Kanaya secures ‘dream’ Masters spot
NEW Asian amateur golf champion Takumi Kanaya said he was living out a childhood dream after emulating Japan’s top golfer Hideki Matsuyama by winning a spot in next year’s US Masters and British Open.
The 20-year-old Japanese Kanaya shot a five-under-par 65 Sunday to win the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship by two strokes from India’s Rayhan Thomas and compatriot and fellow Asian Games gold medal winner Keita Nakajima.
“This is simply like a dream. I have been dreaming of going to the Masters ever since I was a kid,” said Kanaya at Sentosa Golf Club after posting a 13under par total of 267 after four days of competition.
Japan’s world number 21 Matsuyama, 26, won the second of his two Asian Amateur titles in Singapore in 2011 before turning professional and rising to as high as world number two last year on the back of five US PGA Tour wins.
“I never expected to play the Masters and The Open so early in my career so this is just huge,” said Kanaya after following in the footsteps of Matsuyama.
He will now tee up alongside the world’s best professionals including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy at Augusta for April’s Masters and in July at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the British Open.
“I played well throughout the day but I think the key for me was how I kept my calm and composure during the round,” said Kanaya.
Kanaya and Nakajima were both part of Japan’s gold medal winning team at the Asian Games in August. Nakajima also won the individual gold.
Kevin Tway birdied his last five holes, three in a playoff, to win his first US PGA Tour title on Sunday at the Safeway Open, where Brandt Snedeker squandered a five-shot lead in the final round. Tway rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt at the third hole of sudden death to win the first event of the US tour’s 2018-19 season over Ryan Moore at Silverado Resort in Napa, California.
Snedeker, who started the day with a three-shot lead and led by five with 11 remaining in regulation, fell by the wayside with a par at the first playoff hole.
Moore matched Tway’s birdies at the first and second playoff holes, before succumbing at the third.
“I’m kind of at a loss for words,” said Tway, the 30-year-old son of 1986 PGA Championship winner Bob Tway. “I think I birdied my last five holes — that always helps.”
He had birdied 17 and 18 in regulation to complete a one-under par 71 at Silverado Resort in Napa, California, finishing tied with Moore and Snedeker on 14-under par 274.