BMW PGA Championship of the European Tour was held from May 25 to 28, at Wentworth Club in England. Japanese Golfer Hideto Tanihara participated in the tournament with female caddy who is his childhood friend, Mayumi Harada.

His total score was 8 under and he took 3rd place. So Tanihara moved up to 48th place in Official World Golf Rankings, it is the second highest rank in Japanese following Hideki Matsuyama. And he can participate in 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin.

Biography

Hideto Tanihara was born at Hiroshima prefecture in 1978. He began playing golf from 12 years old, and practiced in the same golf driving range as Ryuji Imada. Tanihara had played golf at Tohoku Fukushi University where Yuta Ikeda, Yusaku Miyazato, Hiroshi Iwata and Hideki Matsuyama also went.

Japan Golf Tour

Tanihara became a professional golfer in 2001. And in 2003 he won Mandom Lucido Yomiuri Open, it was a first time victory in Japan Golf Tour. After that, Tanihara won the tournament of Japan in almost every year, he has won 14 wins until last year. In 2016 he won Japan PGA Championship Nissin Cupnoodles Cup, it was a first time major tournament victory. Surprisingly, he didn’t become a leading money winner of Japan Golf Tour (most highest rank is 2nd in 2006 and 2016).

PGA Tour

Hideto Tanihara passed the PGA Tour Qualifying School in 2004 and got the seed of 2005 US PGA Tour. But for the influence of tenosynovitis, he failed to make the cut 14 times and got only a prize of 60,000 dollars. So he backed to Japan.

Then 2006 The Open was that Tanihara first took the spotlight in the world. His total score was 11 under at Royal Liverpool Golf Course, and he took 5th place. In 2016, he participated in U.S. Open and PGA Championship (51th and 33th place). Then Tanihara registered with the member of 2017 European Tour.

In 2017, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play was held from March 22 to 26, at Austin Country Club in Texas. 3 Japanese players took part in the match, Tanihara reached the Semi-final. Tanihara didn’t upset Dustin Johnson in the Semi-final, but after that he hit a great shot in third-place match.

Tanihara played against Bill Haas, and recorded an ace on the 207-yard par-3 7th. Unfortunately he lost the match, but moved up to 48th place in Official World Golf Rankings and cound participate in the Masters Golf Tournament 2017. It was a second time for Tanihara to play at the Augusta National Golf Club for the first time in ten years. Tanihara played in the same party with Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm. But he failed a cut lose.

What’s in the bag

Tanihara has a contract with Honma Golf since 2014. In Japan, his WITB is as follows;

Driver: Honma Tour World TW737_455 (10.5 degrees)
3 Wood: Honma Tour World TW737_FW (15 degrees)
UT: Honma Tour World TW737_UT (18 degrees)
UT: Honma Tour World Prototype (21 degrees)
Irons: Honma Tour World TW737 Vs (4-10)
Wedges: Honma Tour World TW-W (51,59)
Putters: Scotty Cameron GoLo 5S Tour Only
Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV

Private Life

Tanihara married with Japanese woman (former singer Ayaka Nagate) in 2008 and had a son who was born in 2011. His wife speaks english very well, so she will not be bothered if Tanihara participates in PGA tour again.

This youtube video is the ace of Tanihara at Dell Match Play. After the BMW PGA Championship, he backs to Japan once and participates in Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Portstewart Golf Club, July 6-9.