Kansai Open Golf Championship back to thrill

The Kansai Open Golf Championship, offering a total prize money of JPY 16,000,000, returns as the fourth event on the 2025 JGTO season to the Hino Golf Club in Shiga Prefecture this week.
 
Defending champion Takahiro Hataji will feature in the 150-man strong field that includes international players such as Singapore’s Nicklaus Chiam, Korea’s Song Yong-han as well as Justin De Los Santos and Juvic Pagunsan from the Philippines.
 
The 7,035-yard, par-70 course will test players with its narrow fairways lined with Japanese red pines along with undulating greens and challenging water hazards.
 
The Kansai Open Golf Championship saw Hataji secure his JGTO breakthrough last year, where he would go on to clinch another JGTO title the same year.
 
Last year, the 31-year-old overcame a slow start before securing a three-shot win over Yuta Sugiura. He had trailed by one shot entering the final round, but managed to post a three-under-par 67 to finish with a winning total of 14-under 266.
 
Inaugurated in 1973, the long-standing Kansai Open, has become widely regarded as the springboard for JGTO and international success. Past winners include Taiga Semikawa (2023), Kazuki Higa (2022) and Brad Kennedy (2013).  
 
The first round gets underway at 7:00 a.m. (local time), with Hataji playing alongside Higa, the 2023 JGTO Money ranking champion and top-ranked Japanese amateur, Koumei Onishi, in the first two rounds.
 
Ends.