Japan

Casio World Open

Outright plays (1.5 units):

Shingo Katayama to win 12/1 e.w. @ Coral
Didn't play well as a selection last week, but see little reason to drop him when there is a distinct lack of non-Japan Tour players on view this week. He won the ABC Championship earlier this month, has the lowest average round score on the Tour and has finished 4th twice in the last four years, plus 9th in last year's rain-shortened event. He is only available at double-digit odds at two places, so this is quite a bargain.

Brendan Jones to win 20/1 e.w. @ SkyBet
The 25/1 available at Centrebet has gone, but 20/1 is still good value as it entails an extra place and Jones does need it, to be honest. He is having an extremely consistent season on this Tour with top-25 finishes in 17 of his last 20 starts, plus he ranks 4th in scoring average and 7th in the Money List with one victory this year. It suggests that be should be somewhere near the leaderboard, but having finished 4th and 2nd in the last two years, maybe this will be another week when he is somewhat nearer the top of the leaderboard.

Jumbo Ozaki to win 40/1 e.w. @ William Hill
The big man was a selection two weeks and looked like he was going to deliver having been very well-placed after two rounds. His next six rounds have not been particularly good, but, like Katayama, he should play better now that the circus has left town. He has been in good form this year, despite being winless, and has a good record in this event having finished 6th and 2nd on his last two visits.

Matchup plays (1.5 units unless stated):

Katsumasa Miyamoto to beat Kiyoshi Miyazoto -115 @ Five Dimes [3 units]
Similar names, but not similar forces on this Tour. It has been over a year since Miyazoto recorded a top-10 finish, while Miyamoto already has a win and three 2^nd place finishes in the last four months. He should go close to repeating his top-10 finish on his last visit to this course.

Taichi Teshima to beat Joe Ozaki -124 @ Five Dimes
Both players have won in the last four months, but Teshima is by far the more consistent. He has seven top-10 finishes in his last 14 starts on this Tour, while the youngest Ozaki has just three in his entire season (22 starts on this Tour). Ignoring last year’s weather-disrupted event, Teshima can boast finishes of 2^nd, 10^th and 14^th from 1999 to 2001 in this event.

Jumbo Ozaki to beat Jyoti Randhawa -115 @ Five Dimes [3 units]
Randhawa is certainly capable of winning this event, he won the Suntory Open in September and finished 2^nd in the Hero Honda Masters on the Asian PGA Tour earlier this month, but since that win in September he has record only one top-20 finish in five starts on the Japan Tour and is certainly one of the most inconsistent players on Tour. Playing at Ibusuki for the first time, he should struggle particularly in a match against a player who is playing just as well and does have a good record on this course.

Final update:

Matchups: 0-1-1; -3.45 units

Miyamoto/Miyazoto VOID (Miyamoto dns)
Teshima/Ozaki TIED (Push)
Ozaki/Randhawa LOST by 11

Outrights: 2-1; +2.55 units

Katayama 2nd
Jones 2nd
Ozaki mc

Small loss on the event, but thankful for that as it had looked hopeless after the 1st round. Katayama and Jones were eight shots behind Imai in 44th place and while they were 18-under-par for the last three rounds to claim 2nd place, they still finished 7 shots behind Imai. Couldn't have finished much better after day one.