Japan’s golfers put seal on outstanding year with victory at Nomura Cup, winning amateur event for 10th time
- Yuta Sugiura and Minato Oshima lead way in Philippines at Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship
- Hong Kong trio of Leon D’Souza, Isaac Lam and Lou Tan finish ninth at Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club
Japan set the seal on another outstanding year for their young golfing stars with a memorable victory in the 29th edition of the Nomura Cup in the Philippines on Friday.
With 21-year-old Yuta Sugiura and 17-year-old Minato Oshima to the fore, Japan surged to a seven-stroke win over the Masters Course at Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club.
It was a record-equalling 10th title for Japan in the event that was inaugurated in 1963 and is also known as the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship.
Hong Kong trio, Leon D’Souza, Isaac Lam and Lou Tan combined to finish ninth, with D’Souza finishing highest in the individual competition at one-over for the tournament.
Three shots clear at the top after three rounds with Singapore, Korea and New Zealand hot on their heels, Sugiura and Oshima stood firm to ensure Japan’s overnight advantage never came under serious threat.
While Sugiura returned a rock-solid, bogey-free four-under-par 68, Oshima posted a 71 that included a double-bogey seven at the last. That gave the Japanese a fourth-round aggregate of 139 in the event in which the two best daily scores each day are counted.
The only team to break 140 on all four days, Japan’s overall total of 552 was 24-under, with Singapore on 559 and Korea a further shot back in third.
Fittingly the battle for individual honours came down to the two highest-rated players in the field – Sugiua, 32nd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and 54th-placed Singaporean James Leow.