Masahiro Kuramoto

Masahiro Kuramoto
倉本昌弘
Masahiro Kuramoto; 倉本昌弘
Personal information
Nickname	Massy
Born	9 September 1955 (age 69); Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Height	1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	66 kg (146 lb; 10.4 st)
Sporting nationality	Japan
Career
Turned professional	1981
Current tour(s)	European Senior Tour; Japan PGA Senior Tour
Former tour(s)	Japan Golf Tour; PGA Tour; Champions Tour
Professional wins	47
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour	30 (6th all time)
European Senior Tour	2
Other	15
Best results in major championships;
Masters Tournament	DNP
PGA Championship	T42: 1982
U.S. Open	CUT: 1993, 1994
The Open Championship	T4: 1982

Masahiro "Massy" Kuramoto (倉本昌弘, Kuramoto Masahiro, born 9 September 1955) is a Japanese professional golfer.

Early life

Kuramoto was born in Hiroshima Prefecture. He turned professional in 1981.

Professional career

Kuramoto won 30 tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour, ranking sixth on the career list. He ranks 13th on the career money list with earnings of just over 1 billion ¥.

Kuramoto was medalist at the 1992 PGA Tour qualifying school and had full playing rights on the tour in 1993. He played 65 times on the PGA Tour from 1978 to 1997. His best finish was tied for fourth place at the 1982 Open Championship, which was also his best finish in a major championship.

Senior career

In 2005, Kuramoto turned 50 and was eligible to play on the Champions Tour. He qualified at the 2005 Champions Tour qualifying school. He made his first start at the Turtle Bay Championship in January 2006. His best finish on the Champions Tour was a fourth-place finish in the 2006 Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. He also won two European Senior Tour events in 2010 and 2012.

Amateur wins

1975 Japan Amateur Championship
1977 Japan Amateur Championship
1980 Japan Amateur Championship

Professional wins (47)

Japan Golf Tour wins (30)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	28 Sep 1980	Chushikoku Open (as an amateur)	−7 (69-70-68-74=281)	4 strokes	Kenji Sogame
2	16 Aug 1981	Nihon Kokudo Keikaku Summers	−8 (65-72-72-71=280)	5 strokes	Saburo Fujiki, Keiichi Hoshino
3	5 Sep 1981	Chushikoku Open (2)	−3 (70-76-67=213)	5 strokes	Hideto Shigenobu
4	20 Sep 1981	ANA Sapporo Open	−6 (67-73-69-73=282)	3 strokes	Kikuo Arai
5	11 Oct 1981	Tokai Classic	−7 (68-71-70=209)*	Playoff	Fujio Kobayashi, Tōru Nakamura, Hideto Shigenobu
6	25 Jul 1982	Japan PGA Championship	−14 (67-69-69-69=274)	4 strokes	Hsieh Min-Nan
7	4 Sep 1982	Chushikoku Open (3)	−10 (67-70-73-68=278)	4 strokes	Norio Mikami
8	3 Sep 1983	Chushikoku Open (4)	−16 (70-66-70-66=272)	5 strokes	Hideto Shigenobu
9	9 Oct 1983	Tokai Classic (2)	−12 (64-69-72-71=276)	2 strokes	Naomichi Ozaki
10	2 Sep 1984	Chushikoku Open (5)	+5 (68-73-72-76=289)	Playoff	Hideto Shigenobu
11	21 Oct 1984	Bridgestone Tournament	−9 (67-74-67-71=279)	Playoff	Chen Tze-chung, Yoshihisa Iwashita, Sam Torrance
12	29 Sep 1985	Gene Sarazen Jun Classic	−7 (66-72-71=209)*	Shared title with Kazushige Kono and Payne Stewart
13	27 Oct 1985	Bridgestone Open (2)	−15 (71-67-68-67=273)	1 stroke	Isao Aoki
14	21 Sep 1986	ANA Open (2)	−7 (73-72-66-70=281)	2 strokes	Isao Aoki
15	5 Oct 1986	Tokai Classic (3)	−17 (68-69-65-69=271)	9 strokes	Shinsaku Maeda
16	23 Aug 1987	Maruman Open	−24 (64-62-67-71=264)	4 strokes	Masashi Ozaki
17	6 Sep 1987	Chushikoku Open (6)	−8 (71-70-70-69=280)	5 strokes	Tadami Ueno
18	5 Jun 1988	Sendai Classic	−9 (67-67-70=204)*	2 strokes	Futoshi Irino
19	19 Jun 1988	Yomiuri Sapporo Beer Open	−11 (68-66-74-69=277)	4 strokes	Ian Baker-Finch, Tsukasa Watanabe, Yoshikazu Yokoshima
20	3 Jul 1988	Kansai Pro Championship	−12 (71-69-68-68=276)	1 stroke	Yurio Akitomi, Norio Mikami
21	28 Aug 1988	KBC Augusta	−12 (67-71-65-73=276)	2 strokes	Hajime Meshiai, Masashi Ozaki, Nobumitsu Yuhara
22	4 Sep 1988	Chushikoku Open (7)	−22 (67-63-65-71=266)	13 strokes	Tadami Ueno
23	25 Mar 1990	Seto Uthumi Open	+7 (75-67-78-75=295)	1 stroke	Ryoken Kawagishi, Noboru Sugai
24	10 Nov 1991	Acom International	32 pts (7-7-18=32)*	10 points	Brent Franklin, Tōru Nakamura, Yoshi Mizumaki
25	17 May 1992	Japan PGA Championship (2)	−7 (68-71-71-71=281)	Playoff	Tsuneyuki Nakajima
26	25 Oct 1992	Bridgestone Open (3)	−17 (68-67-70-66=271)	Playoff	Tetsu Nishikawa
27	13 Dec 1992	Daikyo Open	−13 (66-73-67-65=271)	4 strokes	David Ishii
28	5 Jun 1994	JCB Classic Sendai (2)	−13 (71-65-67-68=271)	2 strokes	Roger Mackay, Toshiaki Sudo
29	10 Sep 1995	Suntory Open	−15 (67-64-71-71=273)	3 strokes	Takaaki Fukuzawa, Satoshi Higashi, Nobuo Serizawa
30	28 Sep 2003	Acom International (2)	−13 (59-69-70-73=271)	Playoff	Katsumasa Miyamoto, Masashi Ozaki

*Note: Tournament shortened to 54 holes due to rain.

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (6–4)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1981	Tokai Classic	Fujio Kobayashi, Tōru Nakamura, Hideto Shigenobu	Won with par on first extra hole
2	1983	Gene Sarazen Jun Classic	Masashi Ozaki	Lost to par on first extra hole
3	1984	Chushikoku Open	Hideto Shigenobu
4	1984	Bridgestone Tournament	Chen Tze-chung, Yoshihisa Iwashita, Sam Torrance	Won with eagle on first extra hole
5	1985	Bridgestone Aso Open	Hsieh Min-Nan
6	1991	Sapporo Tokyu Open	Rick Gibson, Shinsaku Maeda	Gibson won with birdie on first extra hole
7	1992	Japan PGA Championship	Tsuneyuki Nakajima	Won with par on second extra hole
8	1992	Nikkei Cup	Kiyoshi Murota	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
9	1992	Bridgestone Open	Tetsu Nishikawa	Won with birdie on second extra hole
10	2003	Acom International	Katsumasa Miyamoto, Masashi Ozaki	Won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (5)

1981 Wakayama Open, Hyogo Open
1983 House Foods Kyosen Invitation
1985 KSB Setonaikai Open
2014 Legend Charity Pro-Am

European Senior Tour wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	28 Nov 2010 (2011 season)	Handa Cup Senior Masters¹	−17 (69-71-66-65=271)	4 strokes	Satoshi Higashi, Frankie Miñoza, Kiyoshi Murota
2	24 Jun 2012	Van Lanschot Senior Open	E (75-72-69=216)	2 strokes	Andrew Oldcorn

¹Co-sanctioned by the Japan PGA Senior Tour

Japan PGA Senior Tour wins (10)

2007 Big Raisac Senior Open
2010 Japan Senior Open, Handa Cup Senior Masters
2014 Japan Senior Open, Iwasaki Shiratsuyu Senior Tournament
2015 Kyoshinkai Hiroshima Senior Championship
2016 Uniden Grand Senior Championship, Iwasaki Shiratsuyu Senior Tournament
2018 Uniden Grand Senior Championship
2019 Starts Senior Golf Tournament

Results in major championships

Tournament	1978	1982	1983	1984	1986	1987	1991	1993	1994	1995
U.S. Open								CUT	CUT
The Open Championship	CUT	T4	T45	CUT	T30	CUT	CUT
PGA Championship		T42			CUT					CUT

Note: Kuramoto never played in the Masters Tournament.

Top 10

Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1984 Open Championship)
"T" = tied

Team appearances

This list may be incomplete.

Amateur

Eisenhower Trophy (representing Japan): 1976

Professional

Dunhill Cup (representing Japan): 1985, 1992
Four Tours World Championship (representing Japan): 1988, 1990
Royal Trophy (Asian team): 2006 (non-playing captain)

External links

Masahiro Kuramoto at the Japan Golf Tour official site
Masahiro Kuramoto at the PGA of Japan official website
Masahiro Kuramoto at the PGA Tour official site
Masahiro Kuramoto at the European Tour official site
Masahiro Kuramoto at the Official World Golf Ranking official site