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History and background of the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament

With the concept of "a tournament of global recognition" and "an opportunity to see the very best players live", the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament was established in 1974 inviting numerous top players from the PGA tour, such as "The Golden Bear" Jack Nicklaus. The first champion of the tournament was Johnny Miller, then referred to as "Miracle Johnny" with his unbeatable form of 8 PGA tour wins in a single year prior to his win in Japan. In 1977, Seve Ballesteros who was 20 years of age at the time, made a huge impact by winning back-to-back titles in Japan including the Japan Open and the Dunlop Phoenix. Since then, major tournament champions such as Tom Watson, Craig Stadler and Larry Mize have all placed their names on the prestigious trophy. Ernie Els claimed the title in 1993, and eventually Tiger Woods followed his predecessors by winning in 2004 and following it up with another win in 2005.

For the Japanese players, the tournament was renowned as "an overseas tournament played on home soil" with its high level of performance, and being crowned champion seemed a distant target for domestic players. Tommy Nakajima first broke this image by winning it in 1985, Jumbo Ozaki won it three in a row from 1994-96, and Shingo Katayama's success in 2000 led to a miraculous come-back for him to top the domestic money list from what seemed like an impossible deficit to overcome. Kaname Yokoo beat Tiger Woods to the title in 2002, and came face-to-face with the PGA champion once again three years later in a memorable playoff battle which he eventually lost.

Although not all have won the tournament, the very best players from around the world have participated in the past including Greg Norman, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, John Daly, Nick Faldo, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, and Sergio Garcia. This is one of the biggest aspects of the Dunlop Phoenix and with it also boasting the largest prize money, is regarded as the most prestigious tournament in Japan.