Who exactly is Yuta Sugiura? Everything you need to know about Hideki Matsuyama and Brooks Koepka’s amateur golfer.
On Sunday, November 19, amateur Yuta Sugiura carded an even-par 71 to win the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament. He finished at 12-under par after four rounds, three strokes better than Taiga Semikawa and Keita Nakajima. He became the event’s first amateur winner in its 50-year existence.
The Japan Golf Tour tournament was held at Miyazaki’s Phoenix Country Club. Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka, Sahith Theegala, and Wyndham Clark were among the PGA Tour and LIV Golf heavyweights in the field.
Sugiura announced his professional debut at the winner’s interview. He was reported as saying, according to Amateur Golf:
“I’m overjoyed. It was a long-held ambition of mine, and I’m overjoyed to have realized it in my final amateur match. The tournament was commemorating its 50th anniversary, and several foreign stars were in attendance, making this triumph even more remarkable. It’s a fantastic competition.”
The 22-year-old Japanese golfer joins Tiger Woods, Masashi Jumbo Ozaki, Ernie Els, Luke Donald, Brooks Koepka, and Hideki Matsuyama as Dunlop Phoenix Tournament champions.
Sugiura, who was born on September 12, 2001, in Aichi, has had a good amateur career. He attended Nihon University and finished 11th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. In the previous two years, he has won three amateur titles and finished in the top 10 eight times.
He was instrumental in Japan’s win at the Nomura Cup, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Team Championship, in November of last year, when he also won the individual title. In addition, he finished third at the 2022 Japan Open Golf Championship, one of the most difficult golf competitions in the world, outperforming players such as Adam Scott and Scott Vincent.
He won the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament Challenge last month, becoming only the eighth amateur to win a tournament on the Abema Tour, the Japan Golf Tour’s development series.
Sugiura, who grew up idolizing Tiger Woods, subsequently turned his allegiance to Hideki Matsuyama, a national icon.
“He is my inspiration. I want to accomplish some of the things he has. “I’d also like to play a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club,” he told AAC Golf.
After his tremendous amateur success, Sugiura will be anxious to extend that momentum into his professional career as well.
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