Led by Toru Nakayama, vice chairman of Japan PGA, the 10 other Japanese golfers came here for their winter training.
One of them Kiyoshi Murota, told Variety that for the past 20 years they come to Saipan every year to prepare themselves for Japan golf’s biggest events. He said he never missed coming here all those years.
Some players of JPGA, he said spend their training period in Okinawa, some in the U.S.
But Nakayama and his group, Murota said picked Saipan because the like the island’s climate and it is very close from Japan.
About the COP golf course, in particular, Murota said it gives them the perfect view of the ocean and excellent design by PGA legend, Larry Nelson./
“Basically, the environment on Saipan is very good. I also like going to Tinian because of the casino there,” Murota said.
Variety also learned that COP chairman of the board, Terada Kiyoshige is also the owner of Metropolitan Golf Club in Japan and the regular sponsor of the JPGA winter camping for 20 years now.
Murota said they promote COP and CNMI in Japan.
The other professional golfers who are on island aside from Nakayama and Murota are Satoshi Nakayama, Hideki Kase, Kazuhiro Takami, Daisuke Maruyama, Shintaro Kai, Kazuo Seike, Motoharu Mukai, Masato Watanabe and Yuichi Ando. Their group is called Zassou Gunoan.
