Japan’s elementary golf finals: 75 juniors, four champions and a Kinki team double in Fukushima

A national final shaped by wind — and a new format

On 18 October 2026, Green Academy Country Club in Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, hosted the 20th JLPGA All-Japan Elementary School Golf Tournament in Fukushima. The Japan Ladies Professional Golfers’ Association (JLPGA) stages the event with partners in the prefecture, extending its junior-development work well beyond the professional women's tour.

The final brought together 75 elementary-school golfers. According to the association's post-event report, 71 qualified through nine regional competitions, while four represented Fukushima through local participation places. The tournament's advance regulations had planned for 76 entrants; the final report records 75 actual participants.

This season introduced separate grades 3–4 and grades 5–6 divisions for boys and girls, creating four individual championships rather than a single broad elementary-school category. The event used 18-hole stroke play. Older pupils played a 5,859-yard, par-72 setup; the younger divisions used 5,274 yards, also par 72.

The four individual winners

Seina Murakami, representing Kinki, won the girls' grades 5–6 division with 75 strokes (+3). In boys' grades 5–6, Tokimasa Toyoshima of Tohoku matched that score, also taking gold with 75 (+3).

Among the younger pupils, Sora Hazama of Chugoku claimed girls' grades 3–4 honours at 78 (+6). It was her third straight victory at the championship, a milestone she acknowledged in the organisers' post-event coverage. Yuki Susami, representing Kinki, topped boys' grades 3–4 with 81 (+9).

These results have to be read in context. The JLPGA reported wind gusts reaching 11.4 metres per second during the final. On a day when distance control and steady putting mattered as much as powerful tee shots, protecting a score became an achievement in itself. The association's interviews highlighted how players adapted their approach to the gusts rather than chasing birdies at every opportunity.

A double team victory for Kinki

Kinki won both the girls' and boys' regional team championships, each with a total of 240 strokes. Under the JLPGA format, the team score is the combined total of the best three individual cards from a four-player regional contingent. The number therefore refers to a team aggregate, not one golfer's round.

Murakami and Susami added individual golds to Kinki's successful week, while Toyoshima's win gave Tohoku an individual champion at a tournament staged within the broader region. The distribution of titles illustrates why regional qualifying matters: junior golfing talent is not restricted to a single association or metropolitan hub.

More than one October championship

Fukushima has a wider role in the JLPGA's junior programme. The association and Fukushima Prefecture signed a cooperation agreement in 2017, linking golf development with community engagement and regional revitalisation. This national event now combines nine qualifying regions, opportunities for local pupils and a formal competitive pathway for younger players.

Splitting the divisions into two school-age bands makes national honours more accessible to younger competitors, rather than requiring them to compete directly against older pupils. A television highlights programme was scheduled for 29 November on BS Nippon Television.

The standings are a snapshot of one day's golf, not a prediction of professional careers. Their significance lies in the nationwide route by which young golfers reach a recognised championship — and in the depth shown across several regions despite difficult conditions.

Sources: JLPGA official results report, 19 October 2026; JLPGA event rules and team scoring; JLPGA announcement of the Fukushima partnership and event.