2022 Japan Golf Tour

The 2022 Japan Golf Tour was the 49th 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.

2022 Japan Golf Tour season

Duration	31 March 2022 (2022-03-31) – 4 December 2022 (2022-12-04)
Number of official events	24
Most wins	Kazuki Higa (4)
Money list	Kazuki Higa
Most Valuable Player	Kazuki Higa
Rookie of the Year	Yuto Katsuragawa
← 2020–21 2023 →

Response to LIV Golf

Following a statement produced by the Japan Golf Tour Organization on 1 October 2022, they outlined their position in regards to the ongoing dispute between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour and their alliance; the European Tour (DP World Tour). They stated that it would be beneficial to the Japan Golf Tour that they remained in a neutral position. However, they also came to the conclusion that they could potentially be better off siding with the PGA Tour, giving players in Asia a pathway to playing opportunities in the United States, as the Asian Tour has already struck an amicable relationship with LIV Golf, giving their players playing opportunities in the LIV Golf League via the International Series.^[1][2]

In December, a new agreement with the PGA Tour and European Tour was announced. As part of the deal, from 2023 onwards the top three on the Japan Golf Tour's season-ending money list earned status to play on the European Tour for the following season.^[3]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2022 season.^[4]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner[a]	OWGR points	Other tours[b]	Notes
3 Apr	Token Homemate Cup	Mie	130,000,000	Jinichiro Kozuma (2)	16
17 Apr	Kansai Open Golf Championship	Hyōgo	80,000,000	Kazuki Higa (3)	16
24 Apr	ISPS Handa Championship in Japan	Ibaraki	100,000,000	Yuto Katsuragawa (1)	16	EUR	New tournament
1 May	The Crowns	Aichi	100,000,000	Yuki Inamori (3)	16
15 May	Asia Pacific Open Golf Championship Diamond Cup	Ibaraki	100,000,000	Shugo Imahira (6)	15	ASA
22 May	Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament	Ibaraki	50,000,000	Shugo Imahira (7)	16		Pro-Am
29 May	Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open	Okayama	80,000,000	Scott Vincent (3)	16
5 Jun	BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup	Ibaraki	150,000,000	Kazuki Higa (4)	16		Japan major
12 Jun	ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament	Fukuoka	100,000,000	Tomoyo Ikemura (2)	16		New tournament
26 Jun	Japan Players Championship	Tochigi	50,000,000	Yuki Inamori (4)	16
7 Aug	Japan PGA Championship	Shizuoka	150,000,000	Mikumu Horikawa (3)	16		Japan major
21 Aug	Shigeo Nagashima Invitational Sega Sammy Cup	Hokkaidō	120,000,000	Hiroshi Iwata (4)	7.62
28 Aug	Sansan KBC Augusta	Fukuoka	100,000,000	Riki Kawamoto (1)	8.08
4 Sep	Fujisankei Classic	Yamanashi	110,000,000	Kaito Onishi (1)	7.29
11 Sep	Shinhan Donghae Open	Nara	₩1,400,000,000	Kazuki Higa (5)	9.03	ASA, KOR
18 Sep	ANA Open	Hokkaidō	100,000,000	Tomoharu Otsuki (2)	7.08
25 Sep	Panasonic Open Golf Championship	Hyōgo	100,000,000	Taiga Semikawa (a) (1)	7.51
2 Oct	Vantelin Tokai Classic	Aichi	110,000,000	Riki Kawamoto (2)	7.36
9 Oct	For The Players by The Players	Gunma	50,000,000	Shintaro Kobayashi (1)	4.33		New tournament
23 Oct	Japan Open Golf Championship	Hyōgo	210,000,000	Taiga Semikawa (a) (2)	8.57		Japan major
30 Oct	Heiwa PGM Championship	Ibaraki	150,000,000	Rikuya Hoshino (6)	6.11
6 Nov	Mynavi ABC Championship	Hyōgo	120,000,000	Mikumu Horikawa (4)	6.12
13 Nov	Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters	Shizuoka	200,000,000	Ryo Ishikawa (18)	6.15
20 Nov	Dunlop Phoenix Tournament	Miyazaki	200,000,000	Kazuki Higa (6)	9.54
27 Nov	Casio World Open	Kōchi	200,000,000	Chan Kim (8)	6.73
4 Dec	Golf Nippon Series JT Cup	Tokyo	130,000,000	Hideto Tanihara (17)	4.84		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[b]	Notes
23 Jan	SMBC Singapore Open	Singapore	US$1,250,000	Sadom Kaewkanjana	14	ASA
10 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$15,000,000	Scottie Scheffler	100		Major championship
22 May	PGA Championship	United States	US$15,000,000	Justin Thomas	100		Major championship
19 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$17,500,000	Matt Fitzpatrick	100		Major championship
17 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	US$14,000,000	Cameron Smith	100		Major championship
16 Oct	Zozo Championship	Chiba	US$11,000,000	Keegan Bradley	31.39	PGAT
11 Dec	Hitachi 3Tours Championship	Chiba	57,000,000	Japan Golf Tour	n/a		Team event

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Japanese yen.^[5] The top three players on the money list earned status to play on the 2023 European Tour (DP World Tour).^[6][7]

Position	Player	Prize money (¥)	Status earned
1	Kazuki Higa	181,598,825	Promoted to European Tour
2	Rikuya Hoshino	114,404,050
3	Aguri Iwasaki	96,670,570
4	Mikumu Horikawa	95,594,744
5	Yuto Katsuragawa	87,970,697

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Most Valuable Player	Kazuki Higa	[8]
Rookie of the Year (Shimada Trophy)	Yuto Katsuragawa	[8]

Japan Challenge Tour

2022 Japan Challenge Tour season

Duration	6 April 2022 (2022-04-06) – 14 October 2022 (2022-10-14)
Number of official events	14
Most wins	Takashi Ogiso (2) Yujiro Ohori (2)
Money list	Yujiro Ohori
← 2020–21 2023 →

The 2022 Japan Challenge Tour, titled as the 2022 Abema Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 37th season of the Japan Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the Japan Golf Tour.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2022 season.^[9]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner[c]	OWGR points
8 Apr	Novil Cup	Tokushima	15,000,000	Yuto Soeda (1)	4
22 Apr	i Golf Shaper Challenge	Fukuoka	15,000,000	Hiroki Tanaka (1)	4
27 May	Taiheiyo Club Challenge Tournament	Saitama	15,000,000	Taisei Yamada (1)	4
10 Jun	Landic Challenge 9	Fukuoka	15,000,000	Taiko Nishiyama (1)	4
17 Jun	Japan Create Challenge	Fukuoka	15,000,000	Taiga Semikawa (a) (1)	4
25 Jun	Daisendori Cup	Tottori	18,000,000	Shota Matsumoto (1)	4
23 Jul	Japan Players Championship Challenge	Fukui	15,000,000	Chisato Takamiya (a) (1)	4
29 Jul	Minami Akita CC Michinoku Challenge	Akita	15,000,000	Takashi Ogiso (2)	4
3 Sep	Dunlop Phoenix Tournament Challenge	Fukushima	15,000,000	Masayuki Yamashita (a) (1)	2.13
16 Sep	PGM Challenge	Niigata	15,000,000	Yujiro Ohori (2)	1.92
23 Sep	ISPS Handa Hero ni nare! Challenge Tournament	Shizuoka	23,000,000	Masanori Kobayashi (3)	1.98
30 Sep	Elite Grips Challenge	Hyōgo	15,000,000	Takashi Ogiso (3)	2.14
7 Oct	Ryo Ishikawa Everyone Project Challenge	Tochigi	15,000,000	Takuya Higa (1)	1.82
14 Oct	Delight Works JGTO Final	Ibaraki	20,000,000	Yujiro Ohori (3)	2.57

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Japanese yen.^[10][11] The top 20 players on the money list earned status to play on the 2023 Japan Golf Tour.^[12]

Position	Player	Prize money (¥)
1	Yujiro Ohori	7,798,551
2	Takashi Ogiso	7,603,935
3	Terumichi Kakazu	6,315,737
4	Taiko Nishiyama	4,879,779
5	Shota Matsumoto	4,870,634

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. ASA − Asian Tour; EUR − European Tour; KOR − Korean Tour; PGAT − PGA Tour.
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.