Japan Open offers demanding test
BY Bruce Young | Japan Tour | 2008 Japan Open | Preview | 15 Oct 2008
The $A2.75 million Japan Open, arguably the most significant event in Japanese golf, will be contested this week at the Koga Golf Club in Fukuoka.
By all the accounts coming out of Fukuoka, the Koga Golf Club layout is a monster. Australian Brendan Jones said today that he expects a winning score well over par with tight fairways, long rough and heavily contoured greens set to test the leading players on the Japan Golf Tour.
Toru Taniguchi, the defending champion, is targeting his third win in the event having won in 2004 and again last year when he produced a simply stunning final round of 66 at the Sagamihara Golf Club in Kanagawa prefecture. Taniguchi is, however, having an ordinary year by his standards, in fact he has not won since his victory here last year.
Money leader Hideto Tanihara and the prolific winner Shingo Katayama are likely to be the favourites, Katayama looking to repeat his 2005 victory.
Three previous Australasian champions of this event are in this week’s field – Paul Sheehan (2006) and Craig Parry (1997) and New Zealander David Smail (2002).
Brendan Jones is likely to start as the favourite amongst the Australasians although despite his significant success in Japan, this event has not been good to him. His best was a 4th in 2003 but that aside there has not been a lot to get excited about for the man from Canberra in this event.
Steve Conran rounds out the list of Australians who will tee it up on Thursday.
