2018 Japan Golf Tour

The 2018 Japan Golf Tour was the 46th 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.

2018 Japan Golf Tour season

Duration	18 January 2018 (2018-01-18) – 2 December 2018 (2018-12-02)
Number of official events	24[a]
Most wins	Kodai Ichihara (2)
Money list	Shugo Imahira
Most Valuable Player	Shugo Imahira
Rookie of the Year	Rikuya Hoshino
← 2017 2019 →

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2018 season.^[1]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner[b]	OWGR points	Other tours[c]	Notes
21 Jan	SMBC Singapore Open	Singapore	US$1,000,000	Sergio García (n/a)	28	ASA
28 Jan	Leopalace21 Myanmar Open	Myanmar	US$750,000	Paul Peterson (1)	19	ASA
15 Apr	Token Homemate Cup	Mie	130,000,000	Atomu Shigenaga (1)	16
22 Apr	Panasonic Open Golf Championship	Osaka	150,000,000	Rahil Gangjee (1)	15	ASA
29 Apr	The Crowns	Aichi	120,000,000	Yang Yong-eun (5)	16
13 May	Japan PGA Championship	Chiba	150,000,000	Toru Taniguchi (20)	16		Japan major
20 May	Kansai Open Golf Championship	Hyōgo	70,000,000	Ryuko Tokimatsu (3)	16
27 May	Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open	Ibaraki	100,000,000	Shota Akiyoshi (1)	16
3 Jun	Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills	Ibaraki	150,000,000	Kodai Ichihara (1)	16		Japan major
24 Jun	Dunlop Srixon Fukushima Open	Fukushima	50,000,000	Shota Akiyoshi (2)	16
8 Jul	Shigeo Nagashima Invitational Sega Sammy Cup	Hokkaidō	150,000,000	Brad Kennedy (3)	16
26 Aug	RIZAP KBC Augusta	Fukuoka	100,000,000	Daijiro Izumida (1)	16
2 Sep	Fujisankei Classic	Yamanashi	110,000,000	Rikuya Hoshino (1)	16
9 Sep[d]	ISPS Handa Match Play	Saitama	230,000,000	Thanyakon Khrongpha (1)	16
16 Sep	ANA Open	Hokkaidō	–	Cancelled[e]	–
23 Sep	Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf	Saitama	150,000,000	Yuta Ikeda (20)	15	ASA
30 Sep	Top Cup Tokai Classic	Aichi	110,000,000	Angelo Que (1)	16
14 Oct	Japan Open Golf Championship	Kanagawa	200,000,000	Yuki Inamori (1)	32		Flagship event[f]
21 Oct	Bridgestone Open	Chiba	150,000,000	Shugo Imahira (2)	16
28 Oct	Mynavi ABC Championship	Hyōgo	150,000,000	Yuta Kinoshita (1)	16
4 Nov	Heiwa PGM Championship	Okinawa	200,000,000	Shaun Norris (3)	16
11 Nov	Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters	Shizuoka	200,000,000	Tatsunori Nukaga (1)	18
18 Nov	Dunlop Phoenix Tournament	Miyazaki	200,000,000	Kodai Ichihara (2)	30
25 Nov	Casio World Open	Kōchi	200,000,000	Choi Ho-sung (2)	16
2 Dec	Golf Nippon Series JT Cup	Tokyo	130,000,000	Satoshi Kodaira (7)	17		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(s)	OWGR points	Other tours[c]	Notes
8 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$11,000,000	Patrick Reed	100		Major championship
6 May	Legend Charity Pro-Am	Chiba	50,000,000	Shugo Imahira	n/a		Pro-Am
17 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$12,000,000	Brooks Koepka	100		Major championship
22 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	US$10,500,000	Francesco Molinari	100		Major championship
12 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$11,000,000	Brooks Koepka	100		Major championship
9 Dec	Hitachi 3Tours Championship	Chiba	57,000,000	Japan PGA Senior Tour	n/a		Team event

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	Shugo Imahira	139,119,332
2	Shaun Norris	103,942,450
3	Yuki Inamori	85,301,742
4	Kodai Ichihara	82,245,918
5	Yuta Ikeda	79,671,825

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Most Valuable Player	Shugo Imahira	[5]
Rookie of the Year (Shimada Trophy)	Rikuya Hoshino	[5]

Japan Challenge Tour

2018 Japan Challenge Tour season

Duration	30 March 2018 (2018-03-30) – 26 October 2018 (2018-10-26)
Number of official events	12
Most wins	Taihei Sato (2)
Money list	Taihei Sato
← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Japan Challenge Tour, titled as the 2018 AbemaTV Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 34th season of the Japan Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the Japan Golf Tour.

AbemaTV title sponsorship

In January, it was announced that the tour had signed a title sponsorship agreement with AbemaTV, being renamed as the AbemaTV Tour.^[6]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2018 season.^[7]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner[g]
1 Apr	Novil Cup	Tokushima	15,000,000	Park Bae-jong (1)
20 Apr	i Golf Shaper Challenge	Fukuoka	15,000,000	Naoto Takayanagi (1)
27 Apr	Japan Create Challenge	Fukuoka	15,000,000	Shoji Kawai (1)
18 May	Heiwa PGM Challenge I Road to Championship	Ibaraki	15,000,000	Keisuke Kondo (1)
8 Jun	ISPS Handa Challenge Cup	Chiba	20,000,000	Ryosuke Kinoshita (1)
22 Jun	Landic Challenge	Fukuoka	15,000,000	Taihei Sato (1)
29 Jun	Minami Akita CC Michinoku Challenge	Akita	15,000,000	Kazuki Higa (1)
14 Sep	Heiwa PGM Challenge II Road to Championship	Tottori	15,000,000	Dodge Kemmer (1)
21 Sep	Elite Grips Challenge	Hyōgo	15,000,000	Taihei Sato (2)
6 Oct	Ryo Ishikawa Everyone Project Challenge	Tochigi	15,000,000	Taiji Maekawa (1)
19 Oct	Taiheiyo Club Challenge Tournament	Saitama	15,000,000	Tomohiro Umeyama (2)
26 Oct	JGTO Novil Final	Ibaraki	15,000,000	Yuki Kono (3)

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Japanese yen.^[8][9] The top 20 players on the money list earned status to play on the 2019 Japan Golf Tour.^[10]

Position	Player	Prize money (¥)
1	Taihei Sato	7,256,163
2	Tomohiro Umeyama	5,338,803
3	Naoto Takayanagi	4,813,256
4	Ryosuke Kinoshita	4,251,987
5	Takaya Onoda	3,736,339

Notes

1. One further tournament was scheduled but was cancelled.
2. 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.
3. ASA − Asian Tour.
4. First two rounds played in July.
5. Cancelled due to the Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake.^[2]
6. Also a Japan major championship.
7. 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.