Toshimitsu Izawa (Japanese: 伊沢利光, born 2 March 1968) is a Japanese professional golfer. He is sometimes known outside Japan as Toshi Izawa.

Toshimitsu Izawa
伊沢利光
Personal information
Born (1968-03-02) 2 March 1968 (age 56)
Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Height1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st)
Sporting nationality Japan
Career
CollegeNihon Taiiku University
Turned professional1989
Current tour(s)Japan PGA Senior Tour
Former tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Professional wins19
Highest ranking15 (16 December 2001)[1]
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour16
Other3
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT4: 2001
PGA ChampionshipT18: 2003
U.S. OpenT44: 2001
The Open ChampionshipT22: 2002
Achievements and awards
Japan Golf Tour
money list winner
2001, 2003
Japan Golf Tour
Most Valuable Player
2001, 2003

Early life

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Izawa was born in Kanagawa, attended Nihon Taiiku University, and turned professional in 1989.

Professional career

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Izawa's career on the Japan Golf Tour developed quite slowly. His first win came in 1995, and he did not make the top ten on the money list until 1999, when he was thirty one years old. He went on to top the money list in 2001 and 2003. In the first of those years he set a record of ¥217,934,583 in earnings which survived though the 2004 season, and his dominant form in Japan lifted him into the top twenty in the Official World Golf Ranking.

He has 16 victories on the Japan Golf Tour and is eighth on the career money list (through 2013).

Izawa has only played a limited number of tournaments outside Japan, but in 2001 he finished tied fourth at the Masters Tournament, which is one of golf's four major championships, and tied for second at the PGA Tour's Nissan Open. In 2002, he won the WGC-World Cup for Japan in partnership with Shigeki Maruyama.

Professional wins (19)

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Japan Golf Tour wins (16)

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Legend
Flagship events (1)
Japan majors (3)
Other Japan Golf Tour (12)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 1 Oct 1995 Japan Open Golf Championship −7 (67-70-70-70=277) 1 stroke   Kazuhiko Hosokawa
2 11 Oct 1998 Tokai Classic −11 (73-66-70-68=277) 3 strokes   Nobumitsu Yuhara
3 25 Jul 1999 Aiful Cup −14 (67-72-68-67=274) 1 stroke   Toru Taniguchi
4 1 Aug 1999 NST Niigata Open Golf Championship −19 (64-67-68-70=269) 6 strokes   Kazuhiko Hosokawa
5 2 Jul 2000 JGTO TPC iiyama Cup −13 (63-70-70=203)* 3 strokes   Kaname Yokoo
6 27 Aug 2000 Hisamitsu-KBC Augusta −18 (67-65-71-67=270) 4 strokes   Shusaku Sugimoto
7 12 Nov 2000 Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters −14 (68-69-66-71=274) 1 stroke   Keiichiro Fukabori
8 27 May 2001 Diamond Cup Tournament −11 (77-68-64-68=277) Playoff   Hiroyuki Fujita,   Yuji Igarashi
9 23 Sep 2001 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (2) −18 (66-67-68-69=270) 2 strokes   Yūsaku Miyazato (a),   Shigeru Nonaka
10 7 Oct 2001 Georgia Tokai Classic (2) −16 (65-68-70-69=272) 2 strokes   Tomohiro Kondo,   Lin Keng-chi
11 21 Oct 2001 Bridgestone Open −14 (71-67-67-69=274) 1 stroke   Masashi Ozaki
12 28 Oct 2001 Philip Morris K.K. Championship −16 (67-67-66-72=272) 1 stroke   Hidemichi Tanaka,   Toru Taniguchi
13 6 Jul 2003 Japan Golf Tour Championship Shishido Hills Cup (2) −14 (70-63-68-69=270) 1 stroke   David Smail,   Tadahiro Takayama
14 13 Jul 2003 Woodone Open Hiroshima −13 (66-68-69-72=275) Playoff   Kiyoshi Murota
15 28 Aug 2005 Under Armour KBC Augusta −20 (67-65-67-65=264) 5 strokes   Prayad Marksaeng,   Ryuichi Oda
16 13 May 2007 Japan PGA Championship −5 (68-70-72-73=283) 1 stroke   Satoru Hirota

*Note: The 2000 JGTO TPC iiyama Cup was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (2–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1998 Casio World Open   Brian Watts Lost to birdie on second extra hole
2 2001 Diamond Cup Tournament   Hiroyuki Fujita,   Yuji Igarashi Won with par on first extra hole
3 2003 Woodone Open Hiroshima   Kiyoshi Murota Won with par on first extra hole

Other wins (1)

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Legend
World Golf Championships (1)
Other wins (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runners-up
1 15 Dec 2002 WGC-World Cup
(with   Shigeki Maruyama)
−36 (64-64-58-66=252) 2 strokes   United StatesPhil Mickelson and David Toms

Japan PGA Senior Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 27 Oct 2019 Fukuoka Senior Open Golf Tournament −8 (67-69=136) 1 stroke   Yoshinobu Tsukada
2 25 Aug 2024 Maruhan Cup Pacific Club Senior −12 (62-68=130) 1 stroke   Choi Ho-sung

Playoff record

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PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2001 Nissan Open   Robert Allenby,   Brandel Chamblee
  Dennis Paulson,   Jeff Sluman,
  Bob Tway
Allenby won with birdie on first extra hole

Results in major championships

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Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Masters Tournament T4 CUT CUT CUT
U.S. Open T44 WD CUT
The Open Championship T22 CUT
PGA Championship CUT T39 T53 T18
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004
Match Play R32 R32 R16 R64
Invitational T24 T14
Championship NT1 T25

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

Team appearances

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Week 50 2001 Ending 16 Dec 2001" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
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