Masahiro "Massy" Kuramoto (倉本昌弘, Kuramoto Masahiro, born 9 September 1955) is a Japanese professional golfer.

Masahiro Kuramoto
倉本昌弘
Personal information
NicknameMassy
Born (1955-09-09) 9 September 1955 (age 69)
Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Height1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight66 kg (146 lb; 10.4 st)
Sporting nationality Japan
Career
Turned professional1981
Current tour(s)European Senior Tour
Japan PGA Senior Tour
Former tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
PGA Tour
Champions Tour
Professional wins47
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour30 (6th all time)
European Senior Tour2
Other15
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipT42: 1982
U.S. OpenCUT: 1993, 1994
The Open ChampionshipT4: 1982

Early life

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Kuramoto was born in Hiroshima Prefecture. He turned professional in 1981.

Professional career

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Kuramoto won 30 tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour, ranking sixth on the career list. He ranks 13th on the career money list with earnings of just over 1 billion ¥.

Kuramoto was medalist at the 1992 PGA Tour qualifying school and had full playing rights on the tour in 1993. He played 65 times on the PGA Tour from 1978 to 1997. His best finish was tied for fourth place at the 1982 Open Championship, which was also his best finish in a major championship.

Senior career

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In 2005, Kuramoto turned 50 and was eligible to play on the Champions Tour. He qualified at the 2005 Champions Tour qualifying school. He made his first start at the Turtle Bay Championship in January 2006. His best finish on the Champions Tour was a fourth-place finish in the 2006 Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. He also won two European Senior Tour events in 2010 and 2012.

Amateur wins

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  • 1975 Japan Amateur Championship
  • 1977 Japan Amateur Championship
  • 1980 Japan Amateur Championship

Professional wins (47)

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Japan Golf Tour wins (30)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 28 Sep 1980 Chushikoku Open
(as an amateur)
−7 (69-70-68-74=281) 4 strokes   Kenji Sogame
2 16 Aug 1981 Nihon Kokudo Keikaku Summers −8 (65-72-72-71=280) 5 strokes   Saburo Fujiki,   Keiichi Hoshino
3 5 Sep 1981 Chushikoku Open (2) −3 (70-76-67=213) 5 strokes   Hideto Shigenobu
4 20 Sep 1981 ANA Sapporo Open −6 (67-73-69-73=282) 3 strokes   Kikuo Arai
5 11 Oct 1981 Tokai Classic −7 (68-71-70=209)* Playoff   Fujio Kobayashi,   Tōru Nakamura,
  Hideto Shigenobu
6 25 Jul 1982 Japan PGA Championship −14 (67-69-69-69=274) 4 strokes   Hsieh Min-Nan
7 4 Sep 1982 Chushikoku Open (3) −10 (67-70-73-68=278) 4 strokes   Norio Mikami
8 3 Sep 1983 Chushikoku Open (4) −16 (70-66-70-66=272) 5 strokes   Hideto Shigenobu
9 9 Oct 1983 Tokai Classic (2) −12 (64-69-72-71=276) 2 strokes   Naomichi Ozaki
10 2 Sep 1984 Chushikoku Open (5) +5 (68-73-72-76=289) Playoff   Hideto Shigenobu
11 21 Oct 1984 Bridgestone Tournament −9 (67-74-67-71=279) Playoff   Chen Tze-chung,   Yoshihisa Iwashita,
  Sam Torrance
12 29 Sep 1985 Gene Sarazen Jun Classic −7 (66-72-71=209)* Shared title with   Kazushige Kono and   Payne Stewart
13 27 Oct 1985 Bridgestone Open (2) −15 (71-67-68-67=273) 1 stroke   Isao Aoki
14 21 Sep 1986 ANA Open (2) −7 (73-72-66-70=281) 2 strokes   Isao Aoki
15 5 Oct 1986 Tokai Classic (3) −17 (68-69-65-69=271) 9 strokes   Shinsaku Maeda
16 23 Aug 1987 Maruman Open −24 (64-62-67-71=264) 4 strokes   Masashi Ozaki
17 6 Sep 1987 Chushikoku Open (6) −8 (71-70-70-69=280) 5 strokes   Tadami Ueno
18 5 Jun 1988 Sendai Classic −9 (67-67-70=204)* 2 strokes   Futoshi Irino
19 19 Jun 1988 Yomiuri Sapporo Beer Open −11 (68-66-74-69=277) 4 strokes   Ian Baker-Finch,   Tsukasa Watanabe,
  Yoshikazu Yokoshima
20 3 Jul 1988 Kansai Pro Championship −12 (71-69-68-68=276) 1 stroke   Yurio Akitomi,   Norio Mikami
21 28 Aug 1988 KBC Augusta −12 (67-71-65-73=276) 2 strokes   Hajime Meshiai,   Masashi Ozaki,
  Nobumitsu Yuhara
22 4 Sep 1988 Chushikoku Open (7) −22 (67-63-65-71=266) 13 strokes   Tadami Ueno
23 25 Mar 1990 Seto Uthumi Open +7 (75-67-78-75=295) 1 stroke   Ryoken Kawagishi,   Noboru Sugai
24 10 Nov 1991 Acom International 32 pts (7-7-18=32)* 10 points   Brent Franklin,   Tōru Nakamura,
  Yoshi Mizumaki
25 17 May 1992 Japan PGA Championship (2) −7 (68-71-71-71=281) Playoff   Tsuneyuki Nakajima
26 25 Oct 1992 Bridgestone Open (3) −17 (68-67-70-66=271) Playoff   Tetsu Nishikawa
27 13 Dec 1992 Daikyo Open −13 (66-73-67-65=271) 4 strokes   David Ishii
28 5 Jun 1994 JCB Classic Sendai (2) −13 (71-65-67-68=271) 2 strokes   Roger Mackay,   Toshiaki Sudo
29 10 Sep 1995 Suntory Open −15 (67-64-71-71=273) 3 strokes   Takaaki Fukuzawa,   Satoshi Higashi,
  Nobuo Serizawa
30 28 Sep 2003 Acom International (2) −13 (59-69-70-73=271) Playoff   Katsumasa Miyamoto,   Masashi Ozaki

*Note: Tournament shortened to 54 holes due to rain.

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (6–4)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1981 Tokai Classic   Fujio Kobayashi,   Tōru Nakamura,
  Hideto Shigenobu
Won with par on first extra hole
2 1983 Gene Sarazen Jun Classic   Masashi Ozaki Lost to par on first extra hole
3 1984 Chushikoku Open   Hideto Shigenobu
4 1984 Bridgestone Tournament   Chen Tze-chung,   Yoshihisa Iwashita,
  Sam Torrance
Won with eagle on first extra hole
5 1985 Bridgestone Aso Open   Hsieh Min-Nan
6 1991 Sapporo Tokyu Open   Rick Gibson,   Shinsaku Maeda Gibson won with birdie on first extra hole
7 1992 Japan PGA Championship   Tsuneyuki Nakajima Won with par on second extra hole
8 1992 Nikkei Cup   Kiyoshi Murota Lost to birdie on first extra hole
9 1992 Bridgestone Open   Tetsu Nishikawa Won with birdie on second extra hole
10 2003 Acom International   Katsumasa Miyamoto,   Masashi Ozaki Won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (5)

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  • 1981 Wakayama Open, Hyogo Open
  • 1983 House Foods Kyosen Invitation
  • 1985 KSB Setonaikai Open
  • 2014 Legend Charity Pro-Am

European Senior Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 28 Nov 2010
(2011 season)
Handa Cup Senior Masters1 −17 (69-71-66-65=271) 4 strokes   Satoshi Higashi,   Frankie Miñoza,
  Kiyoshi Murota
2 24 Jun 2012 Van Lanschot Senior Open E (75-72-69=216) 2 strokes   Andrew Oldcorn

1Co-sanctioned by the Japan PGA Senior Tour

Japan PGA Senior Tour wins (10)

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  • 2007 Big Raisac Senior Open
  • 2010 Japan Senior Open, Handa Cup Senior Masters
  • 2014 Japan Senior Open, Iwasaki Shiratsuyu Senior Tournament
  • 2015 Kyoshinkai Hiroshima Senior Championship
  • 2016 Uniden Grand Senior Championship, Iwasaki Shiratsuyu Senior Tournament
  • 2018 Uniden Grand Senior Championship
  • 2019 Starts Senior Golf Tournament

Results in major championships

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Tournament 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
U.S. Open CUT CUT
The Open Championship CUT T4 T45 CUT T30 CUT CUT
PGA Championship T42 CUT CUT

Note: Kuramoto never played in the Masters Tournament.

  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1984 Open Championship)
"T" = tied

Team appearances

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This list may be incomplete.

Amateur

Professional

See also

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