Yuki Inamori birdied the last two holes to win the Japan Players Championship by Sato Shokuhin on Sunday for his second JGTO victory of the season and career’s fourth overall.
The 27-year-old Inamori closed with a seven-under-par 65 at the Nishi Nasuno Country Club for a one-shot victory over Kaito Onishi, who signed for the identical score.
Inamori finished at 23-under 265 to join Kazuki Higa and Shugo Imahara as the multiple winners of this season.
Starting one shot adrift penultimate leader Katsumasa Miyamoto, Inamori made his move early when he fired three birdies in succession from the third hole before adding another on hole seven.
He would squander a shot on nine but brilliantly made up for it by securing his fifth birdie right after the turn.
Inamori continued to charge on with another gain on 13 to get to 21-under and his playing partner Miyamoto by two at that point.
But it turned out to be Onishi, the one breaking away from the packed leaderboard following four straight birdies from 13 to emerge as the new leader at 22-under.
Miyamoto fumbled when it mattered most, as two bogeys suffered on 14 and 17 saw his hopes of winning a 13th tour title fade away.
Onishi, playing one flight ahead, made no further ground in his last two holes, paving the way for Inamori to join him at the summit briefly before knocking him off with a clutch putt at the last.
“It’s my second win this year. I’m so relieved,” said Inamori, also a two-time Japan Open winner.
“I thought it would be a struggle to improve the score today, especially after I made a bogey on the ninth hole.
“I had the chance to win it outright at the final hole, and I didn’t want to miss that.
“For that winning putt, I got the inspiration from Miyamoto. I observed how he read the line before that and emulated it, and it went in!
“It’s a great end to the first half of the season. I’m jetting off to the United States to train and play a few tournaments there during the break,” added the man who walked away ¥10,000,000 richer.
It marked Onishi’s second runner-up finish of the season after missing out on his breakthrough victory at the Diamond Cup last month, a tournament in which he led in the first three rounds.
It was just as devastating for Miyamoto, who eventually had to settle for joint third on 267 after he failed to make his penultimate stage lead counts for the second straight year.
Last year, he took a two-shot lead into the final round but could only muster a 73 for joint second.
Yuta Ikeda, a 21-time JGTO winner, produced a spirited final round performance to shoot a 63 for a share of third spot with ever-improving youngster Yuto Katsuragawa, who equally impressed with a 64.
Justin De Los Santos, meanwhile, fell short in his bid to claim a third top 10 finish of the season after finishing tied for 29th.
The 26-year-old Filipino closed with a 71 after mixing three birdies with two bogeys to conclude his campaign at 11-under 277, 12 shots behind Inamori.
It was a commendable outing nonetheless for De Los Santos as he finished no worse than top 30 in the four cuts made from six appearances to date.
De Los Santos is currently sitting comfortably in 30th spot on the season-long Money Rankings. He needs to finish in the top 65 to secure full playing privileges for next season.
American David Oh made a promising start in his first appearance of the season by coming in joint 47th with four others, including Australia’s David Bransdon.
Oh marked his scorecard with three birdies and two bogeys for 71, while Bransdon had two birdies in his bogey-free card of 70 to end the week at eight-under overall.
Another Australian, Andrew Evans, endured a roller-coaster round that saw him battle to a 73 to share 52nd on 281.
He sandwiched three birdies between a pair of bogeys at the start on holes one and two and in the closing stretch on 16 and 17.
The JGTO season will take a five-week break before resuming with the Japan PGA Championship from August 4-7.
