Takaaki Kono
Personal information
Born(1940-01-04)4 January 1940
Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Died22 April 2010(2010-04-22) (aged 70)
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight64 kg (141 lb; 10.1 st)
Sporting nationality Japan
Career
StatusProfessional
Former tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Asia Golf Circuit
Professional wins17
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour2
Other15
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT12: 1970
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenDNP
The Open ChampionshipDNP

Takaaki Kono (4 January 1940 – 22 April 2010) was a Japanese professional golfer.

Early life

Kono was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan in 1940. He started playing golf at the age of 15.[1]

Professional career

Kono had much success on the Japanese and Asian circuits at the beginning of his career, winning several times. One of his top successes was at the 1969 Malaysian Open. Six shots behind at the beginning of the final round, Kono fired a 66 (−6) to capture the title by one shot over New Zealand's John Lister and Australia's David Graham.[2]

This performance helped him earn his first special foreign invitation to the Masters Tournament that April. At Augusta, he shot a third round 68 (−4) put him in the top ten and a slight chance for the title.[3] However he stumbled home on the final day and did not seriously contend for the championship, won by George Archer.[4] This would be the beginning of a relatively long relationship with the event, however, as Kono would be invited to play in the tournament several more times. The following year, Kono played just as well, again shooting another 68 (this time in the second round) to place in the top ten once again[5] where he remained after the third round.[6] A final round 74 assured that he did not seriously contend on Sunday but he would pick up his best performance in a major championship. Kono would play in the event several more times in the early 1970s.

Kono continued to have success on the Japanese and Asian circuits, winning multiple events. He won the First Flight Tournament during the first official season of the Japan Golf Tour, but would not win again on the tour until a decade later at the Kanagawa Open.

Professional wins (17)

PGA of Japan Tour wins (2)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runners-up
1 23 Sep 1973 First Flight Tournament −18 (65-68-65=198)* 6 strokes Philippines Ben Arda, Japan Masashi Ozaki
2 24 Jul 1983 Kanagawa Open −8 (64-72=136) 3 strokes Japan Yurio Akitomi, Japan Satoshi Higashi,
Japan Kazushige Kono

*Note: The 1973 First Flight Tournament was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.

Asia Golf Circuit (3)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
1 16 Mar 1969 Malaysian Open −8 (72-70-72-66=280) 1 stroke Australia David Graham, New Zealand John Lister
2 14 Mar 1971 Malaysian Open (2) −19 (67-66-64-72=269) 2 strokes Australia David Graham
3 5 Mar 1972 Singapore Open −9 (67-70-74-68=279) 4 strokes Japan Takashi Murakami

Other wins (12)

This list may be incomplete

Results in major championships

Tournament 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973
Masters Tournament T13 T12 CUT T19 T51

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Note: Kono only played in the Masters Tournament.

Team appearances

References

  1. ↑ "Takaaki Kono – Profile". Japan Golf Tour Organization. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  2. ↑ "Japanese Comes from Behind". Glasgow Herald. Reuters. 17 March 1969.
  3. ↑ "Casper Leads in Masters". The Spokesman-Review. 13 April 1969. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  4. ↑ "Takaaki Kono". Golf Major Championships. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  5. ↑ "Golf". Eugene Register-Guard. 11 April 1970. p. 2B. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  6. ↑ "Sports Scoreboard". Eugene Register-Guard. 12 April 1970. p. 6B. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Kono wins Japan golf". The Tampa Tribune. Tampa, Florida. AP. 9 June 1973. p. 2-C. Retrieved 6 February 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Japan enter 36 for Malaysian golf". The Straits Times. 26 January 1971. p. 29. Retrieved 6 February 2021 – via National Library Board (Singapore).
  9. ↑ "Siz Japanese pros start island safari". Honolulu Advertiser. Honolulu, Hawaii. 3 December 1971. p. F-4. Retrieved 6 February 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
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