Yoshio Yamamoto was named the assistant coach for the Coastal Carolina men’s golf program in July 2021 after joining the program as a volunteer assistant coach in January 2021. The 2024-25 season will be his fourth season with the Chants.
During the 2023-24 season, the Chanticleers had eight top-10 finishes including a second-place finish at the General Hackler Championship and a fifth-place finish at the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Championship.
Seth Taylor was again named to the first team All-Sun Belt Conference following the season as he finished his career with 18 career rounds in the 60s and 54 rounds of par or better scoring.
"Yosh" helped steer the Chants to a first-place team title at the J.T. Poston Invitational and watch sophomore Trey Crenshaw break program records with an 18-under 198 on his way to winning the Golfweek Fall Challenge.
Senior Seth Taylor had a strong season on his way to earning first team All-Sun Belt honors. Yamamoto helped lead Taylor to three second-place finish and a total of five top-10 finishes. Taylor finished second at the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Championship with a seven-under 209.
During his second season with the Chants, Yamamoto helped lead CCU to three top-10 finishes, including a fifth-place finish at the 2022 Sun Belt Men's Golf Championship. He saw Gavin Noble record his career-best 73.80 scoring average as a junior and had another junior, Seth Taylor, play in all 10 events with a 73.80 scoring average and having three top-10 finishes.
In his first season with the program in 2020-21, the Chanticleers posted two team wins over the spring season at the AGT Intercollegiate and the ECU Intercollegiate and recorded a total of six top-five team finishes overall on the season. The two team tournament wins marked the first time that the Chanticleers as a team have won two different tournaments in the same season since 2009-10.
The Chants also had three different golfers earn medalist honors on the season for the first time since 2013-14 when Sebastian Soderberg (Insperity Augusta State Invitational), Andrew Dorn (General Hackler Championship), and Ben Wheeler (2014 Big South Championship) all recorded a tournament win, as Tyler Gray won the Intercollegiate at the Grove event, States Fort ran away with the AGT Intercollegiate title, and Zack Taylor placed first at the ECU Intercollegiate.
CCU had three players earn Sun Belt Conference Men's Golfer of the Week honors in 2020-21 in States Fort (Feb. 17), Zack Taylor (March 18), and Garret Cooper (April 8), while three Chants also picked up Sun Belt All-Conference accolades in Zack Taylor (first team), States Fort (third team), and Seth Taylor (third team). Zack Taylor and Seth Taylor both recorded a runner-up finish at the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Championship with matching 54-hole tournament scores of 223, +7.
The 2020-21 team also turned in the second-lowest 18-hole team score in tournament history with a third-round 270, 18-under par, at the AGT Intercollegiate in February 2021, as well as the fourth-lowest round at 273, 15-under par, at the Stitch Intercollegiate in April.
After a successful intercollegiate career at Austin Peay State University, Yamamoto turned professional in 2008.
As a pro, he recorded 18 wins, including 11 wins on the Swingthought.com Tour, four wins on the Coastal Players Tour, two wins on the Minor League Golf Tour, and one win on the Mexico Golf Tour. He also made five starts on the Web.com Tour, making four out of five cuts, and recorded a 12th-place finish at the El Bosque Mexico Championship.
A member of the PGA Tour Latinoamerica from 2014-16, Yamamoto made one start on the PGA Tour at the 2015 OHL Classic.
As a collegiate golfer at Austin Peay from 2003-07, he was a three-time second-team All-Ohio Valley Conference selection and posted a 73.28 career scoring average. He totaled one individual win, nine top-five individual finishes, and 21 top-10 finishes over his career and helped lead the Governors to eight team wins.
Born in San Diego, Calif., Yamamoto grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico before returning to the United States in 2003. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Austin Peay in 2007.
