Taiga Semikawa

Taiga Semikawa (Japanese: 蟬川 泰果, born 11 January 2001) is a Japanese professional golfer. He had a very successful amateur career where he won twice on the Japan Golf Tour and became number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Taiga Semikawa
Personal information
Born (2001-01-11) 11 January 2001
Katō, Hyōgo, Japan
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight77 kg (170 lb)
Sporting nationality Japan
Career
CollegeTohoku Fukushi University
Turned professional2022
Current tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Professional wins4
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour3
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenDNP
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 2023

Early life and amateur career

Semikawa was born in Hyōgo, Kansai region. He is named after Tiger Woods and started to play golf with plastic clubs at the age of age one. He was educated at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, same school as Hideki Matsuyama.[1]

In 2021, he won both the Kansai Amateur Championship and Kanto Collegiate Championship, and was runner-up at the Japan Collegiate Championship. In 2022, he again won the Kanto Collegiate Championship, and was 3rd at the Japan Amateur Championship.[2]

He came to national attention at the Kansai Open in April 2022, which he led after rounds of 64 and 67, but collapsed in the final round with a 77. In June, he won the Japan Challenge Tour's Japan Create Challenge in Fukuoka by two strokes with a score of 63 on the final day.[3]

Semikawa represented Japan at the 2022 Eisenhower Trophy at Le Golf National in France where he had the second lowest individual score, a stroke behind Tobias Jonsson of Sweden.[4]

In September 2022 he won the Panasonic Open on the Japan Golf Tour, setting a new amateur record of 61 in round three. Afterwards he ascended to number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, becoming the fourth Japanese to rise to the number one position following Hideki Matsuyama, Takumi Kanaya and Keita Nakajima. In October he won the Japan Open, the first amateur to win since the tournament's inception in 1927, marking his third victory in his last three starts in professional tournaments.[5]

Professional career

Semikawa turned professional after he won the Japan Open in October 2022, and made his professional debut at the Mynavi ABC Championship in his home prefecture of Hyōgo.[6] In December, he represented the winning side in the Hitachi 3Tours Championship.

In 2023, he won the Kansai Open at Izumigaoka Country Club in Osaka, taking revenge for his final round collapse as an amateur the previous year.[3] He made his major debut at the 2023 Open Championship, having earned a start through his Japan Open win.[1]

Amateur wins
  • 2021 Kansai Amateur Championship, Kanto Collegiate Championship
  • 2022 Kanto Collegiate Championship

Source:[2]

Professional wins (4)

Japan Golf Tour wins (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 25 Sep 2022 Panasonic Open Golf Championship
(as an amateur)		 −22 (71-68-61-66=266) 1 stroke Japan Aguri Iwasaki
2 23 Oct 2022 Japan Open Golf Championship
(as an amateur)		 −10 (64-70-63-73=270) 2 strokes Japan Kazuki Higa
3 16 Apr 2023 Kansai Open Golf Championship −17 (69-67-64-67=267) 4 strokes Japan Takahiro Hataji

Japan Challenge Tour wins (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 19 Jun 2022 Japan Create Challenge
(as an amateur)		 −20 (67-66-63=196) 2 strokes Japan Tomofumi Ouchi

Results in major championships
Tournament 2023
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship
U.S. Open
The Open Championship CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

References
  1. "Taiga Semikawa Bio". The R&A. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  2. "Taiga Semikawa". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  3. "蝉川泰果がプロ初優勝 前年大会で悔し涙のリベンジ". Golf Digest (in Japanese). 16 April 2023. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  4. "WATC 2022 Leaderboard". International Golf Federation. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  5. Schupak, Adam (23 October 2022). "World No. 1 amateur Taiga Semikawa beats the pros again, this time at Japan Open". Golfweek. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  6. "Japan Open champion Taiga Semikawa turns pro". The Japan Times. 1 November 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
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