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 (1992-10-02) 2 October 1992 (age 32)
Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight60 kg (130 lb; 9.4 st)
Sporting nationality Japan
Career
Turned professional2011
Current tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Asian Tour
Professional wins13
Highest ranking30 (5 January 2020)[1]
(as of 27 October 2024)
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour10
Asian Tour1
Other3
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT44: 2020
PGA ChampionshipCUT: 2018, 2019
U.S. Open61st: 2020
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 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

Japan Challenge Tour

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

Japan Golf Tour

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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

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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

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this list may be incomplete

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

Professional wins (13)

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Japan Golf Tour wins (10)

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Legend
Japan majors (1)
Other Japan Golf Tour (9)
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
10 13 Oct 2024 Japan Open Golf Championship −4 (66-72-70-68=276) 1 stroke   Ryosuke Kinoshita

*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)

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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)

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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)

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  • 2018 Legend Charity Pro-Am

Results in major championships

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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

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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

See also

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References

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  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.
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