2002 Japan Golf Tour

2002 Japan Golf Tour season

Duration	14 March 2002 (2002-03-14) – 8 December 2002 (2002-12-08)
Number of official events	29
Most wins	Toru Taniguchi (4)
Money list	Toru Taniguchi
Most Valuable Player	Toru Taniguchi
Rookie of the Year	Brendan Jones
← 2001 2003 →

The 2002 Japan Golf Tour, titled as the 2002 iiyama Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th season of the Japan Golf Tour (formerly the PGA of Japan Tour), the main professional golf tour in Japan since it was formed in 1973.

It was the third season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement with Iiyama, that began in 2000. ^[1]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2002 season. ^[2]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner [a]	OWGR points	Notes
17 Mar	Token Corporation Cup	Kagoshima	100,000,000	Toru Taniguchi (4)	16
24 Mar	Dydo Drinco Shizuoka Open	Shizuoka	100,000,000	Kiyoshi Murota (5)	16
28 Apr	Tsuruya Open	Hyōgo	100,000,000	Dean Wilson (5)	16
5 May	The Crowns	Aichi	120,000,000	Justin Rose (n/a)	16
12 May	Fujisankei Classic	Shizuoka	140,000,000	Nobuhito Sato (7)	16
19 May	Japan PGA Championship	Nara	110,000,000	Kenichi Kuboya (3)	16	Japan major
26 May	Munsingwear Open KSB Cup	Kagawa	120,000,000	Kenichi Kuboya (4)	16
2 Jun	Diamond Cup Tournament	Saitama	100,000,000	Tsuneyuki Nakajima (46)	16
9 Jun	JCB Classic Sendai	Miyagi	100,000,000	Toru Suzuki (6)	16
23 Jun	Tamanoi Yomiuri Open	Hyōgo	90,000,000	Toru Taniguchi (5)	16
30 Jun	Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open	Okayama	100,000,000	Dean Wilson (6)	16
7 Jul	Japan Golf Tour Championship iiyama Cup	Tochigi	120,000,000	Nobuhito Sato (8)	16	Japan major
14 Jul	Juken Sangyo Open Hiroshima	Hiroshima	90,000,000	Hur Suk-ho (1)	16
28 Jul	Sato Foods NST Niigata Open Golf Championship	Niigata	50,000,000	Yasuharu Imano (3)	16
4 Aug	Aiful Cup	Ishikawa	120,000,000	Yasuharu Imano (4)	16
11 Aug	Sun Chlorella Classic	Hokkaidō	120,000,000	Christian Peña (1)	16
1 Sep	Hisamitsu-KBC Augusta	Fukuoka	100,000,000	Nobumitsu Yuhara (7)	16
8 Sep	Japan PGA Match-Play Championship Promise Cup	Hokkaidō	80,000,000	Nobuhito Sato (9)	16
15 Sep	Suntory Open	Chiba	100,000,000	Shingo Katayama (11)	16
22 Sep	ANA Open	Hokkaidō	100,000,000	Masashi Ozaki (94)	16
29 Sep	Acom International	Ibaraki	120,000,000	Toru Taniguchi (6)	16
13 Oct	Georgia Tokai Classic	Aichi	120,000,000	Toru Taniguchi (7)	16
20 Oct	Japan Open Golf Championship	Yamaguchi	120,000,000	David Smail (1)	32	Flagship event [b]
27 Oct	Bridgestone Open	Chiba	110,000,000	Scott Laycock (1)	16
3 Nov	Philip Morris K.K. Championship	Hyōgo	200,000,000	Brendan Jones (1)	16
17 Nov	Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters	Shizuoka	150,000,000	Tsuneyuki Nakajima (47)	16
24 Nov	Dunlop Phoenix Tournament	Miyazaki	200,000,000	Kaname Yokoo (4)	44
1 Dec	Casio World Open	Kagoshima	140,000,000	David Smail (2)	16
8 Dec	Golf Nippon Series JT Cup	Tokyo	100,000,000	Shingo Katayama (12)	16	Japan major

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse	Winner	OWGR points	Notes
14 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$5,600,000	Tiger Woods	100	Major championship
16 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$6,250,000	Tiger Woods	100	Major championship
21 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	£3,800,000	Ernie Els	100	Major championship
18 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$5,500,000	Rich Beem	100	Major championship

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Japanese yen. ^{[3] [4]}

Position	Player	Prize money (¥)
1	Toru Taniguchi	145,440,341
2	Nobuhito Sato	130,825,969
3	Shingo Katayama	129,258,019
4	Dean Wilson	97,116,100
5	David Smail	94,103,576

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Most Valuable Player	Toru Taniguchi	[5] [6]
Rookie of the Year (Shimada Trophy)	Brendan Jones	[5]

Japan Challenge Tour

2002 Japan Challenge Tour season

Duration	4 April 2002 (2002-04-04) – 7 November 2002 (2002-11-07)
Number of official events	11
Most wins	Tatsuhiko Ichihara (2)
Money list	Tatsuhiko Ichihara
← 2001 2003 →

The 2002 Japan Challenge Tour was the 18th season of the Japan Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the Japan Golf Tour.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2002 season. ^[7]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner [c]
5 Apr	PRGR Cup (Kanto)	Ibaraki	10,000,000	Masayoshi Yamazoe (1)
18 Apr	Kourakuen Cup (1st)	Oita	10,000,000	Tatsuhiko Ichihara (1)
10 May	JGTO iiyama Challenge I	Tochigi	10,000,000	Shinji Ikeuchi (1)
31 May	JGTO iiyama Challenge II	Mie	10,000,000	Nobuhiro Masuda (1)
14 Jun	Aiful Challenge Cup Spring	Hyōgo	10,000,000	Satoru Hirota (1)
28 Jun	PGA Cup Challenge	Hiroshima	10,000,000	Yuzo Oyama (2)
11 Jul	Kourakuen Cup (2nd)	Chiba	10,000,000	Paul Sheehan (1)
13 Sep	Aiful Challenge Cup Autumn	Aomori	10,000,000	Tatsuhiko Ichihara (2)
27 Sep	Kasco Cup	Chiba	10,000,000	Hideki Haraguchi (1)
4 Oct	PRGR Cup (Kansai)	Hyōgo	10,000,000	Hideto Tanihara (1)
7 Nov	Kourakuen Cup (3rd)	Tochigi	10,000,000	Mitsuhiro Tateyama (2)

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Japanese yen. ^[8] The top 20 players on the money list earned status to play on the 2003 Japan Golf Tour.

Position	Player	Prize money (¥)
1	Tatsuhiko Ichihara	4,124,935
2	Nobuhiro Masuda	3,860,479
3	Paul Sheehan	3,182,692
4	Mitsuhiro Tateyama	2,700,000
5	Satoshi Oide	2,695,742

Notes

1. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Japan Golf Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Japan Golf Tour members.
2. Also a Japan major championship.
3. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Japan Challenge Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. It is rare for someone to accumulate many wins on the Japan Challenge Tour as success at this level usually leads to promotion to the Japan Golf Tour.

References

1. "年間スポンサーのイーヤマ撤退を正式発表" [Official announcement of the withdrawal of annual sponsor iiyama]. Golf Digest Japan (in Japanese). 11 May 2002. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
2. "2002 Tour Tournaments". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
3. "2002 Money Rankings". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
4. "賞金王争いに決着！　谷口徹が初のキングの座を決めた" [The battle for the top prize is settled! Toru Taniguchi has decided to become the first king] (in Japanese). Japan Golf Tour Organization. 2 December 2002. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
5. "2002年度ジャパンゴルフツアー表彰式" [2002 Japan Golf Tour Awards Ceremony]. Golf Digest Japan (in Japanese). 9 December 2002. Archived from the original on 21 December 2002. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
6. "Taniguchi hospitalized with illness". The Japan Times. 15 February 2003. Retrieved 20 September 2023. Last December, Taniguchi was named the Player of the Year after finishing on top of the 2002 money list…
7. "2002 Challenge Schedule". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
8. "2002 Money Ranking". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 30 December 2022.

External links

• Official website