Tomoyo Ikemura completed a wire-to-wire victory for his second JGTO title on Sunday despite seeing his commanding four-shot cushion reduced to none with just two holes remaining at the ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament.
The 26-year-old held a three-shot advantage heading into Sunday’s finale in Fukuoka and seemed to be on the cusp of a comfortable victory after he powered to 24-under-par overall through 12 holes courtesy of an eagle, four birdies and a bogey.
Two bogeys dropped at the 13th and 16th holes gave the chasing pack a glimmer of hope of at least forcing a playoff, but Ikemura, who had his fiancé on his bag the whole week, showed resilience by swiftly bouncing back with a birdie on 17 to restore a one-shot lead.
He then calmly rolled in a par putt on 18 to seal the victory with a final-round four-under 68, narrowly edging Ryo Hisasutne and Australia’s Brad Kennedy with a winning total of 23-under 265.
19-year-old Hisasutne, who began the day eight shots off the pace, fired a flawless 11-under 61 that included two eagles and seven birdies to finish joint runner-up with Australia’s Brad Kennedy, who marked his third top-four finish in his last four starts.
Yusaku Miyazato, the joint-leader at the halfway stage, finished with a strong 64, but it was only good enough for him to come in joint-fourth with Ryuko Tokimatsu on matching 267s.
A relieved Ikemura was on the cloud nine after lifting his second title since his ISPS Handa Gatsu-n to tobase Tour tournament in October last year.
“This victory is especially special as I had to manage the pressure I was facing in the last few holes. It was not easy, given the quality of the players who were chasing me. But I’m so happy I managed to do it again, and it feels so good.
“On 17, I was feeling confident. I had to attack the pin and I was actually going for an eagle. I was 220 yards away from the hole and I managed to hit the ball nicely to the green with my five-iron. I managed to get my birdie from about 10 feet.
“The putt for birdie on the final hole was about 15 feet. I decided to play it cautiously as I did not want to go into a playoff and I’m so happy I won the tournament with a par on the final hole,” said Ikemura.
Meanwhile, Kennedy will take the positives from the ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament rather than dwell on yet another near-miss of a fourth JGTO victory.
The evergreen 47-year-old has claimed his third top-four finish in four starts after settling for joint runner-up to Tomoyo Ikemura in the thrilling finale.
Kennedy fell just short of capping a fine week with a victory despite closing with a brilliant seven-under-par 65 for 22-under-par 266 total.
South African Jbe Kruger saved the best for last as he fired a closing nine-under 63 to emerge as the second-best international finisher in joint sixth spot.
Kruger’s 20-under effort saw him finish the week just three shots off the winner.
It marked his best finish of the season.
Hyun Woo Ryu and Juvic Pagunsan were the other two non-Japanese players sitting in top-20 after tying for 17th and 20th place, respectively.
