Keita Nakajima ( ja, 中島啓太, born 24 June 2000) is a Japanese

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

. He had an exceptionally successful amateur career and was number 1 in the

World Amateur Golf Ranking The World Amateur Golf Ranking for men was introduced by The R&A, the governing body of the sport of golf outside the United States and Mexico, on 23 January 2007. It is based on the results of over 2,600 amateur tournaments per year (and amateurs p ...

for a record 87 weeks. He also won the Panasonic Open 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 ...

while still an amateur.

Amateur career

Nakajima started playing golf at six and had a successful amateur career, winning the 2018

Australian Amateur The Australian Amateur is the national amateur golf championship of Australia. It has been played annually since 1894, except for the war years, and is organised by Golf Australia. Having traditionally been a match play event, from 2021 it has b ...

and the 2021 Japan Amateur Championship, after finishing runner-up at the event in 2015, 2017 and 2019. He was runner-up at the 2017 Duke of York Young Champions Trophy in England and the 2019 Australian Master of the Amateurs. In 2018, he was runner-up at the

Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship is an annual amateur golf tournament. It is played at various locations throughout Asia-Pacific. It is organized by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) and was first played in 2009. It was organized in c ...

, before winning the event in 2021 in a playoff with Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho. Nakajima became the third Japanese champion of the tournament, joining

Hideki Matsuyama is a Japanese professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He is the first-ever Japanese professional golfer to win a men's major golf championship the 2021 Masters Tournament. As of January 2022, Matsuyama has 17 worldwide wins, eight car ...

and

Takumi Kanaya Takumi Kanaya ( ja, 金谷拓実, born 23 May 1998) is a Japanese professional golfer. He had an exceptionally successful amateur career and was world ranked number 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 55 weeks. He also won a professional even ...

. He played in a number of representative matches, including the 2017

Nomura Cup The Nomura Cup, also known as the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship, is a biennial amateur team golf championship for men organised by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation. The inaugural event was held in 1963 and it has been played in odd ...

, the

2022 Eisenhower Trophy The 2022 Eisenhower Trophy took place 31 August – 3 September at Le Golf National and Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche south-west of Paris, France. It was the 32nd World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy. Defending champion was ...

and the

2019 Arnold Palmer Cup The 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup was a team golf competition held from June 7–9, 2019 at Alotian Golf Club, Roland, Arkansas. It was the 23rd time the event had been contested and the second under the new format in which women golfers played in addi ...

, which the international team won 33½–26½ over the American team. Nakajima won both the individual and team gold medals at the at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

. He was world ranked number 1 in the

for a record 87 weeks between 2020 and 2022, surpassing

Jon Rahm Jon Rahm Rodríguez (born 10 November 1994) is a Spanish professional golfer. He was the number one golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first ...

's previous record of 60 weeks. He won the

Mark H. McCormack Medal The Mark H. McCormack Medal is presented annually by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews to the leading player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking after the last 'elite' event of the season. The award is named after World Golf Hall of Famer ...

for 2021 and 2022, the first two-time recipient. While still an amateur, Nakajima played in a number of professional tournaments. In 2021, he was runner-up at the

Token Homemate Cup The is a professional golf 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 reg ...

, a stroke behind

, and won the Panasonic Open in a playoff. After he made the cut at the 2022

Sony Open in Hawaii The Sony Open in Hawaii is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, and is part of the tour's FedEx Cup Series. It has been contested at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, since the event's modern-day inception as the Hawaiian O ...

, he rose to 188th in the

Official World Golf Rankings The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...

Professional career

Nakajima turned professional in the fall of 2022 and made his professional

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

debut at the 2022

Zozo Championship The Zozo Championship (Japanese: ''ゾゾ・チャンピオンシップ'') is a professional golf tournament in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, which is located in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour and the PGA To ...

, where he finished T12.

Amateur wins

*2016 TrueVisions International Junior Championship, Faldo Series Asia Japan Championship *2017 Kanto Amateur Championship *2018

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

(Men's individual) *2021 Japan Amateur Championship,

Source:

Professional wins (1)

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (1–0)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the halfway cut

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing Japan): 2017 *

Junior Golf World Cup The Toyota Junior Golf World Cup ( ja, 世界ジュニアゴルフ推進会) is an annual world amateur team golf championship for youths under 18 organized in Japan with Toyota Motor Corporation as title sponsor. The inaugural event for boys was h ...

(representing Japan): 2018 *

Arnold Palmer Cup The Arnold Palmer Cup is an annual team golf competition for college/university golfers. From 2018 it has been contested between a United States team and an International team representing the rest of the world. The teams consist of 12 men and 12 ...

(representing International team):

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

(winners) *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958, it is named after Dwight D. Eisen ...

(representing Japan):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakajima, Keita Japanese male golfers Japan Golf Tour golfers Asian Games medalists in golf Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Golfers at the 2018 Asian Games Sportspeople from Saitama Prefecture 2000 births Living people