Isao Aoki
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox golfer Script error: No such module "Nihongo". is a Japanese professional golfer. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004.
Early life
Aoki was born in Abiko, Chiba, Japan. He was introduced to golf while caddying at the Abiko Golf Club as a schoolboy.
Professional career
In 1964, Aoki turned professional. He went on to win more than fifty events on the Japan Golf Tour between 1972 and 1990, trailing only Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki on the list of golfers with most Japan Golf Tour wins. He won the Japan Golf Tour money list five times in six years: 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981. His career earnings are 980 million yen.[1]
In 1983, Aoki won the Hawaiian Open on the U.S.-based PGA Tour, the first Japanese and Asian player to win on the tour,[2] and the Panasonic European Open on the European Tour. He also won the prestigious World Match Play Championship in England in 1978, which was not a European Tour event at that time, and picked up a win on the PGA Tour of Australasia. Aoki is also one of the nine players in the history of the Open Championship to shoot a round of just 63 shots (which he achieved in the third round of the 1980 event). Despite this being the joint-best round in the history of the tournament at the time, Aoki would only finish tied for 12th that year.
Aoki played 165 times on the PGA Tour between 1974 and 1999, primarily from 1981 to 1990. His best finish in a major championship was a second-place finish to Jack Nicklaus (by two strokes) in the 1980 U.S. Open. That finish, combined with his recent record in Japan and around the globe, meant that Aoki would finish 1980 ranked third in the unofficial McCormack's World Golf Rankings, a position he would hold at the end of 1981. After the Official World Golf Rankings debuted in 1986, he was ranked in the top-10 for several weeks in 1987.[3]
In December 1984 after receiving an invitation from Gary Player, Aoki traveled to South Africa to participate in the Million Dollar Challenge. Aoki did this in spite of the efforts of the Japanese government to dissuade him from making the trip.[4]
As a senior, Aoki has played primarily in the United States on the Champions Tour, winning nine times between 1992 and 2003. He has eight senior victories outside the United States, including five victories in the Japan Senior Open where he shot his age, 65, during his most recent triumph in 2007.[5]
Professional wins (80)
PGA Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 Feb 1983 | Hawaiian Open | −20 (66-70-65-67=268) | 1 stroke | Template:Flagicon Jack Renner |
European Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 Sep 1983 | Panasonic European Open | −6 (65-70-70-69=274) | 2 strokes | Template:Flagicon Seve Ballesteros, Template:Flagicon Nick Faldo, Template:Flagicon Carl Mason |
PGA of Japan Tour wins (51)
*Note: Tournament shortened to 36/63 holes due to weather.
1Co-sanctioned by the Asia Golf Circuit
PGA of Japan Tour playoff record (4–9)
PGA Tour of Australia wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 Jan 1989 | Coca-Cola Classic | −9 (69-73-66-71=279) | 1 stroke | Template:Flagicon Rodger Davis, Template:Flagicon Peter Fowler, Template:Flagicon Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Template:Flagicon Peter O'Malley |
Other wins (8)
- 1971 Kanto Pro Championship (Japan)
- 1972 Kanto Pro Championship (Japan)
- 1973 Gold Beck
- 1977 Jun Classic
- 1978 Colgate World Match Play Championship (England)
- 1982 Old Sones Invitational, Daikyo Open
- 1987 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Payne Stewart)
Senior PGA Tour wins (9)
*Note: Tournament shortened to 36 holes due to weather.
Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–4)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1994 | The Transamerica | Template:Flagicon Kermit Zarley | Lost to birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 1995 | The Tradition | Template:Flagicon Jack Nicklaus | Lost to birdie on third extra hole |
| 3 | 1997 | Emerald Coast Classic | Template:Flagicon Gil Morgan | Won with par on second extra hole |
| 4 | 1998 | Coldwell Banker Burnet Classic | Template:Flagicon Leonard Thompson | Lost to birdie on second extra hole |
| 5 | 2000 | State Farm Senior Classic | Template:Flagicon Leonard Thompson | Lost to birdie on second extra hole |
Japan Senior PGA Tour wins (9)
- 1994 Japan Senior Open
- 1995 American Express Grand Slam, Japan Senior Open
- 1996 Japan Senior Open
- 1997 Japan Senior Open
- 2000 N. Cup Senior Open
- 2002 N. Cup Senior Open
- 2007 Japan Senior Open
- 2008 Kinojo Senior Open
Results in major championships
| Tournament | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | CUT | T28 | CUT | T34 | CUT | T45 | CUT | 19 | T25 | T16 | CUT | CUT | T25 | |||
| U.S. Open | T36 | 2 | T11 | T30 | T16 | T14 | T50 | T33 | T33 | ||||||||
| The Open Championship | CUT | T7 | T7 | T12 | T11 | T20 | T47 | T7 | CUT | ||||||||
| PGA Championship | CUT | T4 | T49 | CUT | CUT | T36 | CUT | T38 | T17 | T40 |
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1977 Open Championship)
"T" = tied
Summary
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 7 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 9 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 7 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 6 |
| Totals | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 42 | 29 |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (1988 Masters – 1990 U.S. Open)
- Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (five times)
Results in The Players Championship
| Tournament | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Players Championship | CUT | T43 | T15 | T7 | CUT | T24 | T60 | CUT | CUT |
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Results in senior major championships
Results not in chronological order before 2012.
| Tournament | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior PGA Championship | 3 | T5 | T5 | 2 | T20 | T44 | T15 | T62 | T20 | CUT |
| The Tradition | 6 | T9 | 2 | T12 | 2 | T13 | T28 | T47 | T35 | |
| Senior Players Championship | T5 | T3 | 6 | T30 | T2 | 3 | T14 | T18 | T17 | 21 |
| U.S. Senior Open | T20 | 10 | T3 | 11 | T49 | T4 | CUT | T47 | T2 | T18 |
| Tournament | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior PGA Championship | CUT | T27 | T62 | T28 | CUT | CUT | CUT | |||
| The Tradition | T20 | T53 | T32 | T67 | T71 | T57 | 64 | |||
| Senior Players Championship | T12 | T28 | T18 | 52 | ||||||
| U.S. Senior Open | T30 | T45 | CUT | |||||||
| Senior British Open Championship | T14 | T22 | T36 | T60 | CUT | 50 | CUT | DQ | CUT | CUT |
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />
CUT = missed the halfway cut
DQ = disqualified
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Note: The Senior British Open Championship did not become a major until 2003.
Team appearances
- World Cup (representing Japan): 1973, 1974
- Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Japan): 1985, 1999, 2000
- Nissan Cup/Kirin Cup (representing Japan): 1985, 1987, 1988
- UBS Warburg Cup (representing the Rest of the World): 2001, 2002
- Dynasty Cup (representing Japan): 2003 (non-playing captain), 2005 (non-playing captain)
Honours
- Member of the World Golf Hall of Fame (2004)
- Medal with Purple Ribbon (2008)
- Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2015)
- Person of Cultural Merit (2024)[6]
See also
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Aoki to play in South Africa
- ↑ Fisher Putters Announces Isao Aoki Win at the "2007 Japan Senior Open Championship" using a Fisher F9 Putter
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
External links
- Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Template:In lang
- Template:JapanTour player
- Template:PGATour player
- Template:EuroTour player
- Template:OWGR
- Template:World Golf Hall of Fame
- My Philosophy No.74 Isao Aoki | InterLiteracy
- Pages with script errors
- Japanese male golfers
- Japan Golf Tour golfers
- PGA Tour golfers
- PGA Tour Champions golfers
- World Golf Hall of Fame inductees
- Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon
- Persons of Cultural Merit
- Golfers from Chiba Prefecture
- People from Abiko, Chiba
- 1942 births
- Living people
- 20th-century Japanese sportsmen