ISPS Handa Championship
After a few weeks’ hiatus, the DP World Tour resumes its spring Asian swing in Japan for the ISPS Handa Championship.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (12-1) and Matthieu Pavon (14-1) finished 28th and 49th, respectively, last weekend at the RBC Heritage.
Former World No. 1 Amateur Keita Nakajima (18-1) won his first DP World Tour event at the end of last month at the Hero Indian Open and he returns to Japan where he won four times on the Japan Golf Tour, which is co-sanctioning this event with the DP World Tour.
Six-time Japan Golf Tour winner Takumi Kanaya (22-1) won on said tour last month and is another talented, young Japanese golfer looking to win for the first time on the DP World Tour like Nakajima. He won the 2019 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters on this week’s course as an amateur for his first Japan Golf Tour victory.
DP World Tour regulars Jordan Smith (22-1), Sebastian Soderberg (28-1), Yannik Paul (28-1) and Tom McKibbin (30-1) follow in the market.
The Event
The ISPS Handa Championship in Japan is a professional golf tournament that was held at PGM Ishioka Golf Club in Omitama, Japan, between 2022 and 2023. In 2024, the tournament moved to the Taiheiyo Club in Gotemba (also host of the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters).
The tournament was created in 2022 and originally intended to be a co-sanctioned European Tour and Japan Golf Tour event. It was to be the first European Tour-sanctioned event to take place in Japan.
However, in February 2022, it was announced that the event would proceed as a sole-sanctioned Japan Golf Tour event due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It returned to the DP World Tour schedule last year.
The Course
The Gotemba Course at Taiheiyo Club is a par-70 of 7,262 yards, originally designed by Shunsuke Kato, which received a Rees Jones and Bryce Swanson renovation in 2018, taking the course from a fairly straightforward par-72 to a more difficult par-70.
The parklands track is tree-lined with stunning views of Mount Fuji. Bunkers and water protect many of the greens, with run-off areas meaning that players who miss the putting surfaces will be presented with different options when trying to get up and down.
There are just two par-5s (Nos. 3 and 18) on the course following the renovation. The sixth and 11th were previously par-5s that have now been converted into long par-4s at 510 and 505 yards, respectively.
Recent History/Winners
2023: Lucas Herbert (-15/265); 20-1*
2022: Yuto Katsuragawa (-24/260); 25-1
Playoff win over Aaron Cockerill – *
Note: The 2022 event was played as a Japan Golf Tour event.
Selections
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (14-1, Bet Rivers)
There is a reason Bezuidenhout has come to play in this week’s event. He is No. 58 in the OWGR and is on the borderline to qualify for the U.S. Open and British Open via his world ranking.
He is in a very similar situation to Lucas Herbert, who was No. 59 in the OWGR last year. Herbert had played the RBC Heritage and traveled all the way to Japan and won the event to lock up his status for all the major championships.
Bezuidenhout ranks sixth on the PGA Tour this season for Proximity to the Hole, 10th for Bogey Avoidance, 12th for Strokes Gained: Putting and 21st for Strokes Gained: Total.
Takumi Kanaya (22-1, BetMGM)
Kanaya won on this course in 2019 on the Japan Golf Tour at the Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters and has finishes of second, third and fifth on this track over the last three appearances.
He was a victor in his last start winning the Token Homemate Cup.
Sebastian Soderberg (28-1, BetMGM)
Soderberg finished T-2 last time out at the Hero Indian Open and has five top-10 or better finishes in his last 10 worldwide starts.
The Swede practices in Thailand during the offseason so he is well-acquainted with golf in Asia.
Bernd Wiesberger (45-1, DraftKings)
Wiesberger has yet to net a win in his full-time return to the DP World Tour, but he has played solidly all season, ranking second around-the-green, second in greens-in-regulation, 16th in approach and in the top 50 for off-tee-tee, which adds up to him ranking third overall tee-to-green.
He is also a three-time winner in Asia having won in China, South Korea and Indonesia.
Sam Bairstow (75-1, DraftKings)
Bairstow finished one stroke out of the playoff several weeks ago, taking third in the Singapore Classic.
The former top-10 World Amateur has six top-25 finishes in eight starts on the DP World Tour this season.
