Tsuneyuki Nakajima

Tsuneyuki Nakajima
中嶋常幸
Personal information
NicknameTommy
Born (1954-10-20) 20 October 1954 (age 70)
Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight88 kg (194 lb; 13.9 st)
Sporting nationality Japan
Career
Turned professional1975
Current tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Professional wins58
Highest ranking4 (1986)
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour48 (3rd all-time)
Other10
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT8: 1986
PGA Championship3rd: 1988
U.S. OpenT9: 1987
The Open ChampionshipT8: 1986
Achievements and awards
PGA of Japan Tour
money list winner		1982, 1983, 1985, 1986

Tsuneyuki "Tommy" Nakajima (Japanese: 中嶋常幸; born 20 October 1954) is a Japanese professional golfer.

Career

Nakajima was born in Gunma. He turned professional in 1975. He has won 48 events on the Japan Golf Tour, ranking third on the most Japan Golf Tour wins list. He also was the leading money winner four times in five years: 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986. He is second on the career money list (through 2009).

Nakajima featured in the top 5 of the Official World Golf Rankings and was ranked in the top-10 for 85 weeks from their debut in 1986 to 1987.[1] He ranked as high as fifth on its predecessor McCormack's World Golf Rankings.

At the 1978 Masters Tournament, Nakajima made a 13 on the par-5 13th hole. After hitting his fourth shot into Rae's Creek, Nakajima elected to play the ball rather than take a drop. He popped the ball straight up and it landed on his foot, causing a two-stroke penalty. When he handed the club to his caddie, it slipped out of his hand and fell into the creek, incurring another two-stroke penalty. He chipped over the green, chipped back on and two-putted for the highest single-hole score in the history of the tournament.[2]

Also in 1978, Nakajima was in contention at The Open Championship on the third day at St Andrews until he putted into – and then took four attempts to escape from – the Road Hole bunker at the 17th for a quintuple bogey, which led the British tabloids to christen that bunker, for a while, "the Sands of Nakajima". Nakajima's best finish in a major was third at the 1988 PGA Championship.

He would also feature in an epic match at the 1982 Suntory World Match Play Championship at Wentworth when he lost to Sandy Lyle only after an extended playoff.

Amateur wins

this list may be incomplete

  • 1973 Japan Amateur Championship

Professional wins (58)

Japan Golf Tour wins (48)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 24 Oct 1976 Golf Digest Tournament −9 (68-73-67-71=279) 2 strokes Japan Kikuo Arai
2 25 Sep 1977 Japan PGA Championship −11 (73-65-67-72=277) 2 strokes Japan Teruo Sugihara, Japan Yoshitaka Yamamoto
3 1 Jun 1980 Mitsubishi Galant Tournament −12 (65-71-72-68=276) 4 strokes Japan Yoshihisa Iwashita, Australia Graham Marsh
4 25 Apr 1982 Dunlop International Open1 −12 (71-66-68-71=276) 5 strokes Japan Saburo Fujiki
5 9 May 1982 Fujisankei Classic −7 (67-73-66-71=277) Playoff Australia Graham Marsh
6 1 Jul 1982 Naganoken Open [ja] −7 (70-67=137) 1 stroke Japan Yoshiharu Takai
7 15 Aug 1982 JPGA East-West Tournament −17 (65-62=127) 6 strokes Japan Norio Suzuki
8 5 Dec 1982 Golf Nippon Series −17 (72-72-66-73=283) 2 strokes Japan Fujio Kobayashi
9 20 Mar 1983 Shizuoka Open −5 (72-72-68-71=283) 4 strokes Japan Takashi Kurihara, Japan Masaji Kusakabe
10 15 May 1983 Japan PGA Match-Play Championship 38 holes Japan Hideto Shigenobu
11 22 May 1983 Mitsubishi Galant Tournament (2) −10 (65-70-71-72=278) 6 strokes Taiwan Lu Hsi-chuen
12 31 Jul 1983 Japan PGA Championship (2) −9 (66-72-69-72=279) 2 strokes Japan Isao Aoki
13 14 Aug 1983 JPGA East-West Tournament (2) −5 (68-71=139) Playoff Japan Saburo Fujiki
14 11 Sep 1983 Suntory Open −14 (66-73-67-68=274) 2 strokes Japan Saburo Fujiki
15 18 Sep 1983 ANA Sapporo Open −6 (71-70-72-69=282) 5 strokes Japan Isao Aoki
16 13 Nov 1983 Goldwin Cup Japan vs USA −3 (76-65=141) 1 stroke United States Hale Irwin
17 5 Aug 1984 Japan PGA Championship (3) −9 (68-69-67-71=275) 2 strokes Japan Seiichi Kanai, Japan Shinsaku Maeda,
Japan Tōru Nakamura
18 2 Sep 1984 Kanto Open −8 (73-69-65-69=276)
19 23 Jun 1985 Yomiuri Sapporo Beer Open −17 (65-71-67-72=275) 3 strokes Japan Katsuji Hasegawa
20 7 Jul 1985 Kanto Pro Championship −6 (68-70-69-67=274) 3 strokes Japan Koichi Suzuki
21 22 Sep 1985 ANA Open (2) −11 (68-71-69-69=277) 2 strokes Japan Masahiro Kuramoto
22 13 Oct 1985 Japan Open Golf Championship −3 (75-68-72-70=285) 2 strokes Japan Hiroshi Makino
23 17 Nov 1985 Taiheiyo Club Masters −8 (67-72-67-74=280) Playoff Australia David Graham
24 24 Nov 1985 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament −13 (67-68-70-70=275) 3 strokes Spain Seve Ballesteros, Taiwan Chen Tze-chung
25 18 May 1986 Japan PGA Match-Play Championship (2) 6 and 5 Japan Keiichi Kobayashi
26 1 Jun 1986 Mitsubishi Galant Tournament (3) −8 (73-68-69-70=280) 1 stroke Taiwan Chen Tze-ming
27 29 Jun 1986 Mizuno Open −13 (69-65-68-37=239)* 6 strokes Japan Tsukasa Watanabe
28 29 Jun 1986 Kanto Pro Championship −19 (68-69-65-67=269) 3 strokes Japan Naomichi Ozaki
29 12 Oct 1986 Japan Open Golf Championship (2) −4 (70-73-72-69=284) 1 stroke Japan Isao Aoki, Japan Masashi Ozaki
30 19 Oct 1986 Polaroid Cup Golf Digest Tournament (2) −9 (68-68-67-72=275) Playoff United States David Ishii
31 4 Oct 1987 Tokai Classic −6 (71-72-73-66=282) 1 stroke Japan Masashi Ozaki
32 1 Jul 1990 Kanto Pro Championship (2) −13 (67-67-68-69=271) 3 strokes Japan Kiyoshi Murota
33 16 Sep 1990 ANA Open (3) −11 (69-70-68-70=277) 3 strokes Japan Masashi Ozaki
34 7 Oct 1990 Japan Open Golf Championship (3) −7 (68-71-73-69=281) 2 strokes Japan Masashi Ozaki
35 23 Jun 1991 Yomiuri Sapporo Beer Open (2) −16 (65-65-71-71=272) 3 strokes Canada Rick Gibson
36 13 Oct 1991 Japan Open Golf Championship (4) +2 (72-74-71-73=290) Playoff Japan Noboru Sugai
37 24 May 1992 Pepsi Ube Kosan Open −13 (67-72-64-72=275) 5 strokes Japan Hirofumi Miyase
38 2 Aug 1992 NST Niigata Open −13 (70-68-67-70=275) 2 strokes Japan Shigenori Mori
39 6 Sep 1992 Japan PGA Match-Play Championship Promise Cup (3) 3 and 1 Japan Naomichi Ozaki
40 19 Sep 1993 ANA Open (4) −14 (67-67-67-73=274) 4 strokes Japan Naomichi Ozaki, Australia Peter Senior,
Japan Katsunari Takahashi
41 5 Dec 1993 Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup (2) −18 (69-65-69-67=270) 3 strokes Japan Shigeki Maruyama
42 20 Mar 1994 Dydo Shizuoka Open −8 (71-71-69-69=280) Playoff Japan Tōru Nakamura
43 17 Apr 1994 Tsuruya Open −9 (68-70-70-71=279) Playoff Japan Tsutomu Higa
44 22 May 1994 Pepsi Ube Kosan Open (2) −16 (65-67-67-69=268) 3 strokes Japan Tsukasa Watanabe
45 7 May 1995 Fujisankei Classic (2) −12 (66-70-70-66=272) 2 strokes Japan Masahiro Kuramoto
46 2 Jun 2002 Diamond Cup Tournament (4) −19 (67-66-68-68=269) 2 strokes Japan Tomohiro Kondo, Japan Hirofumi Miyase,
United States Christian Peña
47 17 Nov 2002 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (2) −16 (69-66-67-70=272) 1 stroke Japan Hidemichi Tanaka
48 12 Nov 2006 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (3) −13 (71-68-71-65=275) 1 stroke Japan Toru Taniguchi

*Note: The 1986 Mizuno Open was shortened to 63 holes due to rain.
1Co-sanctioned by the Asia Golf Circuit

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (7–6)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1978 Japan PGA Championship Japan Fujio Kobayashi Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2 1981 Golf Digest Tournament Japan Toyotake Nakao Lost to par on fifth extra hole
3 1982 Fujisankei Classic Australia Graham Marsh Won with par on first extra hole
4 1983 JPGA East-West Tournament Japan Saburo Fujiki Won with birdie on second extra hole
5 1985 Taiheiyo Club Masters Australia David Graham Won with birdie on first extra hole
6 1986 Polaroid Cup Golf Digest Tournament United States David Ishii Won with par on fifth extra hole
7 1990 Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup Japan Naomichi Ozaki Lost to birdie on third extra hole
8 1991 Japan Open Golf Championship Japan Noboru Sugai Won with par on first extra hole
9 1992 Japan PGA Championship Japan Masahiro Kuramoto Lost to par on second extra hole
10 1994 Dydo Shizuoka Open Japan Tōru Nakamura Won with par on first extra hole
11 1994 Tsuruya Open Japan Tsutomu Higa Won with par on second extra hole
12 2002 JCB Classic Sendai Japan Toru Suzuki Lost to par on second extra hole
13 2004 JCB Classic Sendai Japan Takashi Kamiyama, Japan Tomohiro Kondo Kamiyama won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (5)

Japan Senior PGA Tour wins (5)

Results in major championships

Tournament 1978 1979
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open
The Open Championship T17 CUT
PGA Championship
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament T16 T33 T47 T8 CUT T33 CUT
U.S. Open T26 CUT T53 T9 T32
The Open Championship T36 T8 T59
PGA Championship CUT T10 CUT T47 CUT 3
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament T10 CUT CUT
U.S. Open
The Open Championship CUT T55 T49
PGA Championship CUT T21 CUT T61 CUT T52
Tournament 2000 2001 2002
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 2 3 11 6
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 4
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 1 2 9 6
PGA Championship 0 0 1 1 2 3 12 6
Totals 0 0 1 1 6 9 37 22
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (1986 Masters – 1986 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (six times)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Players Championship T16 T54 CUT T64 T15 T27 CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

See also

References

  1. ^ 69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking
  2. ^ Winokur, Jon (2002). How to Win at Golf: Without Actually Playing Well. Pavilion Books. p. 14. ISBN 978-1862055919.