Japanese golf tourney for kids celebrating 30th year. Its roots began in Coral Gables

Golf can take you many places, but for Bill Kerdyk Jr., it led to an unexpected destination: Japan.

“I’ve spent two years of my life in Japan,” he said. “I mean, you just never know where life takes you.”

In junior golf, few events have the pedigree of the Toyota Junior Golf Cup, hosted annually in Japan. The tournament is celebrating its 30th year and will take June 19 -21 at the Chukyo Golf Club, outside the city of Nagoya, a manufacturing and shipping hub east of Kyoto.

The roots of the tournament started in Coral Gables.

“I grew up in the world of golf,” said Kerdyk, a former Coral Gables vice mayor who was born and raised in the Gables.

Kerdyk got his start with the golf tournament when he was chair from 1989 to 1991 of the Junior Orange Bowl, the 76-year-old Miami organization that hosts sporting and cultural events for kids under 18 from across the globe. Among these events were internationally recognized tennis and golf tournaments.

In 1990, Kerdyk met Yasumasa and Eiji Tagashira, who wanted him to come up with a golf tournament to be hosted in Japan. The Japanese father-and-son duo ran a junior golf academy in Tampa.

The concept took shape over a year, with Kerdyk envisioning a team championship format with three players per team, a rarity in junior golf at the time. His vision eventually grew into the Toyota Junior Golf Cup. This year, 12 boys’ teams and nine girls’ teams will compete representing 16 countries, including Sweden, Mexico and Peru.

Billy Davis, 18, from California is representing the United States for a second time after his coaches convinced him to participate.

“They told me it was a really good experience, and something you probably won’t ever get to do again, representing your country in Japan. So after that, I was pretty hooked,” he said. Last year, Davis placed third individually and helped his team secure a third-place finish.

“I’ve been kind of looking forward to it all year, just because of all the fun we had last year,” Davis said.

Davis has been golfing since he was a toddler alongside his twin sister Anna Davis; the duo are top-ranked junior golfers. They have both signed to play for Auburn University’s golf team.

Kerdyk leveraged his international contacts from the Junior Orange Bowl to invite teams from around the world. However, financing the event was a hurdle.

Kerdyk and his Japanese partners traveled to Japan to secure sponsors, eventually finding support from the city of Izumo, which was then celebrating its 50th anniversary and other local sponsors.

The first tournament was in August 1992 and had teams representing 16 countries. A former prime minister of Japan, Noboru Takeshita, was honorary chairman and played in the amateur match.

The tournament’s success hinged on covering travel and accommodation costs for the players and coaches. As the tournament grew, corporate sponsors signed on, including Toyota Motor Corp., which has been the title sponsor since 2002. Other sponsors include Japan Airlines, Sony and Casio.

Teams from various countries are determined by qualifying matches, except for teams from Japan and the United States, which automatically qualify as the founding countries. The Japanese Golf Association chooses Japan’s team; the U.S. team is chosen, in part, by the Junior Orange Bowl and College Golf associations.

“We have 70-plus countries participating in these qualifiers to bring over 12 boys’ teams and nine girls’ teams,” said Kerdyk.

The tournament added the girls’ team in 2014. Last year, the Japanese teams won both the girls’ and boys’ tournaments.

The tournament has featured future major champions such as Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 golfer who won the Masters in April. In 2001, South Africa fielded a roster that included future pro winners, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.

Kerdyk says the pros remember their time playing in Japan.

“When I walk up to these players at PGA Tour events and mention the Toyota Junior Golf Cup, their eyes light up,” Kerdyk said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them.”