Aiful Cup

The Aiful Cup was a professional golf tournament held in Japan from 1998 to 2006. It was an event on the Japan Golf Tour and was played at a variety of courses throughout Japan. The final event in 2006 was titled The Golf Tournament in Omaezaki with a purse of ¥120,000,000, with ¥24,000,000 going to the winner.

The Golf Tournament in Omaezaki

Tournament information
Location	Omaezaki, Shizuoka, Japan
Established	1998
Course(s)	Shizuoka Country Hamaoka Course & Hotel
Par	71
Length	6,922 yards (6,329 m)
Tour(s)	Japan Golf Tour
Format	Stroke play
Prize fund	¥120,000,000
Month played	July
Final year	2006
Tournament record score
Aggregate	268 Yasuharu Imano (2002) 268 Tatsuhiko Takahashi (2005)
To par	−20 Yasuharu Imano (2002)
Final champion
Toru Taniguchi
Location map
Shizuoka Country Hamaoka CC Location in Japan Show map of Japan Shizuoka Country Hamaoka CC Location in the Shizuoka Prefecture Show map of Shizuoka Prefecture

Overview

The tournament was originally planned to be held as the "Aiful Cup Golf Tournament" under the special sponsorship of Aiful, a major consumer finance company.

However, Aiful's violations of the Money Lending Business Control and Regulation Law, including aggressive sales activities, severe collections, and illegal interest rates, were discovered and became a social problem. The 2006 tournament was held under the same name as the original agreement (120 million yen prize money, 24 million yen prize money for the winner, etc.).^[1] However, the tournament was abandoned after 2007 due to "various circumstances surrounding the consumer finance industry" (for the same reason, the "ACOM International" and the "LPGA Takefuji Classic" were also abandoned).^[2]

The Shizuoka Country Hamaoka Course, the venue of the tournament, used to be the site of the "DAIDOH DRINKO Shizuoka Open" (sponsored by Shizuoka Shimbun and Shizuoka Broadcasting) held every year in late March.

Tournament hosts

Years	Venue	Location
2006	Shizuoka Country Hamaoka Course & Hotel	Omaezaki, Shizuoka
2004–2005	Daisen Ark Country Club	Hōki, Tottori
2002–2003	Golf Club Twin Fields (Gold Course)	Komatsu, Ishikawa
1999–2002	Ajigasawa Kogen Golf Course	Ajigasawa, Aomori
1998	Aomori Country Club	Aomori, Aomori

Winners

Year	Winner	Score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
The Golf Tournament in Omaezaki
2006	Toru Taniguchi	273	−11	Playoff	Tomohiro Kondo Hur Suk-ho
Aiful Cup
2005	Tatsuhiko Takahashi	268	−16	1 stroke	Yasuaki Takashima
2004	Takuya Taniguchi	270	−14	2 strokes	Katsumasa Miyamoto
2003	Taichi Teshima	269	−19	Playoff	Katsumasa Miyamoto
2002	Yasuharu Imano	268	−20	1 stroke	Toshimitsu Izawa
2001	Lin Keng-chi	270	−18	Playoff	Toru Suzuki
2000	Dean Wilson	271	−17	1 stroke	Eiji Mizoguchi
1999	Toshimitsu Izawa	274	−14	1 stroke	Toru Taniguchi
1998	Hidemichi Tanaka	273	−15	1 stroke	Toshimitsu Izawa Tatsuo Takasaki

Source:^[3]