Defending champion Hiroshi Iwata, who became the tournament’s oldest winner last year, is back to challenge for top honours when the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup gets underway on Thursday.
Related: Mikiya Akutsu punches Open ticket at Mizuno Open
Five first-time winners from the first six events of the 2025 JGTO season will also feature in the stacked field, aiming to extend their winning run at the JPY150,000,000 event, widely regarded as a major on the JGTO.
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44-year-old Iwata will tee off alongside Ryo Ishikawa at the Shishido Hills Country Club, with whom he battled in a playoff last year. Tatsunori Shogenji, who claimed his maiden tour win at the season opener Token Homemate Cup, joins Iwata and Ishikawa in the feature group.
”There have been some changes to course set-up, particularly the second and 17 hole. The second hole is played as a par four now and it’s going to be challenging for everyone.
“We all start off equally but hope to do my best to put up a strong defence,” said Iwata.
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The ¥150,000,000 event — one of the most prestigious on the JGTO calendar — will also feature five first-time winners from the season’s opening six tournaments, all hoping to extend their hot streaks in front of the expected large home crowd.
Takanori Konishi, who claimed his maiden win at the Maezawa Cup, will tee off with Takahiro Hataji and Ryosuke Kinoshita, champion here in 2021.
Kota Kaneko, winner of the Kansai Open, joins Mikiya Akutsu — fresh off a career-making victory at the Mizuno Open — and Kazuki Higa, the 2022 champion and former money list winner.
When asked about his expectations for the week, Akutsu said:”After Sunday, when I got back to the hotel and sat down, it felt like all the energy drained out of me.
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“But it’s a brand new week and I feel like I’ve been able to reset mentally. I missed the cut here last year. So, the goal this week is to play all four rounds at Shishido Hills and finish strong.”
Meanwhile, Taisei Shimizu, the newly crowned Japan PGA Champion, will pair up with two-time money title holder Shugo Imahira and power-hitting Riki Kawamoto.
Also returning to home soil is Masahiro Kawamura, who plies his trade mainly on the
DP World Tour. He will be grouped with Yuta Ikeda and Park Sang-hyun of Korea.
