Mizuno Open

A tense final day at JFE Setonaikai Golf Club ended with Ryosuke Kinoshita, Guntaek Koh and Yuto Katsuragawa securing places in The 152nd Open at Royal Troon.

Kinoshita, pictured above, had the most reason to celebrate in Okayama as a final-round 71 and 12-under aggregate earned victory in The Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open, ending a near three-year wait for his third title on the Japan Golf Tour.

Now 32, Kinoshita won two events in June 2021, the month before he made his major debut in The 149th Open at Royal St George’s and finished T59.

That appearance was secured through The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) and he will now return to golf’s original Championship via the same process after taking the first of the three spots on offer at the Mizuno Open.

Koh, who was two shots behind Kinoshita, has already won four times on the Korean Tour at the age of 24. On this occasion, his second-place finish earned a hugely significant prize, the chance to make his first major appearance at Royal Troon.

The final qualifying place was dramatically claimed by the in-form Yuto Katsuragawa, another player who, like Kinoshita, has previously reached The Open through OQS.

Katsuragawa – the winner of last month’s ISPS Handa Championship – finished T47 in The 150th Open at St Andrews and also made the cut at the following year’s US Open.

His closing 71 on Sunday saw him finish level with Mikumu Horikawa and Shugo Imahira, with Katsuragawa qualifying courtesy of his superior position in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Imahira was left to rue a costly double-bogey on the 17th, which ultimately denied him a spot at Troon.

For Kinoshita, Koh and Katsuragawa, there is much to look forward to this July.