The purpose of this study is to investigate the patterns of professional career paths of the players of the Ladies Professional Golf Association of Japan (JLPGA) Tour. Using the athletes’ professional career life cycle model as the theoretical framework, this study will analyze the career development of elite players of the JLPGA from their rookie year to the point of retirement. The year of each JLPGA tournament win by selected players will be examined for the players’ entire careers. The players’ money ranking for each year of their careers is also analyzed to determine the stages of the players’ career life cycles. The tournament win span, i.e., the number of years between a player’s first and last JLPGA tournament win, will be computed. The career life cycles of players of different cohorts will be compared to determine whether or not there was any transformation in the structure of career stages of the players over time. The career development patterns of Japanese-born players will be compared with those of the international players of the JLPGA.

本研究的目的是调查日本女子职业高尔夫协会 (JLPGA) 巡回赛球员的职业生涯路径模式。本研究以运动员职业生涯生命周期模型为理论框架，分析JLPGA精英球员从新秀年到退役的职业生涯发展。选定球员在每场 JLPGA 锦标赛中获胜的年份将针对球员的整个职业生涯进行审查。还分析了球员职业生涯每一年的金钱排名，以确定球员职业生命周期的阶段。锦标赛获胜跨度，即球员第一次和最后一次 JLPGA 锦标赛获胜之间的年数，将被计算出来。将比较不同队列球员的职业生涯周期，以确定球员的职业生涯阶段结构是否随着时间的推移而发生任何变化。日本出生的球员的职业发展模式将与 JLPGA 的国际球员的职业发展模式进行比较。