The Aiful Cup was a professional golf tournament held in Japan from 1998 to 2006. It was an event on the Japan Golf Tour and was played at a variety of courses throughout Japan. The final event in 2006 was titled The Golf Tournament in Omaezaki with a purse of ¥120,000,000, with ¥24,000,000 going to the winner.
Overview The tournament was originally planned to be held as the "Aiful Cup Golf Tournament" under the special sponsorship of Aiful, a major consumer finance company.
However, Aiful's violations of the Money Lending Business Control and Regulation Law, including aggressive sales activities, severe collections, and illegal interest rates, were discovered and became a social problem. The 2006 tournament was held under the same name as the original agreement (120 million yen prize money, 24 million yen prize money for the winner, etc.).『産経新聞』2006年5月14日付大阪本社朝刊22面。 However, the tournament was abandoned after 2007 due to "various circumstances surrounding the consumer finance industry" (for the same reason, the "ACOM International" and the "LPGA Takefuji Classic" were also abandoned).「ゴルフツアー来季4戦以上消える 男の出番激減 止まらぬスポンサー撤退 賞金30億割れも」『日刊スポーツ』2006年（平成18年）11月9日付10面。
The Shizuoka Country Hamaoka Course, the venue of the tournament, used to be the site of the "DAIDOH DRINKO Shizuoka Open" (sponsored by Shizuoka Shimbun and Shizuoka Broadcasting) held every year in late March.
Tournament hosts Years Venue Location 2006 Shizuoka Country Hamaoka Course & Hotel Omaezaki, Shizuoka 2004–2005 Daisen Ark Country Club Hōki, Tottori 2002–2003 Golf Club Twin Fields (Gold Course) Komatsu, Ishikawa 1999–2002 Ajigasawa Kogen Golf Course Ajigasawa, Aomori 1998 Aomori Country Club Aomori, Aomori
Winners YearWinnerScoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-upThe Golf Tournament in Omaezaki 2006 Toru Taniguchi 273 −11 Playoff Tomohiro Kondo Hur Suk-hoAiful Cup 2005 Tatsuhiko Takahashi 268 −16 1 stroke Yasuaki Takashima 2004 Takuya Taniguchi 270 −14 2 strokes Katsumasa Miyamoto 2003 Taichi Teshima 269 −19 Playoff Katsumasa Miyamoto 2002 Yasuharu Imano 268 −20 1 stroke Toshimitsu Izawa 2001 Lin Keng-chi 270 −18 Playoff Toru Suzuki 2000 Dean Wilson 271 −17 1 stroke Eiji Mizoguchi 1999 Toshimitsu Izawa 274 −14 1 stroke Toru Taniguchi 1998 Hidemichi Tanaka 273 −15 1 stroke Toshimitsu Izawa Tatsuo Takasaki
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References
External links Coverage on Japan Golf Tour's official site