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Masaru tops Sanyo Shimbun golf tourney
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Posted on Dec 05 2013
Namba Masaru won the 2013 Sanyo Shimbun Amateur Golf Tournament held last Saturday, Nov. 30, at the Laolao Bay Golf & Resort.
Masaru fired the lowest net score among a field of 75 Japanese amateur golfers—41 men and 34 women—in the double Peoria tournament.
He shot a gross of 75 following a front nine of 37 and back nine of 38. Minus his 4.80 handicap, Masaru came away with a tournament-best 70.20 net.
R&C general manager Takayuki Tanaka, who organized the tournament, said it was a perfect win for Masaru because the 75 he shot represented his personally best score. He won both the best gross and best net categories of the yearly overseas tournament.
Japan’s No. 1 amateur female golfer, Moriya Atsuko, was without peer in the women’s division. She shot a gross of 77 and also managed to finish third in the double Peoria contest.
Masaru, Atsuko, and other winners of the 2013 Sanyo Shimbun Amateur Golf Tournament were feted in an awards banquet Saturday night at the Hyatt Regency Saipan poolside.
Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Perry Tenorio and 2013 Miss Liberation Day Queen Nicole Ichihara Sablan were present in the awards ceremony.
Sanyo Shimbun general manager Kensuke Shirahige was also in attendance and said every year the company holds the tournament overseas and it’s the first time Saipan hosted the competition
“Golf course is very good and Saipan atmosphere is also good,” Tanaka quoted Kensuke as saying.
Tanaka also said because of Sanyo Shimbun’s pleasant experience on Saipan, Shirahige is already thinking of holding the 2015 edition of the tournament on the island. Incidentally, 2015 marks Sanyo Shimbun’s 135th anniversary.
In previous years, the Sanyo Shimbun Amateur Golf Tournament was held in Guam and Hawaii.
Guam’s Leo Palace hosted the event from 2006 to 2008 before it moved to Hawaii in 2009. The U.S. territory’s Mangilao Golf Club then was home for the tournament the past three years, 2010-2012.
Sanyo Shimbun is a Japanese language daily newspaper published by The Sanyo Shimbun Co., Ltd. It was founded on Jan. 4, 1879. (Saipan Tribune)
