is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese professional golfer

Professional golfer

In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...

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Sonoda was born in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. He was first trained by his father. After that he has been taught by golf teaching pro, Todd Baker, since he was 10 years old. When Sonoda visited Gold Coast

Gold Coast, Queensland

Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 with his family at age 13, he decided to study in Gold Coast because the town has many golf courses. He spent two years in a junior high school there to pursue his golf game further. He won the Japan National Junior Golf Championship. He decided to return Japan to enter the Suginami-Gakuin High School. He was a high school teammate of Ryo Ishikawa

Ryo Ishikawa

, also known by the nickname "Hanikami Ōji" , is a Japanese professional golfer.On 20 May 2007, Ishikawa became the youngest winner ever of a men's regular tournament on the Japan Golf Tour by winning the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup at the age 15 years and 8 months. He competed as an amateur and it...

. Ishikawa calls him "King" as he swept all the junior tournaments. They first met in elementary school. In his sophomore year at the Meiji University

Meiji University

is a private university in Tokyo and Kawasaki, founded in 1881 by three lawyers of the Meiji era, Kishimoto Tatsuo, Miyagi Kōzō, and Yashiro Misao. It is one of the largest and most prestigious Japanese universities in Tokyo, Japan....

, he qualified for Japan Golf Tour

Japan Golf Tour

The Japan Golf Tour is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third highest annual prize fund out of the regular men's professional tours after the PGA Tour and the European Tour. However since the early 1990s, the growth in prize money has not kept pace with...

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Sonoda began playing on the Japan Golf Tour

Japan Golf Tour

The Japan Golf Tour is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third highest annual prize fund out of the regular men's professional tours after the PGA Tour and the European Tour. However since the early 1990s, the growth in prize money has not kept pace with...

 in 2010 and won the 2010 Gateway to the Open Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic

Gateway to the Open Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic

The Gateway to the Open Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic was a golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour. It was formed in 2007 from the merger of two long-standing JGT events, the Mizuno Open and the Yomiuri Open. It is played at the Yomiuri Country Club in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo. The purse for the 2010 event...

. This victory earned him an exemption into the 2010 Open Championship

2010 Open Championship

The 2010 Open Championship was the 139th Open Championship, the oldest of golf's four majors, and was played from 15–18 July over the Old Course at St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It was celebrated as the 150th anniversary of the founding of The Open in 1860...

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Results in major championships

Tournament	2010
The Masters	DNP
U.S. Open U.S. Open (golf) The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...	DNP
The Open Championship The Open Championship The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...	CUT
PGA Championship PGA Championship The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...	DNP

DNP = Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

External links