, born Son Shi-Kin in

Dalian Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

(now

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

), was 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 was one of the leading golfers on the Japanese circuit during the 1950s, winning the

Japan Open Golf Championship The is Japan's national open golf championship. Founded in 1927, it is one of the oldest professional golf tournaments in Japan. The Japan Open is one of the three richest tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour, with a prize fund of ¥210 million in ...

three times and representing Japan on four occasions in the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

. He was inducted into the Japan Professional Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.

Professional career

Ono won many tournaments in Japan including the

, the nation's most prestigious tournament, in 1951, 1953 and 1955, and the

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 ...

five times. He also won the

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 ...

in 1955. Around this time in his career he became naturalized and changed his name to Koichi Ono. Ono is best known for his performance in the 1957 Canada Cup. Ono and his playing partner Torakichi Nakamura were hosts at the event, held at

Kasumigaseki Country Club is a private golf course in Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan. It opened on October 6, 1929, and was the first golf course in Saitama. It has hosted a number of professional and major amateur tournaments: *World Cup (men's golf), Canada Cup – 1957 *Ja ...

in Japan. The Canada Cup, a precursor to the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, featured an elite field that included

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (pronounced English_phonology">sni:d.html" ;"title="English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an ...

Gary Player Gary James Player DMS, OIG (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tou ...

, and

Peter Thomson Peter Thomson may refer to: * Peter Thomson (golfer) (1929–2018), Australian golfer * Peter Thomson (diplomat) (born 1948), Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Peter Thomson (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer * Peter ...

. Nakamura and Ono won the event, and won easily, defeating Americans

Jimmy Demaret James Newton Demaret (May 24, 1910 – December 28, 1983) was an American professional golfer. He won 31 PGA Tour events in a long career between 1935 and 1957, and was the first three-time winner of the Masters, with titles in 1940, 1947, and ...

and Snead by nine shots. The American sportswriter

Herbert Warren Wind Herbert Warren Wind (August 11, 1916 – May 30, 2005) was an American sportswriter noted for his writings on golf. Early years Born in Brockton, Massachusetts, Wind began golf at age seven at the Thorny Lea Golf Club in Brockton, and played w ...

, writing in ''Sports Illustrated'', compared it to

Francis Ouimet Francis DeSales Ouimet () (May 8, 1893 – September 2, 1967) was an American amateur golfer who is frequently referred to as the "father of amateur golf" in the United States. He won the U.S. Open in 1913 and was the first non-Briton elected ...

's famous upset victory at the 1913 U.S. Open. The event was widely televised in Japan and helped spur a golfing boom in the country. This good play helped Ono and Nakamura receive special foreign invitations to the 1958 Masters Tournament. They were the first non-white players to play at the Masters. Ono continued to play well throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, winning the

an additional four times.

Professional wins

*1949

*1951

*1953 Japan Open Golf Championship *1954

Yomiuri Pro Championship The Yomiuri Professional Championship was a golf tournament that was held in Japan from 1952 to 1961. It was sponsored by the ''Yomiuri Shinbun'' newspaper. The tournament was largely restricted to the top 30 finishers of the most recent Japan O ...

*1955 Japan Open Golf Championship,

*1957

*1958 Kanto Pro Championship *1959 Kanto Pro Championship *1962 Kanto Pro Championship *1963 Kanto Pro Championship

Team appearances

(representing Japan):

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

(winners), 1958,

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

References

External links

Koichi Ono
at the Japan Professional Golf Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Ono, Koichi Japanese male golfers Japanese expatriates in China 1919 births 2000 deaths