LPGA Toto Japan Classic

View the list of champions and read about the tournament's history

Shanshan Feng hits her tee shot on the 18th hole during the second round of the TOTO Japan Classic 2016 at the Taiheiyo Club Minori Course
2016 Toto Japan Classic winner Shanshan Feng. Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images

The Toto Japan Classic is a long-running women's golf tournament in Japan that is co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour along with the LPGA of Japan Tour (JLPGA). It is usually played late in the year, typically November, and is 54 holes in length. From 1999 through 2014, it was known as the Mizuno Classic.

2020 Toto Japan Classic

  • When: Nov. 5-8, 2020
  • Where: Taiheiyo Club in Ibaraki, Japan

2019 Tournament
LPGA of Japan star Ai Suzuki earned her first win on the American LPGA Tour. Suzuki carded a final-round 67 and finished at 17-under 199. That was three strokes better than runner-up Hyo Joo Kim. Suzuki had five wins on the JLPGA already in 2019, and 14 for her career.

2018 Toto Japan Classic
Nineteen-year-old Nasa Hataoka of Japan won for the second time in the 2018 LPGA Tour season, but for the first time in Japan as a member of the LPGA. Hataoka's 14-under-par total of 202 was two strokes better than runners-up Momoko Ueda, Carlota Ciganda and Saki Nagamine.

LPGA tournament site

LPGA Toto Japan Classic Records

  • 18 holes: 63 - Sakura Yokomine, 2011; Young Kim, 2005; Annika Sorenstam, 2004 and twice in 2003; Shanshan Feng, 2017
  • 54 holes: 192 - Annika Sorenstam, 2003

LPGA Toto Japan Classic Golf Courses

In 2017, the tournament moved to the Minori Course at Taiheyo Club in Ibaraki, in Osaka Prefecture in the north of Japan. In 2018, it travels to Shiga, Japan, and the Seta Golf Club.

The previous golf course was Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club in Shima-shi, a city in Mie Prefecture, southwest of Osaka. It had been he site of the Mizuno Classic since 2006. The tournament visited multiple courses around Japan prior to 2006, played in about a dozen different locations.

LPGA Toto Japan Classic Trivia and Notes

  • Jane Blalock's 27th and final LPGA win happened at the 1985 Mazda Japan Classic.
  • Annika Sorenstam won this tournament five times in a row from 2001 through 2005. That shares the record for most overall wins at the same LPGA tournament, and holds the record for most consecutive wins at the same LPGA tournament.
  • At the 2003 tournament, Sorenstam set the LPGA Tour record for lowest 54-hole stroke total with a winning total of 192. She also set the tour's all-time record for most strokes under par in a 54-hole event at 24-under.
  • Also in 2003, Sorenstam established the tournament's 18-hole scoring record of 63, a mark that has been tied several times since. But at the 2003 tournament, Annika shot that score two rounds in a row, in the first and second rounds.
  • Grace Park was runner-up to Sorenstam three consecutive years, 2002-2004. But in 2003 and 2004, Sorenstam's winning margin over Park was nine strokes both times.
  • No other golfer has won more than twice, but among those 2-time champs is Hall of Famer Betsy King. King won her titles back-to-back in 1992-93. Shanshan Feng also won back-to-back in 2016-17.
  • Momoko Ueda punctuated her victory at the 2007 Mizuno Classic with a double eagle in the final round. At the time, it was just the eighth double eagle in the history of the JLPGA Tour. Ueda earned her LPGA membership via that win.

Winners of the Toto Japan Classic

(p-won playoff; w-weather shortened)

2019 - Ai Suzuki, 199
2018 - Nasa Hataoka, 202
2017 - Shanshan Feng, 197
2016 - Shanshan Feng, 203
2015 - Sun-Ju Ahn-p, 200

Mizuno Classic
2014 - Mi Hyang Lee-p, 205
2013 - Teresa Lu, 202
2012 - Stacy Lewis, 205
2011 - Momoko Ueda-p, 200
2010 - Jiyai Shin, 198
2009 - Bo Bae Song, 201
2008 - Jiyai Shin, 201
2007 - Momoko Ueda, 203
2006 - Karrie Webb, 202
2005 - Annika Sorenstam, 195
2004 - Annika Sorenstam, 194
2003 - Annika Sorenstam, 192
2002 - Annika Sorenstam, 201
2001 - Annika Sorenstam, 203
2000 - Lorie Kane-p, 204
1999 - Maria Hjorth, 201

Japan Classic
1998 - Hiromi Kobayashi-p, 205

Toray Japan Queens Cup
1997 - Liselotte Neumann, 205
1996 - Mayumi Hirase-p, 212
1995 - Woo-Soon Ko, 207
1994 - Woo-Soon Ko, 206
1993 - Betsy King, 205

Mazda Japan Classic
1992 - Betsy King, 205
1991 - Liselotte Neumann, 214
1990 - Debbie Massey-w, 133
1989 - Elaine Crosby, 205
1988 - Patty Sheehan-p, 206
1987 - Yuko Moriguchi, 206
1986 - Ai-Yu Tu-p, 213
1985 - Jane Blalock, 206
1984 - Nayoko Yoshikawa, 210
1983 - Pat Bradley, 206
1982 - Nancy Lopez, 207
1981 - Patty Sheehan, 213
1980 - Tatsuko Ohsako-p, 213

Mizuno Japan Classic
1979 - Amy Alcott, 211
1978 - Michiko Okada-p, 216
1977 - Debbie Massey, 220

LPGA/Japan Mizuno Classic
1976 - Donna Caponi, 217

(Before Becoming an Official LPGA Tournament:)

Japan Classic
1975 - Shelley Hamlin, 218

LPGA Japan Classic
1974 - Chako Higuchi, 218
1973 - Jan Ferraris, 216