Isao Aoki

Isao Aoki (青木 功, Aoki Isao, born 31 August 1942) is a Japanese professional golfer. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004.

Isao Aoki 青木 功
Personal information
Born	(1942-08-31) 31 August 1942 Abiko, Chiba
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Nationality	Japan
Career
Turned professional	1964
Current tour(s)	Champions Tour
Former tour(s)	Japan Golf Tour PGA Tour
Professional wins	80
Highest ranking	8 (7 June 1987)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	1
European Tour	1
Japan Golf Tour	51 (2nd all time)
PGA Tour of Australasia	1
PGA Tour Champions	9
Other	17
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	T16: 1985
PGA Championship	T4: 1981
U.S. Open	2nd: 1980
The Open Championship	T7: 1978, 1979, 1988
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame 2004 (member page) Japan Golf Tour leading money winner 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981

Aoki was born in Abiko, Chiba, Japan. He was introduced to golf while caddying at the Abiko Golf Club as a schoolboy. He turned professional in 1964. He went on to win more than fifty events on the Japan Golf Tour between 1972 and 1990, trailing only Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki on the list of golfers with most Japan Golf Tour wins. He won the Japan Golf Tour money list five times in six years: 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981. His career earnings are 980 million yen.[2]

In 1983, Aoki won the Hawaiian Open on the U.S.-based PGA Tour, the first Japanese player to do so, and the Panasonic European Open on the European Tour. He also won the prestigious World Match Play Championship in England in 1978, which was not a European Tour event at that time, and picked up a win on the PGA Tour of Australasia. Aoki is also one of the nine players in the history of the Open Championship to shoot a round of just 63 shots (which he achieved in the third round of the 1980 event). Despite this being the joint-best round in the history of the tournament at the time, Aoki would only finish tied for 12th that year.

Aoki played 165 times on the PGA Tour between 1974 and 1999, primarily from 1981 to 1990. His best finish in a major championship was a second-place finish to Jack Nicklaus (by two strokes) in the 1980 U.S. Open. That finish, combined with his recent record in Japan and around the globe, meant that Aoki would finish 1980 ranked third in the unofficial McCormack's World Golf Rankings, a position he would hold at the end of 1981. After the Official World Golf Rankings debuted in 1986, he was ranked in the top-10 for several weeks in 1987.[3]

In December 1984 after receiving an invitation from Gary Player, Aoki traveled to South Africa to participate in the Million Dollar Challenge. Aoki did this in spite of the efforts of the Japanese government to dissuade him from making the trip.[4]

As a senior, Aoki has played primarily in the United States on the Champions Tour, winning nine times between 1992 and 2003. He has eight senior victories outside the United States, including five victories in the Japan Senior Open where he shot his age, 65, during his most recent triumph in 2007.[5]