Shugo Imahira

Japanese golfer

Shugo Imahira

Personal information
Born|  (1992-10-02) 2 October 1992 (age 31)
Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Height| 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight| 60 kg (130 lb; 9.4 st)
Sporting nationality|  Japan
Career
Turned professional| 2011
Current tour(s)| Japan Golf Tour
Asian Tour
Professional wins| 12
Highest ranking| 30 (5 January 2020)[1]
(as of 24 December 2023)
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour| 9
Asian Tour| 1
Other| 3
Best results in major championships

Masters Tournament| T44: 2020
PGA Championship| CUT: 2018, 2019
U.S. Open| 61st: 2020
The Open Championship| CUT: 2016, 2019, 2022
Achievements and awards
| Japan Challenge Tour
money list winner| 2014

|

Japan Golf Tour
money list winner| 2018, 2019
Japan Golf Tour
Most Valuable Player| 2018, 2019

Shugo Imahira (born 2 October 1992) is a Japanese professional golfer. He has played full-time on the Japan Golf Tour since 2015 and has won nine times on the tour, between 2017 and 2023. He was the leading money winner in 2018 and 2019.

## Japan Challenge Tour[edit]

Imahira won twice on the 2014 Japan Challenge Tour en route to winning the season money list title.[2]

## Japan Golf Tour[edit]

Since 2015 he has played on the main Japan Golf Tour. In 2015, his best finish was second place in the Shigeo Nagashima Invitational Sega Sammy Cup. In 2016, he tied for second place in the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open and also had a third-place finish and three fourth-place finishes, finishing 10th in the money list. In 2017, he had his first win on the tour, winning the Kansai Open and finished 6th in the money list.[3][4] Imahira won the 2018 Bridgestone Open. He was also 2nd three times, 3rd three times and had 7 other top-10 finishes to be the leading money winner on the 2018 Japan Golf Tour.[citation needed]

## Majors[edit]

Imahira played in the 2016 Open Championship for his first major appearance.[5] He had an opening round 68, but shot 80 in the second round and missed the cut.[6][7] He qualified for the 2017 U.S. Open and the 2018 PGA Championship but missed the cut on both occasions.[8] Imahira was 53rd in the world rankings at the end of 2018 and missed out on qualification for the 2019 Masters Tournament, for which the top-50 qualified automatically. However, he later received a special invitation for the event.[9] At the 2020 U.S. Open he did make the cut, but finished last among the remaining players.

## Amateur wins[edit]

this list may be incomplete

* 2008 Japan Junior Championship (Boy's 15–17 division)[10][11]

## Professional wins (12)[edit]

### Japan Golf Tour wins (9)[edit]

No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of
victory | Runner(s)-up

|
|
|
|
|

1  | 21 May 2017 | Kansai Open Golf Championship | −9 (67-69-69-70=275)  | 6 strokes  |  Daisuke Kataoka
2  | 21 Oct 2018 | Bridgestone Open | −16 (70-65-67-66=268)  | 1 stroke  |  Masahiro Kawamura
3  | 13 Oct 2019 | Bridgestone Open (2)  | −11 (64-67=131)*  | 1 stroke  |  Hiroyuki Fujita,  Seungsu Han,
Tomoharu Otsuki,  Akio Sadakata
4  | 24 Nov 2019  | Dunlop Phoenix Tournament | −10 (65-72-66=203)*  | 2 strokes  |  Hwang Jung-gon
5  | 5 Sep 2021 | Fujisankei Classic | −12 (71-69-68-64=272)  | 4 strokes  |  Kenshiro Ikegami,  Ryo Ishikawa
6  | 15 May 2022 | Asia Pacific Open Golf Championship Diamond Cup1 | −8 (66-69-69-68=272)  | 1 stroke  |  Hiroshi Iwata,  Yuto Katsuragawa,
Kaito Onishi,  Kosuke Suzuki (a)
7  | 22 May 2022  | Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament | −22 (65-67-61-65=258)  | Playoff  |  Tomohiro Kondo,  Tomoharu Otsuki
8  | 2 Apr 2023 | Token Homemate Cup | −20 (64-66-71-63=264)  | 2 strokes  |  Rikuya Hoshino
9  | 12 Nov 2023  | Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters | −12 (67-66-65-70=268)  | 1 stroke  |  Taiki Yoshida

*Note: Tournament shortened to 36/54 holes due to weather.
1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result

|
|
|
|

1  | 2017 | ANA Open |  Yuta Ikeda,  Ryuko Tokimatsu | Ikeda won with birdie on first extra hole
2  | 2022 | Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament |  Tomohiro Kondo,  Tomoharu Otsuki | Won with birdie on second extra hole
Otsuki eliminated by par on first hole

### Asian Tour wins (1)[edit]

No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of
victory | Runners-up

|
|
|
|
|

1  | 15 May 2022 | Asia Pacific Open Golf Championship Diamond Cup1 | −8 (66-69-69-68=272)  | 1 stroke  |  Hiroshi Iwata,  Yuto Katsuragawa,
Kaito Onishi,  Kosuke Suzuki (a)

1Co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour

### Japan Challenge Tour wins (2)[edit]

No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of
victory | Runner(s)-up

|
|
|
|
|

1  | 23 May 2014 | Heiwa PGM Challenge I Road to Championship  | −10 (66-68=134)  | Playoff  |  Masashi Nishimura,  Akinori Tani
2  | 23 Oct 2014  | JGTO Novil Final  | −7 (68-69=137)  | 1 stroke  |  Mitsugu Murakami

### Other wins (1)[edit]

* 2018 Legend Charity Pro-Am

## Results in major championships[edit]

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament  | 2016  | 2017  | 2018

|
|
|

Masters Tournament |  |  |
U.S. Open |  | CUT  |
The Open Championship | CUT  |  |
PGA Championship |  |  | CUT
Tournament  | 2019  | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

|
|
|
|

Masters Tournament | CUT  | T44  |  |
PGA Championship | CUT  |  |  |
U.S. Open | CUT  | 61  |  |
The Open Championship | CUT  | NT  |  | CUT

Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic

## Results in World Golf Championships[edit]

Tournament | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020

|
|
|
|

Championship |  |  | T39  | T61
Match Play |  |  |  | NT1
Invitational |  |  | T27  |
Champions | DQ  |  |  | NT1

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
DQ = Disqualified
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Week 1 2020 Ending 5 Jan 2020" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
2. ^ "Challenge Tournaments Stats –Money Ranking". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
3. ^ "Kansai Open Golf Championship, final Rd, Shugo Imahira (今平 周吾) wins". Golf-swinger. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
4. ^ "Official World Golf Ranking News 2017: Week 20: Horschel defeats Day in playoff at AT&T Byron Nelson". GolfToday. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
5. ^ "Kodai Ichihara, Shugo Imahira, Sang-hee Lee, Hideto Tanihara qualify for Open Championship". ESPN. 29 May 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
6. ^ "Recent news on Shugo Imahira - PGA Golfer". Rotoworld. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
7. ^ "The Open: Soomin Lee makes 68 on debut". GolfingIndian. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
8. ^ "Miyazato gets U.S. Open spot after 8-hole playoff in Japan". Japan Today. 23 May 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
9. ^ "Shugo Imahira receives special invitation to Masters". ESPN. Associated Press. 8 January 2018.
10. ^ "Shugo Imahira". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
11. ^ "2008 National Championships". Japan Golf Association. Retrieved 8 June 2017.

## External links[edit]

* Shugo Imahira at the Japan Golf Tour official site
* Shugo Imahira at the Official World Golf Ranking official site