The ABC Championship goes to first time winner
BY Bruce Young | Japan Tour | 2004 ABC Championship | Wrap | 31 Oct 2004
29-year-old Makato Inoue today won his first event on the Japan Golf Tour by taking out a narrow victory at the ABC Championship.
Inoue has played only sparingly on the full Japan Golf Tour since his first event there back in 1998 and even this year, in twenty two starts prior to this week, there has been nothing to get too excited about. He had made just eleven cuts and recorded not one top ten. Inoue only gained entry to the event via Monday qualifying, so this was some performance and will turn his golfing career around.
The event was previously one of the largest purses on the Japan Golf Tour when sponsored by Philip Morris and then attracted a quality field and greater spectator numbers. This year the number attending the event on Sunday was 8500, down considerably from earlier years when we saw as many as 18000 on the last day in 2002.
The prizemoney is down from its all time high of ¥200 million in 2002 to ¥120 million this week, but for Inoue I’m sure it matters not. The tournament was noticeable for its absence of Australian players with Brendan Jones in the US at the Nationwide Tour Championship and Paul Sheehan and Steve Conran not playing.
Inoue led by two over Toru Suzuki, Ricky Kawagishi and Takashi Kamiyama following his third round of 66. While many perhaps felt the task of holding off more experienced players would get the better of him, he showed a lot of guts and class today to win by one from Kawagishi and Suzuki, his birdie at the last proving the difference in a tight finish.
Kawagishi, who earlier in his career was one of the bright hopes of Japanese golf, bogeyed the 17th today, but was still level with his playing partner Inoue as they stood on the 72nd tee. The thirty three year old, who also played well at the recent Japan Open, is a six time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, the last of which came here at this event five years ago.
Suzuki recoded just his third top ten in twenty two starts in 2004 in Japan following a visit to Australia and New Zealand earlier in the year.
Toru Taniguchi who finished 5th here is now atop the Japan Golf Tour money list, moving ahead of Shingo Katayama who was forced to withdraw this week
The Japan Golf Tour now heads to Fukuoka on the southern island of Shikoku for a new event, the Asahi Ryokuken Yomiuri Aso Iizuka tournament before the big end of season events.
