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 10 times on the tour, between 2017 and 2024. He was the leading money winner in 2018 and 2019.
| Shugo Imahira | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||
| Born | 2 October 1992 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 | 13 | ||||||
| Highest ranking | 30 (5 January 2020)[1] (as of 27 October 2024) | ||||||
| Number of wins by tour | |||||||
| Japan Golf Tour | 10 | ||||||
| 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
editImahira won twice on the 2014 Japan Challenge Tour en route to winning the season money list title.[2]
Japan Golf Tour
editSince 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
editImahira 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
editthis list may be incomplete
Professional wins (13)
editJapan Golf Tour wins (10)
edit| Legend |
|---|
| Japan majors (1) |
| Other Japan Golf Tour (9) |
*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
editResults 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 |
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
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
DQ = Disqualified
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Week 1 2020 Ending 5 Jan 2020" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
- ^ "Challenge Tournaments Stats –Money Ranking". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
- ^ "Kansai Open Golf Championship, final Rd, Shugo Imahira (今平 周吾) wins". Golf-swinger. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Kodai Ichihara, Shugo Imahira, Sang-hee Lee, Hideto Tanihara qualify for Open Championship". ESPN. 29 May 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
- ^ "Recent news on Shugo Imahira - PGA Golfer". Rotoworld. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
- ^ "The Open: Soomin Lee makes 68 on debut". GolfingIndian. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
- ^ "Miyazato gets U.S. Open spot after 8-hole playoff in Japan". Japan Today. 23 May 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
- ^ "Shugo Imahira receives special invitation to Masters". ESPN. Associated Press. 8 January 2018.
- ^ "Shugo Imahira". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ "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