The DP World Tour returns this week and it heads over to Asia for the first of a two-week swing on this continent, one which begins with the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan as the season resumes and begins to build up to the European summer.
This is a brand new event on the calendar so we are guaranteed a new champion and all sports people like to be the first name on any trophy. That is one of the rewards on offer for those with tee times this week.
The Course
We are at the PGM Ishioka Golf Club in Omitama this week. The course is a par 70 but it only measures 7,039 yards so like most tracks in this part of the world it is anything but long. The course has been designed by Jack Nicklaus and is a treelined offering where there is water in play on half a dozen holes. The players who play well on Nicklaus designs can often score well so we should expect a fairly low winning score even allowing for the track making its debut on the DP World Tour.
If you have watched golf tournaments at Nicklaus layouts you’ll be aware that there is little punishment off the tee and the test comes from the second shot and in. You need to be aggressive and solid with the iron shots into the greens on these sorts of courses and then they tend to become a bit of a putting contest. It doesn’t look like length is going to count for much here so keep the iron specialists on side if you can.
The Field
You wouldn’t necessarily expect a great field for a tournament in this part of the world at this time of year, especially with the focus being on the elevated events on the PGA Tour for the big names but Lucas Herbert and Christiaan Bezuidenhout were both in the WGC Match Play last month and grace this field with their presence and profile. Four other players in the top 100 in the world rankings are here. They are Adri Arnaus, Kazuki Higa, Robert MacIntyre and Jordan Smith.
This is a Race to Dubai event and a number of players in the top 20 have noticed that with the very big names all absent they have a chance to improve their standings in that order of merit. Sebastian Soderberg and Jorge Campillo are both in the top 10 in those rankings so they could make handy progress this week. Others in the top 20 include Marcel Siem, Yannik Paul, Antoine Rozner, Daniel Gavins, Zander Lombard, Joost Luiten and Alexander Bjork.
Market Leaders
Rasmus Hojgaard seems to be automatically installed as the favourite to win a tournament whenever he tees it up on the DP World Tour and that is the case this week. Whether it is a sign of the competitive nature of the event or the unknown of the golf course as to why he is an 18/1 favourite I’m not sure but he is certainly one of the standout players in the field. He just feels a little skinny to me when you consider that he is teeing it up for the first time in more than two months.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout was competing at the RBC Heritage last week where he concluded with a 64 in the final round for a top 20 finish. The obvious issue from that is he is going from America to Japan and all the jet lag and issues that brings which is an immediate concern when considering him at 20/1 this week. He does have a couple of top five finishes in his last three starts in a regular DP World Tour event which is more encouraging but that travelling is definitely an issue.
Lucas Herbert is the highest ranked player in the field on the world rankings and is 22/1 to convert that into another DP World Tour title. Like Bezuidenhout, he was also involved in the RBC Heritage last week but unlike the South African he finished with a 74 to come home way down the field. Herbert did have a decent spin at the Match Play so if the travelling isn’t an issue then there is bits of form there to consider him.
Jordan Smith comes next in the betting at 25/1. He has been in acceptable touch this season without anything too inspiring but the obvious advantage he has on a couple of those ahead of him in the betting is the fact that he wasn’t ploughing the fairways of Hilton Head last week. It is only three weeks since Smith was competing in South Africa so he shouldn’t have built up too much rust. The bigger issue is his putter if this is a low scoring event.
Main Bets
I’ll go with a couple of main bets this week with the first of them coming in the form of Kazuki Higa who was T11 in Thailand and T4 in the Indian Open earlier in the season. I’m using those as decent form guides this week because they are the only Asian form lines we have on the DP World Tour in a few campaigns because of the shutdown with Covid and everything. If we add the one Asian Tour event he has played into the mix, he was T13 there. The highlight of those performances was his iron play and his putting. He is ranked at 18 in strokes gained approach on the DP World Tour this season and third in strokes gained putting so this track should work out quite well for him. With form in Asia and a profile that fits here on his side I think Higa is definitely one to be on.
I always like to be on Alexander Bjork when golf is played in this part of the world. His DP World Tour win came in China when he carded -18 that week despite a level par second round so he is quite capable of scoring on tracks like this. Bjork sits at 23 in the strokes gained on approach statistic this season and is generally a decent putter. He has already had a near miss at this level this season when he was second at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship but this is a weaker event in a part of the world where conditions probably suit him much better. In a field where you can raise questions over many I like Bjork here.
Outsiders
Marcel Siem has already won in Asia this season when he took down the Indian Open and statistically he is the leading putter on the DP World Tour in terms of strokes gained putting. That week on a very tight track he ranked high in strokes gained off the tee and while that isn’t as significant here, the fact he was second in greens in regulation having set himself up well off the tee certainly is. Siem is something of an enigma but he has had a good campaign so far. That win came after five top 20 finishes in his opening six events this term so the German has not just found form but he has found consistency from somewhere. Prior to that win in India, his last win on the DP World Tour was in China so he clearly likes Asia and could be a big price this week.
My last bet will be a complete shot in the dark but this course was used for an event on the Japan Tour a year ago and Shingo Katayama finished fifth that week. On that tour he had three other top 20 finishes so even though he is now old enough for the Champions Tour he can still compete when the conditions allow him to. He has only played two events on that tour this season but opened up with a tidy enough T26. He doesn’t pound the ball so the fact that this isn’t the longest course should suit him and with no pressure on him at this stage of his career he might just be able to thrill the home crowds again. Not many have played this course competitively but the fact he has and finished fifth just 12 months ago makes me wonder if the 350/1 quotes on him are too big. I’ll pay to find out.
Tips
Back A.Bjork to win ISPS Handa Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)
Back S.Katayama to win ISPS Handa Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 351.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)
Back them here:
Back K.Higa to win ISPS Handa Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back M.Siem to win ISPS Handa Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
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