Katayma claims 13th Japan Tour victory at Japan PGA
IN: News | Japan | Japan PGA Championship (2003) | Wrap | by Bruce Young | 18 May 2003
Shingo Katayama is at it again. The last few years on the Japan PGA Tour have seen Katayama dominate perhaps more than any other player, with the possible exception of Toru Taniguchi. His win today at the Japan PGA Championship was his 13th since arriving on the Japan PGA Tour in 1997 and he now trails Todd Hamilton by just 300,000 yen on money this year in Japan. With money from the Accenture Match Play (33rd, beaten by Rocco Mediate in round one) and the Masters (37th) counting towards that list, Katayama is ahead.
Katayama has played just three events this season in Japan mixing his play there with several USPGA Tour events and a visit to Dubai, where he finished 28th. His claim to fame other than almost superstardom in Japan was his fourth place at the 2001 USPGA behind David Toms. There he was tied in fourth place behind Toms, being in contention for much of the event. At number 68 in the world ranking he is the third highest placed Japanese behind Maruyama and Taniguchi, or at least he was leading into this week.
On a difficult scoring day, Katayama produced a four under 68 to catch and pass overnight leader Toru Suzuki and go on to win by a single shot from Korean S.K. Ho who was unable to birdie the par five last to catch Katayama, who was already in the clubhouse. Tsukasa Watanabe closed in 3rd place with Toru Suzuki struggling into 4th tied with Hiroyuki Fujita.
Brendan Jones and David Smail shared the honour of leading Australasians in 21st place, in fact they were the only two to make the cut. They each take home the equivalent of $A15,000.
