New Year’s Greetings from JGTO Chairman Yutaka Morohoshi

Dear friends and fans of JGTO,

Happy New Year!

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your continued understanding and support of the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO). Our current JGTO executive structure has now completed two seasons.

In 2025, JGTO hosted 25 tour tournaments and 13 Challenge Tour tournaments.

Corporate sponsorship is the lifeline of any professional sporting organization, and JGTO is no exception. We are deeply grateful to all our valued stakeholders and sponsors who have hosted and supported these tournaments.

We were also able to complete the year with the support of our many volunteers and countless fans.

To all of them, thank you very much.

Looking back on last year’s tour tournaments, the season was highly competitive and exciting, with young, mid-career, and veteran players all demonstrating their full potential as they competed against one another.

Tatsunori Shogenji claimed his first victory at the season opener and continued his fine form throughout the year, including securing a second title two months later at the Japan Players Championship.

Over the course of the season, 11 tournaments produced first-time winners, including Kota Kaneko. Building on his breakthrough victory at the Kansai Open Golf Championship in early spring, Kaneko was a model of consistency and engaged in a closely fought battle with Shogenji for the money ranking title.

It remains fresh in our memory that Kaneko’s second win of the season at the Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters, late in the year, propelled him into the lead—one he would ultimately go on to secure.

Kazuki Higa, who won two tournaments this season, finished sixth on the JGTO money rankings. Most notably, he became the first Japanese player to win the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

It is truly gratifying that JGTO continues to produce players capable of excelling on the international stage.

The Challenge Tour also delivered a thrilling season, with the championship race going down to the wire. In a fitting conclusion, Ryota Wakahara— the only player to record multiple victories throughout the year—was crowned the season champion.

This year, Wakahara will compete on the main tour, and we look forward to seeing him showcase his full potential as the reigning Challenge Tour champion.

As the organization that manages and oversees the JGTO, we will work harder than ever this year to further promote both the domestic tour and the Challenge Tour.

At the same time, we aim to increase the number of co-sanctioned tournaments in collaboration with tours from around the world, with the goal of developing more Japanese players who can succeed overseas.

In addition, JGTO will continue to actively disseminate information through social media, sharing the achievements and messages of our players so that fans can better appreciate the appeal of the JGTO and the talent it showcases.

The many passionate messages we received from fans served as a powerful reminder that the players’ success brings our community closer together, and that each victory inspires people following the action on the JGTO.

We will be sharing more information than ever this year. In addition to supporting players at tournament venues, we hope you will continue to visit the JGTO website and follow us on social media.

The 2026 JGTO season tees off domestically in April. And we are already making preparations to create an environment where golf fans can experience the excitement at each tournament with many fan engagement activities to complement the thrilling action on the fairways.

We hope you look forward to another exciting year on the JGTO, and we sincerely appreciate your continued support and encouragement.

Thank you.

Yutaka Morohoshi

Chairman
Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO)