The 26-year wait for Japan to win the Asia-Pacific Golf Team Championship is finally over after a thrilling Nomura Cup finale at Yas Links Abu Dhabi.
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In a nail-biting countback finish, which called on Japan’s fourth man Toshiki Ishitoku’s closing round of 75 to count, the Japanese team edged out Chinese Taipei to claim the 27th Nomura Cup.
Held at the world-renowned Yas Links Abu Dhabi, 27 teams from countries spanning the Asia-Pacific region descended upon the UAE capital for the first time.
The event was eventually decided on countback, after both Japan and Chinese Taipei finished the week on a total of 842, 22-under par, collected from the best three of four scores each day.
Helped by an opening round 10-under par, 62 by Daisuke Matsubara, Team Japan have been on a sharp learning curve since welcoming their new coach, Gareth Jones little over three weeks ago. The team’s Captain, Katsuii Hotta was clearly buoyed by the victory and was quick to praise Jones.
“It has been a long 26 years for Japan, this means a lot to us, this is huge,” he said. “We started a new elite program just three weeks ago, this is a great and unimaginable start. This is all about Gareth Jones, The Gareth Jones effect!”
After a dominant recent spell from Australia who have won a record 10 Nomura Cups, Hotta saw the victory as a demonstration of Japan’s commitment to amateur golf.
“With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mind, we are aiming for a gold medal,” the captain continued. “Last year, we hosted the World Amateur Championships and we didn’t do very well. But this is an important step for Japan. We are trying to build a better program for our best amateurs golfers. This new program is designed to produce more successful golfers for our future.”
Look at the shiny title at Nomura Cup. Either Chinese Taipei or Japan are looking likeliest winners – @EGFuaegolf pic.twitter.com/SeDELYKxbP
— Worldwide Golf (@WorldwideGolf) October 25, 2015
The team from Chinese Taipei consisting of Han-Ting Chiu, Chun-An Yu, Yung-Hua Liu and Sun-Yi Lu had lead from Day One but faltered in the final few holes of the award winning Kyle Phillips designed course. Korea was third on 16-under beating who finished on 15-under and New Zealand on 13-under.
Chinese superstar Cheng Jin won the individual event at the Nomura Cup with a dominant 13-under par total. He will play in the 2016 US Masters following his victory earlier this month at the 2015 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
