Sometimes you see players and you kind of guess how they got there, but I could see definitely why and how he got there,” Morikawa said in Japan. “He’s someone that is going to have a great future ahead of him. He’s got a lot to look forward to, but hopefully he can just enjoy the moment, enjoy where he’s at. That’s what I did.”

Nakajima expects to do just that. When asked to name his goals for the Masters, he simply said, “Enjoy the moment.”

Takumi Kanaya of Japan hits his tee shot on the 4th hole during the final round of the Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club on October 24, 2021 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images)

A year ago, Kanaya, 23, won the McCormack Medal after a 55-week reign as the top-ranked amateur, and he has wasted little time making his mark professionally in Japan. He ended the year ranked No. 49 in the world, which was just good enough to earn an invite to the Masters (top 50 at the end of 2021 automatically qualified). One week after Matsuyama won the Masters, Kanaya defeated Nakajima by one stroke to win the JGTO’s Token Homemate Cup. Kanaya, who stayed up late to see the conclusion of the Masters, doesn’t think his triumph so shortly after Matsuyama made history was mere coincidence.

“I was simply watching the telecast and cheering him on in hotel prior to the tournament that I was playing in, and I was very inspired by his win,” Kanaya said.

In his previous Masters appearance in 2019, Kanaya finished T-58, but he said this time will be different.

“When I was there playing as an amateur, I was simply there for the experience,” he said. “But this year, playing as a professional, the Masters will be a key event for me to earn the card for PGA Tour or European Tour.”

Kanaya is set to play DP Tour events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and hopes to receive a sponsor invite to the Arnold Palmer Invitational. His world ranking, which dropped to No. 51, will dictate if he gets to compete in the Players Championship and WGC Dell Match Play as well as potentially other sponsor invites.

Nakajima plans to remain an amateur after the Masters and compete in the World Amateur Team Championship later this summer in France, but he could be the next Japanese budding star to make a name for himself in the U.S. The fan of the Los Angeles Angels was asked what’s the biggest difference in being a superstar between Matsuyama and Shohei Otani, baseball’s latest sensation.

“I think nothing,” Nakajima said. “Same.”

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The 10 golfers who made the biggest jump into the top 50 in final Official World Golf Ranking of 2021

The final Official World Golf Ranking of 2021 was made official on Monday.

This is a big deal because the top 50 not otherwise eligible earn a coveted spot into the 2022 Masters. This list below is going to focus on the 10 golfers who made the biggest leap up the ranking into the top 50 from where they stood at this time one year ago.

But let’s first give a quick shout out to guys in the OWGR top 100 like Marcus Helligkilde, who is up 565 spots (646 to 81) in the last year; Nicolai Hojgaard, up 431 spots (527 to 96); Seamus Power, up 358 spots (429 to 71); Santiago Tarrio Ben, up 259 spots (358 to 99); Mito Pereira, up 212 spots (307 to 95); and Chris Kirk, up 172 spots (265 to 93).

Now, on to those now in the top 50. Some of these names may surprise you.

Know their names: These top players will drive amateur golf in 2020

The following names are likely to appear in amateur golf headlines in 2020. Their path to the top of amateur golf is worth following.

In most cases, players have a limited window in which to make waves in amateur golf. Juniors and college players generally use amateur events – from the Western Amateur to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur to the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur – as a platform to launch them into long and successful professional careers.

Even if amateur golf is transient for the top players, there’s still time to develop a rooting interest for these men and women. The following names – some highlighted individually, and some highlighted in clusters – are likely to appear in headlines on the biggest stages in 2020. Their growth and their path to the top of amateur golf is worth following. Here’s the background.

Emilia Migliaccio, top-ranked U.S. female

Emilia Migliaccio during a Curtis Cup practice session in December. (Photo: USGA/Steven Gibbons)

Migliaccio’s last act before returning to Wake Forest for her junior season was to represent the U.S. at the Pan-American Games. The team won gold that week in Lima, Peru, and so did Migliaccio, which made her the first American, male or female, to win a gold medal in golf at either the Pan American Games or the Olympics since the event was reintroduced to the games in 2015.

It’s fitting that Migliaccio is the top-ranked American in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (at No. 7) entering 2020. It’s also fitting that it’s a Curtis Cup year. Someone like Migliaccio, who shines in a team setting, would be an excellent leader for a U.S. squad looking to win on foreign soil. Migliaccio stands to figure in to all conversations surrounding women’s golf in 2020, from college golf to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

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Matt Jones increases his Australian Open lead, world’s best amateur close behind

Matt Jones coped best with difficult afternoon conditions Saturday at the Australian Open for a 68 and a three-shot lead.

SYDNEY – Matt Jones coped best with difficult afternoon conditions Saturday at the Australian Open for a 3-under 68 to take a three-stroke lead into the final round.

Jones, who led by one stroke after the second round, had a three-round total of 13-under 200 at the Australian Golf Club. American Cameron Tringale was in second after a 69.

Jones said he had no idea what score it would take to win on Sunday.

“It depends on what the conditions are like; just try not to make a double and a triple on the front nine like I did last time and make it a little easier,” he said.

Japanese amateur Takumi Kanaya and Louis Oosthuizen, who both shot 70, and Paul Casey, who had a 71, were tied for third at 9-under, four strokes behind.

Leaderboard: Australian Open

Casey fell out of the lead with a double-bogey six on the par-4 ninth after hitting into a green-side bunker and with a difficult lie to exit.

“Ït was a flat day, I just never really got going, not much to really say,” Casey said. “When I had opportunities, I didn’t capitalize and there was obviously a couple of errors in there. But how do you get around this course without making errors?

Marc Leishman shot 70 and was tied for eighth, six behind Jones, the 2015 Australian Open winner.

“Tough greens, you really fought your way around today,” Leishman said. “It was a tricky wind and I didn’t get off to the best start, a couple over through 10 but fought pretty hard, made a couple of putts there on the back nine. I think the course is getting firmer and tougher, especially if the wind stays like this.”

Kanaya, the World No. 1 amateur, had some good fortune along the way. On the par-3 15th, his birdie putt from off the green sat on the lip of the hole, and Kanaya buried his head in his hands for a few seconds thinking he’d missed.

But when the crowd roared, he looked up to see that the ball had dropped, and he waved his hat to the spectators as he retrieved the ball from the hole.

He bogeyed the 17th but had a birdie on 18 to stay close to Jones.

The Australian Open is the first qualifying tournament for next year’s British Open to be played from July 16-19 at Royal St. George’s. The leading three players who finish in the top 10 and ties at the Australian Open who are not already exempt will qualify.

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Smoke haze provides additional hazard at Australian Open

Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and other players at this week’s Australian Open have to contend with: a smoke from nearby bushfires.

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SYDNEY – Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and other players at this week’s Australian Open could have another course hazard to contend with: Smoke from nearby bushfires.

A temperature inversion which formed over Sydney on Monday night trapped smoke in the region on Tuesday and caused considerable haze during a practice round. Golf Australia said it plans to increase on-site medical staff if the fire-driven smog disrupts the tournament.

With a wind shift on Wednesday, the situation had improved during the pro-am, but Golf Australia chief executive Stephen Pitt said he was concerned with the potential for smoke affecting the health of players.

“It was pretty bad yesterday, stinging eyes and all that,” Scott said after his pro-am round on Wednesday.

Sergio Garcia, front left, and Paul Casey, front right, walk down the 12th fairway as smoke haze engulfs the course. AP Photo: Rick Rycroft

The tournament goes on, however, and after Thursday’s opening round, two amateur players top the leaderboard. Japan’s Takumi Kanaya, the No. 1-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and Taiwan’s Chun-An Yu, a senior at Arizona State, posted rounds of 6-under 65.

Playing the back nine at the Australian Golf Course to open his round, the Japanese player had five birdies. He bogeyed the par-4 third hole before making birdie on the eighth and ninth holes.

Leaderboard: Australian Open

The leaders had a two-stroke lead over 2015 champion Matt Jones and fellow Australians Dimi Papadatos and Daniel Nisbet.

A winner last month in his homeland, 21-year-old Kanaya’s round came four years after he signed for an 85 at this course in his Australian Open debut.

“I have a little confidence, but I have three more days, so I will do my best tomorrow,” Kanaya said.

Jones complained of burning eyes from the smoke blowing in from about 25 bush and grass fires burning across New South Wales state, including a large one in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

“It’s awful,” Jones saíd. “The smoke’s not good at all. It’s tough to see your golf ball when you’re out there playing, where it finishes. Your eyes do burn up. I hope my kids are inside in the hotel room.”

Players dealt with the haze in different ways, but it posed a particular problem for New Zealander Ryan Chisnall, who suffers from asthma. According to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald, Chisnall coughed and sputtered through the start of his round on Thursday afternoon before borrowing a face mask from a spectator. Several in the galleries were seen wearing them.

Robert Allenby reportedly ran out of eye-drops mid-round because he was applying them so frequently. Scott remarked that he felt he needed to spray salt water up his nose as a post-round cleanse.

A course worker wears a face mask due to the smokey conditions at the 2019 Australian Golf. Photo: Matt King/Getty Images

While Golf Australia’s Pitt said he was confident the tournament would proceed without any smoke delays, he said officials will closely monitor the weather with children and elderly spectators most susceptible to the threatening air quality.

“Firstly, our issues with smoke at a golf tournament pale into insignificance with the things that home owners and property owners and people right around the country have dealt with,” Pitt said of the fires which have killed six people and destroyed dozens of homes.

“So we’re very aware of that fact and all our sympathies and thoughts go to them because that’s the real issue.”

Pitt said it was a new type of threat for the tournament.

“It’s something we’ve never had to give consideration to before,” he said. “We’ve had storms and rain and hail and heat and cold and all those sort of things that are your typical golf tournament issues. But this one is new and we have been in constant contact with the Bureau of Meteorology.”

Scott is among the International players for next week’s Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne playing this week in Sydney for team captain Els. Also in Sydney for the first time in his career is Louis Oosthuizen, the only South African player on the International team.

The sun is seen through smoke haze at the 2019 Australian Open in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Other International team players at the Australian Golf Club this week are Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith, defending champion Abraham Ancer and Taiwan’s C.T. Pan.

The International team’s only win over the United States team was in 1998 when it was first held at Royal Melbourne. The Presidents Cup venue is roughly 550 miles southwest of Sydney and considerably south of New South Wales, where the fires are burning this week.

“I think we all sort of feel Royal Melbourne is the place we’ve got probably the best shot,” Oosthuizen said. “We’ve got a team that’s really in form. We’ve got a young side coming through. I think having an Aussie crowd behind us, playing Royal Melbourne especially, I think it will be the best home course advantage we can have.”

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