Jinichiro

Kozuma

Jinichiro Kozuma was born in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan on July 7, 1994, and has an older sister, Kotono Kozuma, who is a professional golfer with the Japan LPGA.

He turned professional in 2012 at the age of 18 and learned his trade on the Japan Challenge Tour, which is the national golf association’s development series.

Jinichiro landed his first Tour win as a professional at the 2016 Elite Grips Challenge, a two-round tournament which he topped by a stroke after sinking seven birdies in a bogey-free second round 65.

That meant he and Kotono had become just the second pair of siblings to have claimed wins in Japanese pro golf.

His first victory on the top tier Japan Golf Tour was the 2020 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa

Taiheiyo Masters in November, a one-stroke win snatched at the very last hole with an eagle on the par-5 18th .

It earned Kozuma prize money in the region of $153,000 and a public message of support from sister Kotono, published on the official Japan Golf Tour website.

Roughly translated it read: “Dear brother, congratulations for your victory.

“The magnificent eagle on the final 18th hole was very much your style and made me happy with goosebumps.

“I know all of your rival players have won already and that has put many pressures on you.

“I saw you were always optimistic and practise so hard. I am so happy for you.

“I see you as a rival too and a comrade. You motivate me.

“So let’s keep on the hard road and let us both grab our second and third victories soon.”

For Jinichiro, that next win arrived in the 2021 Kyusyu Open at Saga Classic Golf Club but the tournament is no longer a part of the Japan Golf Tour.

His second official JGT win came in April 2022 at the Token Homemate Cup, where he led from the second round but needed a playoff on the 18th hole to pip nearest challenger Yuto Katsuragawa.

That propelled him to 94th in the official world golf ranking, his career best in the OWGR.

That same year he was one of the professional golfers offered the chance to take part in some early events in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series.

Kozuma featured in the LIV London launch event in June, gaining a creditable 16th place and later in the month took 6th in Portland, before making his final appearance in Bedminster, finishing 28th .

The next big step in the Japanese pro golfer’s career came courtesy of the LIV Golf Promotions event in December 2023 in the United Arab Emirates, from which he emerged with a golden ticket for the LIV Golf League in 2024.

Kozuma was selected to join Iron Heads GC under captain Kevin Na, a five-time PGA Tour winner, along with teammates Danny Lee and Scott Vincent, brother of Kieran.

The season got off to a slow burn with a T38 finish for Kozuma in February’s opener at Mayakoba and he recorded four more placings outside of the top 30 until LIV Golf Adelaide in April.

In front of an upbeat Aussie crowd, Kozuma birdied his first three holes on the Friday at the Grange Golf Club on his way to a bogey-free round of 63 to become the overnight leader at 9-under.

Sadly, a second-round 71 all but finished his challenge but he rallied with a 68 in Sunday’s third and final round to end T9, his best individual performance of the LIV season.

It was a tough year too for Iron Heads, who were last in the table of 13 teams at the end of the regular season, but just when they looked to be down and out, they switched to another gear.

At the LIV Golf Team Championship finale in Dallas, the bottom seeds beat heavily fancied Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC in the quarter-finals.

They created an even bigger shock in the semis, taking down Bryson DeChambeau’s defending champions Crushers GC to secure a place among the top four teams in Tier 1.

Kozuma matched his captain’s score of a three-under 69 but the team total of 280 left them eight-under and they had to settle for a share of the runners-up spot with 4Aces while Ripper’s 277 won the championship.

A week after finishing T20 at LIV Golf Greenbrier in August, Kozuma was back on the Japan Golf Tour, competing in the KBC Augusta at Keya Golf Club.

He went into the Sunday from a position of strength, having shot 68, 66 and 66 in the opening three rounds.

On the Sunday afternoon he approached the tee box at the 17th having enjoyed a bogey-free round so far, potting four birdies along the way to establish a two-shot lead.

It was not the time to bogey both the par-3 17 and par-5 18 though, especially as nearest challenger Yuwa Kosaihira birdied those final two holes to tie the Japanese golfers together at 19-under for the tournament.

At the second play-off hole, Kosaihira drove out of bounds and recorded a bogey while Kozuma was able to secure the win with a par, cheered on by watching family.

“After the bogey on 17, I thought I could win if I could make par on 18,” Kozuma said.

“But I couldn’t swing fully with my tee shot and the ball ended up in the right bunker.

“The resulting par putt wasn’t an easy line, but I hit it where I wanted. However, I misread the line.

“This is the first time my family is watching me in contention on the final day, I wanted to win it so badly for them.

“Winning in front of my family has always been a goal and I’m glad I achieved it today.”

It was Kozuma’s third title on the Japan Golf Tour and earned him a winner’s purse of around $127,500, boosting his overall career earnings on the JGT to $1.72million.

A common misconception among amateur golfers is that players of a shorter height need to have their clubs shortened accordingly, or even consider using women’s clubs.

With custom-fitting available these days, simply opting for a lower lie angle could allay most fears.

Although just 5ft 5in in height, Jinichiro Kozuma has had no problem banging his drives consistently over 300 yards with LIV and sat 28th in last season’s longest drive rankings with a 303.5-yard average.

At the 2022 US Open, he gave an insight into some of the must-haves in his golf bag.

The first club to catch the eye was a TaylorMade M Gloire 3-wood (15-degrees) with a Fujikura Speeder TR 757 shaft.

He also carried a Srixon ZX 3 hybrid (19-degrees) with Fujikura TR Hybrid 95 X shaft.

Kozuma’s iron set was split over three Srixon designs; the Srixon ZX (3-iron), the Srixon ZX5 (4 and 5-irons) and the Srixon Z-Forged (6-iron to putting wedge).

These had two shaft types, the True Temper Dynamic Gold EX Tour Issue (3 to 5-iron) and the True Temper Dynamic Gold EX Tour Issue X100 (6-iron to putting wedge).

There were a couple of wedges from the Cleveland 588 RTX 2.0 range (52-10 and 58-10) again with the True Temper Dynamic Gold EX Tour Issue shaft (52) and True Temper Dynamic Gold EX Tour Issue X100 (58).

His putter was from the Odyssey Milled Collection 6M with Elite Grips GeronType #N1.