Home favourite Katsuragawa seals victory in Japan

Yuto Katsuragawa continued a history-making season for players from Japan on the DP World Tour with a three-shot victory on home soil at the ISPS HANDA - CHAMPIONSHIP.

The local favourite entered the final day at Taiheiyo Club Gotemba Course three shots off the lead but was right in the mix at the turn as many of the leading players stumbled.

Sebastian Söderberg was the only one keeping pace with him but the 25-year-old started the back nine with five birdies in seven holes to leave the Swede in his wake and finish at 17 under after a course-record equalling 63.

Söderberg carded a 67 to be the nearest challenger but all the headlines belonged to Katsuragawa, who made it back-to-back Japanese wins in regular DP World Tour events for the first time after Keita Nakajima's victory at the Hero Indian Open.

Isao Aoki was the first Japanese winner in DP World Tour history at the 1983 European Open but we had to wait 33 years for another when Hideki Matsuyama lifted the trophy at the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions. Matsuyama would lift another World Golf Championships title the following year before his monumental Masters Tournament victory in 2021 made it four all-time Japanese wins on the DP World Tour.

That tally has now doubled in just seven months, with Ryo Hisatsune's win at last season's Cazoo Open de France being followed by Rikuya Hoshino's 2024 victory at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and Nakajima and Katsuragawa's recent heroics.

A first DP World Tour title for Yuto Katsuragawa 🏆#ISPSHandaChampionship pic.twitter.com/XL1vFvPtW4

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) April 28, 2024

Katsuragawa's maiden DP World Tour win comes in just his fifth start and is his second in this event, having lifted the trophy in 2022 before it was co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the Japan Golf Tour Organization.

Japan's Ryosuke Kinoshita, Ivan Cantero of Spain, German Marcel Schneider and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout were then in a tie for third place at 12 under par.

Next week's Volvo China Open is the last counting event in the DP World Tour's Asian Swing, with players in positions one to three in the final Asian Swing Ranking receiving exemptions into the US PGA Championship next month. 

Katsuragawa said:  

"I have been practising a lot to stand on the big stage. I knew that if I won this tournament I could get an exemption onto the DP World Tour, which is really great. In the end I got the win and I am very happy about it.

"I did not show nerves but actually it was the opposite, I was very nervous on the back nine. My hands were shaking! But I trusted myself and I managed to bring my best golf.

"I knew that if I could get into the top ten on the DP World Tour (at the end of the season) I could also go onto the PGA TOUR, so yes I will become a DP World Tour now and I aim to be a PGA TOUR member in the future.

"Winning in Europe definitely motivated me, and I thought I had to be mentally stronger. This tournament was held in Japan on the familiar course. I have not experienced winning abroad yet. I aim to win on a bigger stage internationally.

"I want to go abroad as soon as possible. I have not been to Europe, so I am not quite sure how to book flights and hotels. I need to sort them out first.

"I felt frustrated by not knowing which way to go, but I chose to focus on the Japan Tour and this got me this result. I’m glad I set my mind on playing in Japan because now I can play on the DP World Tour."

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