Emotional Norris ends three-year title drought by winning Golf Nippon Series JT Cup

Kanaya pips Hirata to money ranking title on final day of 2024 JGTO season

South Africa’s Shaun Norris produced a performance for the ages when he completed his fightback to win the season-ending Golf Nippon Series JT Cup with a final round two-under-par 68 on Sunday.
 
Norris’ four-day total of 12-under-par 268 saw the 42-year-old sign off his season with a two-shot victory over Naoyuki Kataoka at the Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club.
 
Takumi Kanaya made it a dramatic day as he pipped Kensei Hirata to the money ranking title by closing with a 67 to finish outright third while Keita Nakajima, who held the lead for the first three rounds, carded a disappointing 73 to settle for fourth place. 
 
Norris, who was determined to end his three-year title drought on the JGTO, entered the final round one shot back of Nakajima. He parred his first two holes before three birdies on holes three, six and nine shifted the advantage to him at the turn.
 
The 42-year-old picked up another gain on 10 and made seven straight pars from the 11^th hole. Holding a comfortable four-shot lead as he teed off on the par-three 18, Norris failed to hit his shot close to the pin and struggled to read the green, resulting in a double-bogey that he could afford to make.
 
“It’s the hardest green in the world and luckily, I had a four-shot lead going into the 18^th. It’s so hard to get anything close there and all I had to do was to make sure I stayed ahead in front of everybody else at that point,” said Norris.
 
Reflecting on his memorable victory as he broke down in tears at the prize giving ceremony and dedicated his victory to his late father, Norris said: “It’s a special week as it will be my dad’s birthday in a couple of days time. 
 
“I know he is looking down on me and he will be so proud of this. I want to thank my dad for making me so resilient and patient.  It has been a long and tough year. To finally come through and win an event as special as this one just makes it even better.”
 
Kanaya also made it a day to remember as he finally erased the heartbreak of narrowly missing out on the money ranking title last season to finally bask in his moment of glory.
 
““Today’s 18 holes felt like the longest I’ve ever played. My mother came from Hiroshima to support me, along with many fans. I’m really grateful for their support. I’m so happy I managed to do something which I could not do last year and that is to win the money ranking title this year!” said Kanaya.

Leading fourth round scores
All Japanese nationals unless indicated otherwise
 
268 – Shaun Norris (RSA) 67-68-65-68
270 – Naoyuki Kataoka 66-65-69-70
271 - Takumi Kanaya 71-65-68-67
272 - Keita Nakajima 65-66-68-73
273 - Ryosuke Kinoshita 70-71-66-66
 
Selected scores
280 – Kensei Hirata 72-66-72-70
281 – Ryo Ishikawa 73-70-68-70

Ends