The Toto Japan Classic is an annual women's 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 in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, jointly sanctioned by the two richest women's professional tours: the U.S.-based

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of week ...

and the

LPGA of Japan Tour The LPGA of Japan Tour is a professional golf tour for women organised by the Japan Ladies Professional Golfers' Association. It is the second richest women's golf tour in the world. The U.S.-based LPGA Tour is the most important women's tour, but ...

. It was an unofficial money event on the LPGA Tour from 1973 to 1975. It has taken place every year since 1973 at various locations, and is typically held in early November. From

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

through

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, the event has been played at Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club in

Shima, Mie is a city in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 47,272 in 22,599 households and a population density of 270 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Shima hosted the 2016 G7 Summit. Geography Shima is loc ...

. In

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and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, the events have been held at Minori Course of Taiheiyo Club in

Omitama, Ibaraki 280px, Lake Kasumigaura from Omitama is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 48,776 in 18,311 households and a population density of 337 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged ove ...

, then changed back to the North Course of Seta Golf Course in

Ōtsu 270px, Ōtsu City Hall is the capital city of Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 343,991 in 153458 households and a population density of 740 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ōtsu ...

Shiga prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the north ...

for

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events. The tournament has had various names and sponsors throughout its history. Its current title sponsor is

Toto Ltd. , stylized as TOTO, previously known as Toyo Toki, is a Japanese multinational toilet manufacturer which is known for manufacturing the Washlet (as well as the Warmlet and similar products). TOTO was founded in 1917. The company is based in Ki ...

a Japanese bathroom products supplier.

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 intern ...

won the tournament five consecutive times from

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

. In 2007,

Momoko Ueda is a Japanese female professional golfer who in 2007 at the age of 21 became the youngest player in the history of the LPGA of Japan Tour (JLPGA) to finish first on the money list. She also played on the United States-based LPGA Tour for six year ...

of Japan scored a final round

double eagle A double eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a denomination of $20. (Its gold content of 0.9675 troy oz (30.0926 grams) was worth $20 at the 1849 official price of $20.67/oz.) The coins are 34 mm x 2 mm and are made from ...

to win by two strokes over runners-up

Maria Hjorth Maria Anna Hjorth (born 15 October 1973) is a Swedish professional golfer. Early years Hjorth was born in Falun. As the youngest of three daughters to Kjell and Monica Hjorth, she first gripped a golf club at three years of age. Six years old, ...

and

Reilley Rankin Reilley Rankin (born April 17, 1979) is an American professional golfer, currently playing on the LPGA Tour. Amateur career Rankin was a three-time American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Rolex All-American from 1995 to 1997. She was a three-tim ...

Tournament names

*1973–1974: LPGA Japan Classic *1975: Japan Classic *1976: LPGA/Japan

Mizuno () is a Japanese sports equipment and sportswear company, founded in Osaka in 1906 by Rihachi Mizuno. Today, Mizuno is a global corporation which makes a wide variety of sports equipment and sportswear for badminton, baseball, boxing, cycling ...

Classic *1977–1979: Mizuno Japan Classic *1980–1992:

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one ...

Japan Classic *1993–1997: Toray Japan Queens Cup *1998: Japan Classic *1999–2014: Mizuno Classic *2015–present: Toto Japan Classic

Winners

^PO Won sudden-death playoff
¹ The 1990 tournament was shortened to 36 holes due to rain.
² The 2020 tournament was not sanctioned by the LPGA.
³ The 2021 tournament was not sanctioned by the LPGA.

References

External links

*
Coverage on LPGA's official siteCoverage on JLPGA's official site
{{Coord, 34.956, N, 135.922, E, display=title LPGA Tour events LPGA of Japan Tour events Golf tournaments in Japan Sport in Mie Prefecture Recurring sporting events established in 1973 1973 establishments in Japan Mainichi Broadcasting System Toray Industries