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1997 Japan Challenge Tour season
Duration	27 March 1997 – 20 November 1997
Number of official events	14
Most wins	Hiroyuki Fujita (2); Shoichi Yamamoto (2)
	← 1996 1998 →

1997 PGA of Japan Tour season
Duration	13 March 1997 – 14 December 1997
Number of official events	36
Most wins	Masashi Ozaki (5)
Money list	Masashi Ozaki
	← 1996 1998 →

The 1997 PGA of Japan Tour was the 25th season of the PGA of Japan Tour, the main professional golf tour in Japan since it was formed in 1973.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1997 season.^[1]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner^[a]	OWGR points	Other tours^[b]	Notes
16 Mar	Token Corporation Cup	Kagoshima	100,000,000	Masashi Ozaki (83)	22
23 Mar	Dydo Drinco Shizuoka Open	Shizuoka	100,000,000	Hisayuki Sasaki (3)	18
30 Mar	Just System KSB Open	Okayama	70,000,000	Keiichiro Fukabori (1)	16
6 Apr	Descente Classic Munsingwear Cup	Ibaraki	100,000,000	Peter Teravainen (2)	16
20 Apr	Tsuruya Open	Hyōgo	100,000,000	Mitsuo Harada (1)	16
27 Apr	Kirin Open	Ibaraki	100,000,000	Kim Jong-duck (1)	22	AGC
4 May	The Crowns	Aichi	120,000,000	Masashi Ozaki (84)	36
11 May	Fujisankei Classic	Shizuoka	120,000,000	Kenichi Kuboya (1)	22
18 May	Japan PGA Championship	Ibaraki	100,000,000	Shigeki Maruyama (4)	22
25 May	Ube Kosan Open	Yamaguchi	100,000,000	Shigenori Mori (2)	16
1 Jun	Mitsubishi Galant Tournament	Hyōgo	120,000,000	Masashi Ozaki (85)	18
8 Jun	JCB Classic Sendai	Miyagi	100,000,000	Nobuhito Sato (1)	18
15 Jun	Sapporo Tokyu Open	Hokkaidō	100,000,000	Hirofumi Miyase (1)	16
22 Jun	Yomiuri Open	Hyōgo	100,000,000	Shigeki Maruyama (5)	18
29 Jun	Mizuno Open	Ishikawa	100,000,000	Brian Watts (9)	22
6 Jul	PGA Philanthropy Tournament	Yamanashi	100,000,000	Naomichi Ozaki (24)	16
13 Jul	Yonex Open Hiroshima	Hiroshima	80,000,000	Naomichi Ozaki (25)	16
27 Jul	Nikkei Cup Torakichi Nakamura Memorial	Ibaraki	100,000,000	Yeh Chang-ting (1)	20
3 Aug	NST Niigata Open Golf Championship	Niigata	60,000,000	Kazuhiko Hosokawa (4)	16
10 Aug	Sanko Grand Summer Championship	Gunma	100,000,000	Shoichi Kuwabara (1)	16
17 Aug	Acom International	Fukushima	100,000,000	Kazuo Kanayama (1)	16
31 Aug	Hisamitsu-KBC Augusta	Fukuoka	100,000,000	Masashi Ozaki (86)	18
7 Sep	Japan PGA Match-Play Championship Promise Cup	Hokkaidō	80,000,000	Shigeki Maruyama (6)	18
14 Sep	Suntory Open	Chiba	100,000,000	Hiroyuki Fujita (1)	26
21 Sep	ANA Open	Hokkaidō	100,000,000	Shinichi Yokota (1)	28
28 Sep	Gene Sarazen Jun Classic	Tochigi	110,000,000	Eduardo Herrera (3)	22
5 Oct	Japan Open Golf Championship	Fukuoka	120,000,000	Craig Parry (n/a)	32		Flagship event
12 Oct	Tokai Classic	Aichi	110,000,000	Brandt Jobe (2)	24
19 Oct	Golf Digest Tournament	Shizuoka	100,000,000	Brandt Jobe (3)	16
26 Oct	Bridgestone Open	Chiba	120,000,000	Masashi Ozaki (87)	28
2 Nov	Philip Morris Championship	Hyōgo	200,000,000	Brian Watts (10)	26
16 Nov	Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters	Shizuoka	150,000,000	Lee Westwood (n/a)	36
23 Nov	Dunlop Phoenix Tournament	Miyazaki	200,000,000	Tom Watson (n/a)	38
30 Nov	Casio World Open	Kagoshima	150,000,000	Mitsutaka Kusakabe (2)	28
7 Dec	Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup	Tokyo	100,000,000	Shigeki Maruyama (7)	22
14 Dec	Daikyo Open	Okinawa	120,000,000	Kenichi Kuboya (2)	16

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Japanese yen.^[2]

Position	Player	Prize money (¥)
1	Masashi Ozaki	170,847,633
2	Shigeki Maruyama	152,774,420
3	Brian Watts	111,153,198
4	Naomichi Ozaki	96,994,361
5	Tateo Ozaki	77,555,311

Japan Challenge Tour

The 1997 Japan Challenge Tour was the 13th season of the Japan Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the PGA of Japan Tour.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1997 season.^[3]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (¥)	Winner^[c]
28 Mar	Sanko 72 Open	Gunma	10,000,000	Hiroshi Tominaga (1)
17 Apr	Korakuen Cup (1st)	Ibaraki	10,000,000	Shoichi Yamamoto (1)
25 Apr	Nishino Cup in Central	Ibaraki	10,000,000	Toshiaki Odate (1)
8 May	Kabaya Ohayo Cup	Shizuoka	10,000,000	Minoru Kawahara (1)
30 May	Daiwa Cup Kochi Open	Kochi	10,000,000	Go Higaki (1)
5 Jun	Mito Green Open	Ibaraki	10,000,000	Hiroyuki Fujita (1)
26 Jun	Korakuen Cup (2nd)	Hokkaido	10,000,000	Yoshikatsu Saito (2)
26 Jul	Twin Fields Cup	Ishikawa	10,000,000	Hiroyuki Fujita (2)
30 Jul	Komatsu Country Cup	Ishikawa	10,000,000	Richard Backwell (1)
12 Sep	World Wood Golf Club Cup	Aichi	10,000,000	Kunihiko Masuda (1)
2 Oct	Matsugamine Open	Niigata	10,000,000	Shoichi Yamamoto (2)
9 Oct	Korakuen Cup (3rd)	Oita	10,000,000	Yukio Noguchi (3)
23 Oct	Daiwa Cup Yamanashi Open	Yamanashi	10,000,000	Shuichi Sano (1)
20 Nov	Korakuen Cup (4th)	Tochigi	10,000,000	Takanori Hano (1)

Notes

^ The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of PGA of Japan Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for PGA of Japan Tour members.
^ AGC − Asia Golf Circuit.
^ The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Japan Challenge Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. It is rare for someone to accumulate many wins on the Japan Challenge Tour as success at this level usually leads to promotion to the PGA of Japan Tour.

References

^ "1997 Tour Tournaments". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
^ "1997 Money Rankings". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
^ "1997 Challenge Schedule". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 19 September 2023.