A lot has changed around the world and in golf in the three years since the TOTO Japan Classic was last staged on the LPGA Tour.
In 2019, Jennifer Kupcho was just a rookie on tour, Minjee Lee had yet to win either of her two major championships, and Shanshan Feng was still competing. And the last time they teed it up at Seta Golf Course, all three finished inside the top 10, unable to chase down champion Ai Suzuki, who won by three strokes in her native Japan.
The TOTO Japan Classic celebrates its 45th playing this year and features a field of 42 players from the LPGA Tour and 36 from the Japan LPGA, who co-sanctions the event.
Nearly a dozen major champions make up the field which includes two-time major winner Minjee Lee, Hinako Shibuno, Jiyai Shin, and Anna Nordqvist. Atthaya Thitikul, the standout rookie this season who has won twice and leads the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race, is the top-ranked player in the field at No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings.
The last time the TOTO Japan Classic was a part of the LPGA Tour’s schedule in 2019, Suzuki went bogey-free on the weekend to win in her native Japan. While the tournament wasn’t a part of the LPGA’s schedule in 2020 or 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the tournament continued to be played as part of the Japan LPGA’s schedule. In 2020, Shin won for the third time and in 2021, Ayaka Furue, now a rookie on the LPGA Tour, won in her home country of Japan.
Furue is one of five former champions who are competing in Japan, including Shin (2020), Suzuki (2019), Nasa Hataoka (2018), and Momoko Ueda (2007, 2011). They are just a few of the impressive names to have won in the event’s history which dates back to 1973. A slew of World Golf Hall of Famers have hoisted the trophy in Japan including Amy Alcott (1979), Patty Sheehan (1981, 1988), Nancy Lopez (1982), Pat Bradley (1983), Betsy King (1992, 1993), Annika Sorenstam (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005) and Karrie Webb (2006).
Throughout the tournament’s history, the event has rotated to a variety of different venues in Japan. This season, the TOTO Japan Classic returns to Seta Golf Course for the 14th time and where it was first played in 1989. Located in Shiga, Japan, the course plays at just over 6,600 yards and to a par 72. The tournament is a sprint to the finish as it's played over just 72-holes, with no cut, with players competing for a $2 million dollar purse.
For the first time in three years, the TOTO Japan Classic will host the best female golfers on the planet and celebrate its 50th birthday. Through the years, the tournament has produced some of the biggest champions in the history of the game, and if the last five decades are any indication of what the future might hold for this beloved tournament, then, here’s to the much-anticipated return of the TOTO Japan Classic.
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