GOLF – JAPAN’S Yuto Katsuragawa won his second DP World Tour title yesterday at the Genesis Championship at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan, South Korea and in the process secured his place at the upcoming end-of-season play-offs next month.
The 28-year-old carded a level par round of 71 to finish on 13 under and claim a victory two years and 180 days after the first of his career.
The Japanese registered just one birdie, at the fourth, but minimised blemishes on his scorecard with 16 pars before a closing bogey meant he finished two ahead of French duo Frederic Lacroix and Martin Couvra on 11 under, who also sealed their places in the play-offs with a share of second.
Katsuragawa, who entered the week in 106th place on the Race to Dubai Rankings fighting to keep his playing privileges for the 2027 season, has catapulted to 28th courtesy of his triumph in Cheonan and guaranteed his spot in the two Rolex Series events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
“After the first win, I had such a hard time, struggling with that time, but having the second win, this is definitely the greatest moment of my life,” said Katsuragawa.
Katsuragawa parred his opening two holes yesterday before taking advantage of a free drop following an errant tee-shot at the third with a superb approach to salvage par. That sparked an upturn in form as the Japanese leader then drained a 27-foot birdie putt at the fourth to extend his lead to three at 14 under.
He failed to take advantage of the par-five fifth, but playing partner Casey Jarvis made a birdie to trim the deficit to two shots. Jarvis cut the gap to one with another birdie at the eighth, but the South African double bogeyed the ninth to slip back alongside the chasing pack at 11 under, three behind the leader.
Pars were golden for Katsuragawa as he kept the rest of the field at arm’s length, although Antoine Rozner’s second birdie of the day at the 12th saw him close the gap to two in solo second. Katsuragawa remained at 14 under, but his lead returned to three shots when Rozner found the water at the 13th and double bogeyed.
Pressure ramped up on Katsuragawa when he got out of position with his first and third shots at the last, but he managed to make bogey and celebrate his first victory in over two years.
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