The first Japanese golfer to win the Senior British Open Championship, when he won the 2002 Championship at Royal County Down Golf Club. It was a victory that earned him automatic entry into the 2003 Open Championship at Royal St George’s as well as the 2003 US Senior Open at Bellerive Country Club, St Louis. He also became the first wire-to-wire winner of the Senior British Open since Gary Player at Turnberry in 1988. Started the week as a 100-1 outsider but soon made a mockery of those odds. In the third round, in particular, the Japanese golfer showed his outstanding ability when, paired with Tom Watson, he overcame winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour to outscore the five time Open Champion by three shots. One of three Japanese golfers to win on the European Seniors Tour, the others being Seiji Ebihara and Dragon Taki. From Tokyo, he has a Japanese father and a Russian mother.