Keita Nakajima | |||||||||
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Personal information | |||||||||
Born | Saitama, Japan | 24 June 2000||||||||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||||||||
Weight | 160 lb (73 kg) | ||||||||
Sporting nationality | Japan | ||||||||
Career | |||||||||
College | Nippon Sport Science University | ||||||||
Turned professional | 2022 | ||||||||
Current tour(s) |
European Tour Japan Golf Tour Korn Ferry Tour | ||||||||
Professional wins | 5 | ||||||||
Highest ranking | 75 (14 April 2024)
[1] (as of 30 June 2024) | ||||||||
Number of wins by tour | |||||||||
European Tour | 1 | ||||||||
Japan Golf Tour | 4 | ||||||||
Best results in major championships | |||||||||
Masters Tournament | CUT: 2022 | ||||||||
PGA Championship | CUT: 2024 | ||||||||
U.S. Open | CUT: 2022 | ||||||||
The Open Championship | CUT: 2022, 2023 | ||||||||
Achievements and awards | |||||||||
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Keita Nakajima ( Japanese: 中島啓太, born 24 June 2000) is a Japanese professional golfer. He had an exceptionally successful amateur career and was number 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 87 weeks. He also won the Panasonic Open on the Japan Golf Tour while still an amateur. [2] [3]
Nakajima started playing golf at six and had a successful amateur career, winning the 2018 Australian Amateur and the 2021 Japan Amateur Championship, after finishing runner-up at the event in 2015, 2017 and 2019. He was runner-up at the 2017 Duke of York Young Champions Trophy in England and the 2019 Australian Master of the Amateurs. In 2018, he was runner-up at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, before winning the event in 2021 in a playoff with Hong Kong's Taichi Kho. Nakajima became the third Japanese champion of the tournament, joining Hideki Matsuyama and Takumi Kanaya. [4]
He played in a number of representative matches, including the 2017 Nomura Cup, the 2022 Eisenhower Trophy and the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup, which the international team won 33½–26½ over the American team. Nakajima won both the individual and team gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games. He was world ranked number 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 87 weeks between 2020 and 2022, surpassing Jon Rahm's previous record of 60 weeks. [4] He won the Mark H. McCormack Medal for 2021 and 2022, the first two-time recipient. [5]
While still an amateur, Nakajima played in a number of professional tournaments. [6] In 2021, he was runner-up at the Token Homemate Cup, a stroke behind Takumi Kanaya, and won the Panasonic Open in a playoff. After he made the cut at the 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii, he rose to 188th in the Official World Golf Rankings. [7]
Nakajima turned professional in the fall of 2022 and made his professional PGA Tour debut at the 2022 Zozo Championship, where he finished T12. [8]
In 2023, Nakajima won three times on the Japan Golf Tour in his rookie season. He topped the money list, [9] as well as claiming Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year honours. [10]
In March 2024, Nakajima claimed his first victory on the European Tour, winning the Hero Indian Open wire-to-wire by four shots. [11]
Source: [12]
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runners-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 31 Mar 2024 | Hero Indian Open1 | −17 (65-65-68-73=271) | 4 strokes |
Veer Ahlawat,
Sebastian Söderberg, Johannes Veerman |
1Co-sanctioned by the Professional Golf Tour of India
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 26 Sep 2021 |
Panasonic Open (as an amateur) |
−18 (69-68-65-68=270) | Playoff | Ryutaro Nagano |
2 | 11 Jun 2023 | ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament | −29 (67-64-63-65=259) | Playoff | Takumi Kanaya |
3 | 6 Aug 2023 | Yokohama Minato Championship | −13 (69-69-67-66=271) | 1 stroke | Taiga Semikawa |
4 | 5 Nov 2023 | Mynavi ABC Championship | −24 (63-69-66-66=264) | 3 strokes | Shaun Norris |
Japan Golf Tour playoff record (2–1)
No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2021 |
Panasonic Open (as an amateur) |
Ryutaro Nagano | Won with par on first extra hole |
2 | 2023 | Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open | Kensei Hirata | Lost to birdie on third extra hole |
3 | 2023 | ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament | Takumi Kanaya | Won with birdie on second extra hole |
Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
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Masters Tournament | CUT | ||
PGA Championship | CUT | ||
U.S. Open | CUT | ||
The Open Championship | CUT | CUT |
CUT = missed the halfway cut
Amateur