The is a professional golf tournament played in Japan. Founded in 1971, it has been a Japan Golf Tour event since 1979. Since 1998, the event has been prefixed , with the top finishers gaining exemptions into The Open Championship.
The Mizuno Open has been held at several courses, most frequently at JFE Setonaikai Golf Club in Kasaoka, Okayama, which has hosted all but six renewals since 1998. The purse for the 2024 event was ¥100,000,000, with ¥20,000,000 going to the winner.
History The Mizuno Open was founded in 1971 as the Mizuno Tournament with both men's and women's events running side-by-side. It was restricted to golfers using at least ten Mizuno clubs. In 1979, fifty leading professionals in Japan were also eligible to compete as the tournament counted towards the Japan Golf Tour money-list ranking for the first time. In 1983 it became a full tour event and in 1985 changed its name to the Mizuno Open. From 1991, the women's event was played separately.
Since 1998, the event has been prefixed "Gateway to The Open", with the top four finishers in the tournament that were not already qualified gaining exemptions into The Open Championship. There has also been a mini-money list of Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the Mizuno Open that earns two exemptions into The Open. From 2007 to 2010 The Mizuno Open merged with the Yomiuri Open to form the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic.
Tournament hosts Years Venue Location 1998–2006, 2011–2017, 2021–2025 Setonaikai Golf Club Kasaoka, Okayama 2018–2019 The Royal Golf Club Hokota, Ibaraki 2007–2010 Yomiuri Country Club Nishinomiya, Hyōgo 1976–1997 Tokinodai Country Club Hakui, Ishikawa 1971–1975 Anegasaki Country Club Ichihara, Chiba
Winners YearWinnerScoreTo ParMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-upGateway to The Open Mizuno Open 2026 Shaun Norris 264 −24 5 strokes Ryutaro Nagano Ren Yonezawa 2025 Mikiya Akutsu 275 −13 4 strokes Riki Kawamoto Song Young-han 2024 Ryosuke Kinoshita 276 −12 2 strokes Koh Gun-taek 2023 Kensei Hirata 271 −17 Playoff Keita Nakajima 2022 Scott Vincent 276 −12 Playoff Anthony Quayle 2021 Juvic Pagunsan 199 −17 3 strokes Ryutaro Nagano 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2019 Yuta Ikeda 281 −7 1 stroke Chan Kim 2018 Shota Akiyoshi 287 −1 1 stroke Michael Hendry Masahiro Kawamura Masanori Kobayashi 2017 Chan Kim 273 −15 5 strokes Michael Hendry 2016 Kim Kyung-tae 277 −11 1 stroke Kodai Ichihara Shugo Imahira Lee Sang-hee 2015 Taichi Teshima 273 −15 2 strokes Scott Strange 2014 Jang Dong-kyu 273 −15 3 strokes Juvic Pagunsan 2013 Brendan Jones (2) 269 −19 3 strokes Kim Kyung-tae 2012 Brad Kennedy 271 −17 3 strokes Toshinori Muto Toru Taniguchi 2011 Hwang Jung-gon 275 −13 1 stroke Kim Kyung-tae Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic 2010 Shunsuke Sonoda 201 −15 3 strokes Toru Taniguchi 2009 Ryo Ishikawa 275 −13 3 strokes David Smail 2008 Prayad Marksaeng 269 −15 1 stroke Azuma Yano 2007 Lee Dong-hwan204 −12 4 strokes Lee Seong-ho Lin Keng-chi Toshinori Muto Achi Sato Hideto Tanihara Masaya TomidaGateway to The Open Mizuno Open 2006 Hur Suk-ho 274 −14 3 strokes Tatsuhiko Ichihara David Smail 2005 Chris Campbell 278 −10 Playoff David Smail Tadahiro Takayama 2004 Brendan Jones 274 −14 Playoff Hiroaki Iijima 2003 Todd Hamilton 278 −10 1 stroke Brendan Jones 2002 Dean Wilson 277 −11 1 stroke Kiyoshi Miyazato 2001 Hidemichi Tanaka 272 −16 3 strokes Eduardo Herrera 2000 Yasuharu Imano 274 −14 1 stroke Toshimitsu Izawa Katsumasa Miyamoto 1999 Eduardo Herrera 274 −14 2 strokes Tsukasa Watanabe 1998 Brandt Jobe 275 −13 4 strokes Yoshi Mizumaki Toru Suzuki Mizuno Open 1997 Brian Watts (3) 278 −10 2 strokes Toshimitsu Izawa 1996 Yoshinori Kaneko 270 −18 4 strokes Shinichi Yokota 1995 Brian Watts (2) 273 −15 3 strokes Rick Gibson 1994 Brian Watts 280 −8 Playoff Eduardo Herrera Yoshinori Kaneko Koichi Suzuki1993 Seiki Okuda 280 −8 1 stroke Wayne Grady Tateo Ozaki Teruo Sugihara1992 Tōru Nakamura 282 −6 1 stroke Saburo Fujiki Brian Jones1991 Roger Mackay 207 −9 Playoff Satoshi Higashi1990 Brian Jones 272 −16 4 strokes Tsuneyuki Nakajima1989 Akiyoshi Ohmachi 283 −5 2 strokes Brian Jones Fujio Kobayashi Masahiro Kuramoto Tsuneyuki Nakajima1988 Yoshimi Niizeki 280 −8 Playoff Seiichi Kanai1987 David Ishii 272 −16 8 strokes Chen Tze-ming Tōru Nakamura1986 Tsuneyuki Nakajima 239 −11 6 strokes Tsukasa Watanabe1985 Tateo Ozaki Katsunari Takahashi 205 −11 Title shared Mizuno Tournament1984 Kikuo Arai (2) 279 −9 1 stroke Naomichi Ozaki1983 Eitaro Deguchi 277 −11 3 strokes Hsieh Min-Nan Tsuneyuki Nakajima Shigeru Uchida 1982 Teruo Sugihara 282 −6 1981 Kikuo Arai 274 −12 2 strokes Shigeru Uchida 1980 Norio Suzuki 266 −20 6 strokes Yoshikazu Yokoshima 1979 Mitsuhiro Kitta 272 −16 2 strokes Teruo Sugihara Ichiro Teramoto1978 Akio Kanemoto 276 −12 1 stroke Shigeru Uchida1977 Masaji Kusakabe (2) 283 −5 Playoff Shigeru Uchida1976 Masaji Kusakabe 215 −6 2 strokes Han Chang-sang Shigeru Uchida Takemitsu Uranishi Yuki Watanabe1975 Shigeru Uchida (2) 215 −1 3 strokes Takashi Aoki1974 Shigeru Uchida 210 −6 1 stroke Shichiro Enomoto1973 Shichiro Enomoto 208 −8 3 strokes Akio Kanemoto1972 Kazuo Yoshikawa 1971 Makoto Yamaguchi 214 −2 2 strokes Shichiro Enomoto Source:
Notes
References
External links
Coverage on the Japan Golf Tour's official site