Gearing up to defend his title at Hero India Open, Keita Nakajima says he still doesn’t know how he has won in the previous edition but feels patience will be key to retaining the crown, as he seeks to join his Japanese peers on PGA Tour next year.
The 24-year-old registered a four-stroke win here last year to secure his maiden DP World Tour title.
Nakajima is also hoping to emulate fellow Japanese Kenji Hosoishi, who is the first player to win the India Open title back-to-back in 1967 and 1968.
Since then, Jyoti Randhawa (2006 and 2007) and SSP Chawrasia (2016 and 2017) have also achieved the feat.
“Last year, winning here was so great. It gave me a lot of confidence in my first season and also I was able to play all the way to the Tour Championship in Dubai,” he told reporters ahead of the prestigious event beginning on Thursday.
“This is a tough course and I don’t know how I won last year but I will just stay patient this year.
“Excited to play again in this tournament and honoured to be back as a defending champion. So, of course I want to win. It is a tough golf course all right but I will play and just commit to one shot at a time.”
Nakajima, who won the 2023 Order of Merit with the help of three of his four wins on the Japan tour, had taken a break after the Olympics to recover from a back pain. “I had back pain after the Olympics and then I stopped playing. Started playing again like one month, so I would like to say thank you to the team, family and also agents. So I restarted in Japan in 2025. That was great moment for me.”
He played five tournaments this year and found success last week, finishing second at the Porsche Singapore Classic.
“Last week at Singapore, the performance was great. I had five or six weeks off, but I was prepared for this Asian swing. Yeah, I finished in second place but I was playing great and I still feel positive this week,” said the Japanese, a former Asia-Pacific Amateur champion.
