Tsuneyuki Nakajima

Tsuneyuki Nakajima 中嶋常幸
Personal information
Nickname	Tommy
Born	(1954-10-20) 20 October 1954 (age 70) Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	88 kg (194 lb; 13.9 st)
Sporting nationality	Japan
Career
Turned professional	1975
Current tour(s)	Japan Golf Tour
Professional wins	58
Highest ranking	4 (1986)
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour	48 (3rd all-time)
Other	10
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	T8: 1986
PGA Championship	3rd: 1988
U.S. Open	T9: 1987
The Open Championship	T8: 1986
Achievements and awards
PGA of Japan Tour money list winner 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986

Tsuneyuki "Tommy" Nakajima (Japanese: 中嶋常幸; born 20 October 1954) is a Japanese professional golfer.

Career

Nakajima was born in Gunma. He turned professional in 1975. He has won 48 events on the Japan Golf Tour, ranking third on the most Japan Golf Tour wins list. He also was the leading money winner four times in five years: 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986. He is second on the career money list (through 2009).

Nakajima featured in the top 5 of the Official World Golf Rankings and was ranked in the top-10 for 85 weeks from their debut in 1986 to 1987.^[1] He ranked as high as fifth on its predecessor McCormack's World Golf Rankings.

At the 1978 Masters Tournament, Nakajima made a 13 on the par-5 13th hole. After hitting his fourth shot into Rae's Creek, Nakajima elected to play the ball rather than take a drop. He popped the ball straight up and it landed on his foot, causing a two-stroke penalty. When he handed the club to his caddie, it slipped out of his hand and fell into the creek, incurring another two-stroke penalty. He chipped over the green, chipped back on and two-putted for the highest single-hole score in the history of the tournament.^[2]

Also in 1978, Nakajima was in contention at The Open Championship on the third day at St Andrews until he putted into – and then took four attempts to escape from – the Road Hole bunker at the 17th for a quintuple bogey, which led the British tabloids to christen that bunker, for a while, "the Sands of Nakajima". Nakajima's best finish in a major was third at the 1988 PGA Championship.

He would also feature in an epic match at the 1982 Suntory World Match Play Championship at Wentworth when he lost to Sandy Lyle only after an extended playoff.

Amateur wins

this list may be incomplete

• 1973 Japan Amateur Championship

Professional wins (58)

Japan Golf Tour wins (48)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	24 Oct 1976	Golf Digest Tournament	−9 (68-73-67-71=279)	2 strokes	Kikuo Arai
2	25 Sep 1977	Japan PGA Championship	−11 (73-65-67-72=277)	2 strokes	Teruo Sugihara, Yoshitaka Yamamoto
3	1 Jun 1980	Mitsubishi Galant Tournament	−12 (65-71-72-68=276)	4 strokes	Yoshihisa Iwashita, Graham Marsh
4	25 Apr 1982	Dunlop International Open^1	−12 (71-66-68-71=276)	5 strokes	Saburo Fujiki
5	9 May 1982	Fujisankei Classic	−7 (67-73-66-71=277)	Playoff	Graham Marsh
6	1 Jul 1982	Naganoken Open^[ja]	−7 (70-67=137)	1 stroke	Yoshiharu Takai
7	15 Aug 1982	JPGA East-West Tournament	−17 (65-62=127)	6 strokes	Norio Suzuki
8	5 Dec 1982	Golf Nippon Series	−17 (72-72-66-73=283)	2 strokes	Fujio Kobayashi
9	20 Mar 1983	Shizuoka Open	−5 (72-72-68-71=283)	4 strokes	Takashi Kurihara, Masaji Kusakabe
10	15 May 1983	Japan PGA Match-Play Championship	38 holes		Hideto Shigenobu
11	22 May 1983	Mitsubishi Galant Tournament (2)	−10 (65-70-71-72=278)	6 strokes	Lu Hsi-chuen
12	31 Jul 1983	Japan PGA Championship (2)	−9 (66-72-69-72=279)	2 strokes	Isao Aoki
13	14 Aug 1983	JPGA East-West Tournament (2)	−5 (68-71=139)	Playoff	Saburo Fujiki
14	11 Sep 1983	Suntory Open	−14 (66-73-67-68=274)	2 strokes	Saburo Fujiki
15	18 Sep 1983	ANA Sapporo Open	−6 (71-70-72-69=282)	5 strokes	Isao Aoki
16	13 Nov 1983	Goldwin Cup Japan vs USA	−3 (76-65=141)	1 stroke	Hale Irwin
17	5 Aug 1984	Japan PGA Championship (3)	−9 (68-69-67-71=275)	2 strokes	Seiichi Kanai, Shinsaku Maeda, Tōru Nakamura
18	2 Sep 1984	Kanto Open	−8 (73-69-65-69=276)
19	23 Jun 1985	Yomiuri Sapporo Beer Open	−17 (65-71-67-72=275)	3 strokes	Katsuji Hasegawa
20	7 Jul 1985	Kanto Pro Championship	−6 (68-70-69-67=274)	3 strokes	Koichi Suzuki
21	22 Sep 1985	ANA Open (2)	−11 (68-71-69-69=277)	2 strokes	Masahiro Kuramoto
22	13 Oct 1985	Japan Open Golf Championship	−3 (75-68-72-70=285)	2 strokes	Hiroshi Makino
23	17 Nov 1985	Taiheiyo Club Masters	−8 (67-72-67-74=280)	Playoff	David Graham
24	24 Nov 1985	Dunlop Phoenix Tournament	−13 (67-68-70-70=275)	3 strokes	Seve Ballesteros, Chen Tze-chung
25	18 May 1986	Japan PGA Match-Play Championship (2)	6 and 5		Keiichi Kobayashi
26	1 Jun 1986	Mitsubishi Galant Tournament (3)	−8 (73-68-69-70=280)	1 stroke	Chen Tze-ming
27	29 Jun 1986	Mizuno Open	−13 (69-65-68-37=239)*	6 strokes	Tsukasa Watanabe
28	29 Jun 1986	Kanto Pro Championship	−19 (68-69-65-67=269)	3 strokes	Naomichi Ozaki
29	12 Oct 1986	Japan Open Golf Championship (2)	−4 (70-73-72-69=284)	1 stroke	Isao Aoki, Masashi Ozaki
30	19 Oct 1986	Polaroid Cup Golf Digest Tournament (2)	−9 (68-68-67-72=275)	Playoff	David Ishii
31	4 Oct 1987	Tokai Classic	−6 (71-72-73-66=282)	1 stroke	Masashi Ozaki
32	1 Jul 1990	Kanto Pro Championship (2)	−13 (67-67-68-69=271)	3 strokes	Kiyoshi Murota
33	16 Sep 1990	ANA Open (3)	−11 (69-70-68-70=277)	3 strokes	Masashi Ozaki
34	7 Oct 1990	Japan Open Golf Championship (3)	−7 (68-71-73-69=281)	2 strokes	Masashi Ozaki
35	23 Jun 1991	Yomiuri Sapporo Beer Open (2)	−16 (65-65-71-71=272)	3 strokes	Rick Gibson
36	13 Oct 1991	Japan Open Golf Championship (4)	[phone]=290)	Playoff	Noboru Sugai
37	24 May 1992	Pepsi Ube Kosan Open	−13 (67-72-64-72=275)	5 strokes	Hirofumi Miyase
38	2 Aug 1992	NST Niigata Open	−13 (70-68-67-70=275)	2 strokes	Shigenori Mori
39	6 Sep 1992	Japan PGA Match-Play Championship Promise Cup (3)	3 and 1		Naomichi Ozaki
40	19 Sep 1993	ANA Open (4)	−14 (67-67-67-73=274)	4 strokes	Naomichi Ozaki, Peter Senior, Katsunari Takahashi
41	5 Dec 1993	Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup (2)	−18 (69-65-69-67=270)	3 strokes	Shigeki Maruyama
42	20 Mar 1994	Dydo Shizuoka Open	−8 (71-71-69-69=280)	Playoff	Tōru Nakamura
43	17 Apr 1994	Tsuruya Open	−9 (68-70-70-71=279)	Playoff	Tsutomu Higa
44	22 May 1994	Pepsi Ube Kosan Open (2)	−16 (65-67-67-69=268)	3 strokes	Tsukasa Watanabe
45	7 May 1995	Fujisankei Classic (2)	−12 (66-70-70-66=272)	2 strokes	Masahiro Kuramoto
46	2 Jun 2002	Diamond Cup Tournament (4)	−19 (67-66-68-68=269)	2 strokes	Tomohiro Kondo, Hirofumi Miyase, Christian Peña
47	17 Nov 2002	Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (2)	−16 (69-66-67-70=272)	1 stroke	Hidemichi Tanaka
48	12 Nov 2006	Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (3)	−13 (71-68-71-65=275)	1 stroke	Toru Taniguchi

*Note: The 1986 Mizuno Open was shortened to 63 holes due to rain.
¹Co-sanctioned by the Asia Golf Circuit

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (7–6)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1978	Japan PGA Championship	Fujio Kobayashi	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2	1981	Golf Digest Tournament	Toyotake Nakao	Lost to par on fifth extra hole
3	1982	Fujisankei Classic	Graham Marsh	Won with par on first extra hole
4	1983	JPGA East-West Tournament	Saburo Fujiki	Won with birdie on second extra hole
5	1985	Taiheiyo Club Masters	David Graham	Won with birdie on first extra hole
6	1986	Polaroid Cup Golf Digest Tournament	David Ishii	Won with par on fifth extra hole
7	1990	Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup	Naomichi Ozaki	Lost to birdie on third extra hole
8	1991	Japan Open Golf Championship	Noboru Sugai	Won with par on first extra hole
9	1992	Japan PGA Championship	Masahiro Kuramoto	Lost to par on second extra hole
10	1994	Dydo Shizuoka Open	Tōru Nakamura	Won with par on first extra hole
11	1994	Tsuruya Open	Tsutomu Higa	Won with par on second extra hole
12	2002	JCB Classic Sendai	Toru Suzuki	Lost to par on second extra hole
13	2004	JCB Classic Sendai	Takashi Kamiyama, Tomohiro Kondo	Kamiyama won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (5)

• 1976 Mizuno Pro Rookies Tournament, Young Lions Tournament
• 1977 Young Lions Tournament, Nihon Kokudo Keikaku Summers
• 1986 Nissan Cup Individual Trophy

Japan Senior PGA Tour wins (5)

• 2005 Japan Senior Open
• 2006 Japan PGA Senior Championship, Japan Senior Open
• 2008 Japan Senior Open
• 2013 Starts Senior Golf Tournament

Results in major championships

Tournament	1978	1979
Masters Tournament	CUT
U.S. Open
The Open Championship	T17	CUT
PGA Championship

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament				T16	T33	T47	T8	CUT	T33	CUT
U.S. Open				T26	CUT		T53	T9	T32
The Open Championship					T36		T8	T59
PGA Championship				CUT	T10	CUT	T47	CUT	3

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament		T10	CUT			CUT
U.S. Open
The Open Championship			CUT		T55	T49
PGA Championship		CUT	T21	CUT	T61	CUT	T52

Tournament	2000	2001	2002
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship			CUT
PGA Championship

  Top 10

  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	0	0	2	3	11	6
U.S. Open	0	0	0	0	1	1	5	4
The Open Championship	0	0	0	0	1	2	9	6
PGA Championship	0	0	1	1	2	3	12	6
Totals	0	0	1	1	6	9	37	22

• Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (1986 Masters – 1986 PGA)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (six times)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Players Championship	T16	T54	CUT	T64	T15	T27	CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

• World Cup (representing Japan): 1996
• Nissan Cup/Kirin Cup (representing Japan): 1985, 1986 (winners), 1987, 1988
• Dunhill Cup (representing Japan): 1986
• Dynasty Cup (representing Japan): 2003

See also

• List of golfers with most Japan Golf Tour wins

References

1. 69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking
2. Winokur, Jon (2002). How to Win at Golf: Without Actually Playing Well. Pavilion Books. p. 14. ISBN 978-1862055919.

External links

• Tsuneyuki Nakajima at the Japan Golf Tour official site
• Tsuneyuki Nakajima at the Official World Golf Ranking official site