Katsuragawa bids for back-to-back victory at The Crowns

Yuto Katsuragawa's next DP World Tour adventure will have to wait, as he aims for a second straight JGTO victory at The Crowns in his hometown of Aichi this week.

The 25-year-old is riding high on confidence after clinching victory at last week's ISPS HANDA Championship, a tournament jointly sanctioned by the DP World Tour. 

This feat granted him full status on the European circuit, which he can immediately utilise by registering for the China Open.

However, Katsuragawa faced disappointment when he couldn't obtain his visa in time, preventing him from participating.

But Katsuragawa still has plenty to look forward to this week back home, especially with The Crowns taking place at the Nagoya Golf Club's Wago Course.

Local fans will be thrilled to witness their hometown hero in action. Katsuragawa was born in Kiyosu City.

Katsuragawa has maintained a perfect attendance record at the Wago Course since his debut as an amateur in 2019. He progressed to the weekend rounds in his inaugural year before finishing T59.

His performance has shown improvement with each successive edition, achieving T57 in 2021, T24 in 2022, and an impressive T13 last year.

To claim victory again this week won't be an easy task. Among those Katsuragawa must outshine is none other than defending champion Hiroshi Iwata.

Iwata has an impressive track record in the past three editions, having won in 2021 and secured solo third place in 2022.

All eyes will be on Iwata as he aims to become only the third player in history to win the tournament back-to-back.

JGTO legends Isao Aoki and Masashi Ozaki are the only two players to have achieved this rare feat.

Also joining the fray this week is Takumi Kanaya, the winner of the Token Homemate Cup, along with other early top performers Ryosuke Kinoshita, Tatsunori Shogenji, Taihei Sato, and Yuta Sugiura.

Contested since the inaugural JGTO season in 1973, The Crown boasts a prestigious list of international winners, including Seve Ballesteros, Davis Love, Darren Clarke, and Justin Rose.

Among the other notable international challengers in the 105-man field this week are South Africa's Shaun Norris, Australia's Anthony Quayle and Brad Kennedy, Juvic Pagunsan and Justin De Los Santos of the Philippines, and Americans Todd Baek and Han Lee.

Ends.