Kota Kaneko joins Japan's global stars after capitalising on pathway onto DP World Tour

Mathieu Wood

In less than four years, five Japanese players have won titles on the DP World Tour.

Kota Kaneko became the latest to join that group with his victory at the Austrian Alpine Open presented by Kitzbühel Tirol on Sunday, following on from Yuto Katsuragawa, Rikuya Hoshino, Keita Nakajima and Ryo Hisatsune.

Their successes have all come since a formal route onto the DP World Tour for the top three players on the Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO) was initiated ahead of the 2023 Race to Dubai season, enhancing the global pathway system.

In the cases of Nakajima, Hoshino and most recently, Kaneko, three of the five Japanese winners on Tour are beneficiaries of the pathway.

So, from a 33-year gap between Isao Aoki becoming the first Japanese winner on the DP World Tour in 1983 to the first of three titles for Hideki Matsuyama in 2016, a transformative period of success for the country on the global stage has since ensued.

It is said that talent travels and the triumphs of the Japanese quintet are testament to that.

Players to earn DP World Tour membership via pathway with JGTO

Here, we take a look at the Japanese men who are making names for themselves worldwide.

Ryo Hisatsune

Every period of success has to have a start point, and the victory of Hisatsune at the Open de France in September 2023 opened the floodgates. A graduate of Qualifying School a year earlier, his triumph at Le Golf National came after an eye-catching debut campaign on the DP World Tour that featured six prior top tens. Following his win in France, he added another top ten at the Nedbank Golf Challenge before finishing tied 18th at the DP World Tour Championship. Those performances helped him end the 2023 season in 17th position on the final Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World as he secured dual membership with the PGA TOUR for the 2024 season, taking the tenth and final available card. Not only that but he also became the first Japanese player to be named Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year. He has since competed at three of golf's four Major Championships, and will complete the sweep at this month's U.S. Open. Since joining the PGA TOUR as a member, he has amassed nine top tens - including tied second at the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year as he rose to a career-high 55th in the Official World Golf Ranking in April.

Rikuya Hoshino

Just 140 days after Hisatsune's win in France, Hoshino joined the DP World Tour winner's circle at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Part of the inaugural three-strong cohort from the JGTO competing on golf's Global Tour in 2023, he comfortably retained his playing privileges for 2024 after a debut campaign that saw him finish tied third at the BMW International Open in Germany and add a further two top tens. He followed that with a fast start to the 2024 campaign, twice finishing runner-up over consecutive events in Australia and in Doha went one better. Three further top tens would follow across the rest of the campaign as he finished 16th on the season-long rankings to secure dual membership. However, he struggled on the PGA TOUR in 2025 and is this season back playing a full schedule on the DP World Tour, with the 30-year-old searching for first top ten ahead of teeing it up at this week's KLM Open.

Keita Nakajima

Following hot on the heels of Hoshino, Nakajima won the Hero Indian Open over the notoriously tough DLF G&CC. A prodigious talent, setting a record with 87 weeks atop the World Amateur Golf Ranking between 2020 and 2022, he made his debut in a Major at the Masters Tournament in 2022 after winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur a year earlier. In just his sixth DP World Tour start since earning his card by topping the JGTO Order of Merit in 2023, claimed a wire-to-wire victory in India. Despite three other top tens in his rookie DP World Tour campaign, including on his title defence in India, he missed out on dual membership with the PGA TOUR at the end of 2024. However, a year later, after a campaign that saw him finish second three times, he finished 17th on the Race to Dubai Rankings to earn one of the ten cards stateside for DP World Tour members. So far this year on the PGA TOUR, his best result is tied 13th at last month's OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic.

Yuto Katsuragawa

When the ISPS HANDA – CHAMPIONSHIP came around in April 2024 for its second edition as a DP World Tour event, hopes were high for a Japanese winner and they were well founded. But while a home champion duly emerged at Taiheiyo Club's Gotemba Course, it was a name not familiar to those on the DP World Tour. In just his fifth start, Katsuragawa won the event for a second time after also claiming the honours at the inaugural edition in 2022. In turn, Katsuragawa earned exempt status on the DP World Tour through to the end of the 2026 season. He has since struggled to produce consistent performances at the top end of leaderboards, but the 27-year-old has shown signs of his protential with a top ten at the Hainan Classic presented by MAEXTRO coming earlier this season.

Kota Kaneko

What is consistent with all five Japanese players is the early impact they have enjoyed, making light of taking their game from the familiarity of home soil to the challenges of navigating a global schedule. Twice a winner on the JGTO in 2025, Kaneko topped its Order of Merit to earn his shot at the DP World Tour. Only 23, Kaneko had never played on the DP World Tour prior to his season-opening start at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship. However, he made the cut at each of his opening eight events, a run that culminated with his first top ten at the Turkish Airlines Open. While that was followed by two missed cuts, including on his Major debut at the US PGA Championship, he finished tied second at the Soudal Open in Belgium a week later and can now call himself just the seventh Japanese player to win on the DP World Tour after holding his nerve amid a dramatic finish at Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith that means he is exempt until the end of the 2028 season.

Japan's winners on the DP World Tour