Suntory Open Winners, Records (Japan Golf Tour)

The Suntory Open was one of the highest-profile tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour (JGTO) over four decades, from the early 1970s into the 2000s. Its roster of champions included the best of Japanese golfers, as well as a few big PGA Tour names.

First played: 1973

Last played: 2007

The Ozaki brothers all won this championship. Jumbo Ozaki's 1974 victory was the ninth of his record 94 career wins on the Japan Tour. Jet Ozaki won in 1985 and 1988. And Joe Ozaki took the title back-to-back in 1991-92.

Isao Aoki, second to Jumbo Ozaki on the Japan Tour's career wins list, never won the Suntory — but finished runner-up four times. The fourth of those was a playoff loss to Graham Marsh in 1986.

Joe Ozaki was the Suntory Open's second back-to-back champion. The first was Bill Rogers in 1980-81. Going for the threepeat in 1982, Rogers finished second. His victory in 1981 was one of seven around the world for Rogers that year, including the 1981 British Open.

Y.E. Yang's winning total of 266 in 2006 was the tournament's 72-hole scoring record.

The title sponsor, Suntory, is one of the world's largest brewing and distilling companies. In conjuctions with the each year's tournament, Suntory usually offered vintages of wines or whiskys named after the tournament, some bottles of which go for premium amounts today.

Winners of the Suntory Open on Japan Golf Tour

1973 — Hideyo Sugimoto, 270
1974 — Jumbo Ozaki, 272
1975 — Yoshitaka Yamamoto, 268
1976 — Graham Marsh, 273
1977 — Masaji Kusakabe, 279
1978 — Akio Kanemoto, 281
1979 — Masaji Kusakabe, 277
1980 — Bill Rogers, 278
1981 — Bill Rogers, 270
1982 — Pete Izumikawa, 207 (54 holes due to weather)
1983 — Tommy Nakajima, 274
1984 — Takashi Kurihara, 271
1985 — Tateo "Jet" Ozaki, 275 (def. Larry Nelson in playoff)
1986 — Graham Marsh, 275 (def. Isao Aoki in playoff)
1987 — Noboru Sugai, 278
1988 — Tateo "Jet" Ozaki, 274
1989 — Larry Nelson, 276 (def. Saburo Fujiki in playoff)
1990 — Toru Nakamura, 271
1991 — Joe Ozaki, 276
1992 — Joe Ozaki, 279
1993 — Eiichi Itai, 282
1994 — David Ishii, 277 (def. Hisayuki Sasaki in playoff)
1995 — Masahiro "Massy" Kuramoto, 273
1996 — Hajime Meshiai, 272
1997 — Hiroyuki Fujita, 274
1998 — Mamo Osanai, 274
1999 — Nick Price, 276
2000 — Kiyoshi Maita, 273
2001 — Shingo Katayama, 268
2002 — Shingo Katayama, 269
2003 — Jyoti Randhawa, 276
2004 — Hideki Kase, 267
2005 — Yasuharu Imano, 267
2006 — Y.E. Yang, 266
2007 — Hideto Tanihara, 202 (54 holes due to weather)

Golf courses: The tournament was played at the Ahitaka 600 Club in Namuza (Shizuoka Prefecture) in 1973, Year 1. But after that, the event had longterm stays at Narashino Country Club (1974-97) and Sobu Country Club (1998-2007), both in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo.