Kanto Pro Championship on Japan Tour
First played: 1931
Last played: 1990
Jumbo Ozaki's very first win on the Japan Tour happened in this tournament in 1973, year of the tour's founding. Ozaki only went on to win another 93 times for 94 official career wins, the most wins by anyone on the JGTO.
But the biggest winner during the event's years as part of the Japan Tour was Isao Aoki with four wins. Tommy Nakajima won it three times. But Aoki also won twice in the years before the Japan Tour existed, for six overall wins. Also in the pre-JGTO years, Koichi Ono won five times.
Aoki set the tournament's JGTO 72-hole scoring record of 267 in 1974.
Winners of the Kanto Pro Championship on Japan Tour
The following golfers won the Kanto Pro Championship from 1973 forward, when it was part of the Japan Tour:
1990 — Tommy Nakajima, 271
1989 — Saburo Fujiki, 277
1988 — Tomohiro Maruyama, 278
1987 — Naomichi "Joe" Ozaki, 212 (shortened to 54 holes by weather)
1986 — Tommy Nakajima, 269
1985 — Tommy Nakajima, 274
1984 — Pete Izumikawa, 208 (def. Saburo Fujiki in playoff; tournament 54 holes due to weather)
1983 — Isao Aoki, 242 (shortened to 63 holes due to weather)
1982 — Motomasa Aoki, 274
1981 — Seiichi Kanai, 208 (def. Yutaka Hagawa in playoff; tournament 54 holes due to weather)
1980 — Akira Yabe, 274
1979 — Isao Aoki, 279
1978 — Isao Aoki, 274
1977 — Kenji Mori, 275
1976 — Takashi Murakami, 276
1975 — Min-Nan "Tony" Hsieh, 274
1974 — Isao Aoki, 267
1973 — Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki, 279
Golf courses: The event, as a JGTO tournament, first took place at Narashino Country Club in Chiba Prefecture in 1973; it was last played at Oyamaheigen Golf Club in Tottori Prefecture in 1990. The tournament rotated each year and was played at many courses around the Kanto region.
Winners Before the Japan Tour
This is an incomplete list of Kanto Pro Championship winners prior to the founding of today's Japan Tour:
1972 — Isao Aoki
1971 — Isao Aoki
1970 — Fujio Ishii
1969 — Haruo Yasuda
1968 — Torakichi "Pete" Nakamura
1967 — Seiichi Sato
1966 — Hideyo Sugimoto
1965 — Fujio Ishii
1964 — Chen Ching-Po
1963 — Koichi Ono
1962 — Koichi Ono
1961 — Torakichi "Pete" Nakamura
1960 — Torakichi "Pete" Nakamura
1959 — Koichi Ono
1958 — Koichi Ono
1957 — Haruyoshi Kobari
1956 — Chen Sei Sui
1955 — Haruyoshi Kobari
1954 — n/a
1953 — Yoshiro Hayashi
1952 — n/a
1951 — Seiji Inoue
1950 — n/a
1949 — Koichi Ono (playing under his birth name, Son Shi Kin)
1948 — Yoshiro Hayashi
1944–47 — not played
1943 — n/a
1942 — n/a
1941 — n/a
1940 — n/a
1939 — n/a
1938 — n/a
1937 — n/a
1936 — Rokuzo Asami
1935 — Chin Sei Sui
1934 — Chin Sei Sui
1933 — Kanekichi Nakamura
1932 — Kanekichi Nakamura
1931 — Rokuzo Asami
