Golf's on the upswing with ISPS HANDA

Golf's on the upswing with ISPS HANDA

If there's one organisation that is currently making its presence greatly felt worldwide for their involvements in golf, it's none other than International Sports Promotion Society, or simply known as ISPS HANDA.

Founded by prominent businessman Haruhisa Handa in 2006, the Tokyo-based non-profit body has been extensively bankrolling professional and amateur tournaments worldwide over the years, with this week's ¥103,000,000 ISPS HANDA Championship in Japan being the latest to be played.

The newly-formed event was supposed to take centrestage as the first-ever JGTO and DP World Tour jointly-sanctioned tournament in Japan, but the plan had to be pushed back to 2023 due to the ongoing travel restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, the showdown would still go on as a domestic tournament at the PGM Ishioka Golf Club in Ibaraki, promising yet another thrilling affair as JGTO heads into its third leg of the season proper.

The Token Homemate Cup saw Jinichiro Kozuma claim a hard-fought victory following a playoff with Yuto Katsuragawa, while at last week's Kansai Open Golf Championship, it took until the final hole before Kazuki Higa could seal a one-shot win over Rikuya Hoshino.

Separately, the US$2,000,000 ISPS HANDA Championship in Spain will also run concurrently on the DP World Tour in Tarragona, Spain.

The ISPS HANDA Championship in Japan will be the sixth JGTO event funded by the organisation after it had previously backed ISPS Global Cup (2015-2016), ISPS HANDA Match Play (2017-2018) and last year's ISPS HANDA Gatsu-n to tobase Tour.

ISPS HANDA ambassadors such as Hideto Tanihara and Kozuma will be looking to bounce back from their lacklustre outing last week and make their sponsor proud of them this week.

Kozuma will be aiming to extend his lead at the top of the Order of Merit. Despite finishing 64th at the Kansai Open Golf Championship last week, the 27-year-old still holds on to his first place on ¥26,184,800.

As for Tanihara, he is struggling to replicate the form that won two titles in the last three tournaments last season. He came in tied 31st at the Token Homemate Cup and missed the cut last week.

The other ISPS HANDA-supported players in the 144-man field seeking to impress this week are Yuki Inamori. Naoto Nakanishi, Yoshinori Fujimoto and Koki Shiomi.

Hoshino will be hoping to be third time lucky after coming close on two occasions, including finishing third in the season-opener, while Ryosuke Kinoshita, two-time money list winner Shugo Imahira and Tomoharu Otsuki are also aiming to contend.

American Chan Kim, the reigning Order of Merit champion and South African Shaun Norris, the winner of two titles last season, will spearhead the international charge once again together with Han Lee, Todd Baek and Seungsu Han of the United States.

Lee will be the man to look out for after posting two top 10 finishes, including a third placing last week.

Outside Japan, the senior and women's tours in Europe and Australasia have also benefitted from ISPS HANDA's immense support.

The organisation also roped in the legendary Masashi 'Jumbo' Ozaki, Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington, and current world's top golfers such as Lydia Ko and Minjee Lee as their ambassadors.

It's no secret that founder Handa has the ambition to get golf included in the Paralympic Games. Although it has yet to materialise at the Tokyo 2020, he's set to continue his relentless pursuit.

Through ISPS HANDA ambassadors and sponsorship of tournaments, Handa was keen on getting his message sent across the planet.

"This is my life work, maybe that is why I am involved in so many tournaments," Handa told Reuters in an interview back in 2012.

"Always help to promote disabled golfers and blind golfers. I am a father, getting old, but, thanks to golf, getting young."