The is a professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament on the

Japan Golf Tour The Japan Golf Tour ( ja, 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after th ...

. First played in 1963, it is one of the tour's four major championships. Since 1995, it has been held at the Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club in

Inagi file:Inagi City Hall.jpg, 270px, Inagi City Hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 92,585 in 41,592 households, and a population density of 5200 persons ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

History

From its inception in 1963 to 1972 the field was limited to the winners of six important tournaments in Japan: Japan Open,

Japan PGA Championship The is a professional golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour, and is one of the tour's four major championships. It was founded in 1926, making it one of the oldest professional tournaments in Japan, and is played at a variety of courses througho ...

Kansai Open The is a professional golf tournament held in the Kansai region of Japan. Founded in 1926, one year before the Japan Open Golf Championship, it was the first professional tournament to be organised in Japan. It was an event on the Japan Golf Tour ...

Kansai Pro Championship The Kansai Pro Championship was a professional golf tournament in Japan. It was first played in 1931 and was an event on the Japan Golf Tour from 1973 to 1990. It was played in July at a variety of courses in Western Japan, around the Kansai regio ...

Kanto Open The Kanto Open was a professional golf tournament in Japan. It was founded in 1950 and was last played in 1999. It was an event on the Japan Golf Tour from 1973 to 1991. It was played in September at a variety of courses in the Kantō region. Winne ...

and

Kanto Pro Championship The Kanto Pro Championship was a professional golf tournament in Japan . It was first played in 1931 and was an event on the Japan Golf Tour from 1973 to 1990. It was played in July at a variety of courses in Eastern Japan, mainly in the Kantō reg ...

. In some years a player won two of these event and the field was reduced further, to five. It has recently been one of the season ending events on the tour with a limited field consisting of the top 30 players from the money list and that seasons tournament winners. Since 1998 the tournament has been titled the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup, under a sponsorship agreement with

Japan Tobacco Hepburn: ''Nippon Senbai Kōsha'' , type = 1985-: Public (''kabushiki gaisha'') 1949-1985: Statutory corporation , traded_as = , industry = FoodTobacco , foundation = 1898 (as Imperial Japanese Tobacco Company)1 June 1949 (as Japan Tobacco ...

. It was sponsored by

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

from 1988 to 1997, during which time it was titled the Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup.

Prize money

Since 2009 the prize money has been ¥130,000,000, with ¥40,000,000 going to the winner, except in 2011 when the event was reduced to 54 holes and prize money was reduced by 25%. In 1988 prize money was ¥50,000,000, with ¥14,000,000 for the winner, increasing to ¥60,000,000, with ¥15,000,000 winner from 1989 to 1992. From 1993 to 2008 prize money was ¥100,000,000, with ¥30,000,000 for the winner.

Tournament hosts

From 1963 to 1990 the event was played at two venues, one near Ozaki and another near

. The first two rounds were played at one venue and, after a travel day, the remaining two rounds were played at the second venue.

Winners

Sources:

Notes

References

External links

*
Coverage on Japan Golf Tour's official site
{{Coord, 35.621, 139.491, display=title, type:event Japan Golf Tour events Golf tournaments in Japan Sports competitions in Tokyo Recurring sporting events established in 1963 1963 establishments in Japan