Jones wins 5th Japan title with Tsuruya Open
IN: News | Japan | Tsuruya Open (2006) | Wrap | by Bruce Young | 23 Apr 2006
Brendan Jones has made it back to back wins for Australian golfers on the Japan Golf Tour in 2006 when he won the Tsuruya Open by two shots from Mamo Osanai. Jones follows hot on the heels of Queenslander Wayne Perske, who won last week's Token Homemate Cup where Jones finished runner up.
For Jones it is his fifth win on the Japan Golf Tour and his second win in this event, he claimed the title previously in 2004. The win comes at a time when he is planning on splitting his time in 2006 between the events in which he can gain starts on the USPGA Tour and a minimum of fifteen events in Japan where he has full status via his two wins in 2004. Jones has previously stated just how much he enjoys playing in Japan and the form he has shown in his first two events back highlights his comfort zone here.
Jones played a full season on the USPGA Tour in 2005 but was unable to regain full status although he still has perhaps fifteen to twenty starts should he so choose. He played two events in the US earlier in the season making the cut in Tucson and at the AT&T Pebble Beach.
This week's event was held at the Yamanohara Golf Club in Hyogo Prefecture in southern Honshu and as such the weather, especially early in the week, was cold and to a large extent the scoring reflected that. Today, however, the temperatures rose and the scoring improved.
Jones set up his win with a great third round of 66 and took a one shot lead over Kiyoshi Murota into today's final round. Jones extended his lead immediately when he birdied the first although he received a minor scare in the middle of his round when he slipped back into a share of the lead with Murota after his second bogey at the 12th. He went ahead again with a birdie at the 13th and when Murota bogeyed the 14th, Jones' led by two over both Murota and Osanai.
A further birdie by Jones at the par five 15th allowed him the luxury of a two shot lead over the final few holes and he would go on to win the title and the ¥20 million (A$230,000). It now moves Jones ahead in the Japan Tour money list in 2006 with ¥29 million, ¥6 million ahead of his fellow countryman and Links Sports stablemate, Wayne Perske, who is in second place with ¥23 million.
Jones has now accumulated more than A$3 million in just his fifth full season on the Japan Golf Tour. He is one of the longest hitters on the Japan Golf Tour and when playing with him in last week's final round at the Token Homemate Cup, the winner, Perske, was moved to comment on the tremendous distances Jones was hitting it that week indicating the form he was approaching.
Of the other Australasians in the event, Paul Sheehan was 6th, David Smail 7th, Wayne Perske 18th, Scott Laycock 33rd and Steve Conran 43rd.
The Japan Golf Tour now heads to Nagoya for the Crowns event where 49-year-old Naomichi (Joe) Ozaki will defend his title.
