ABC Championship

FINAL RESULT: 1-2; -2.00pts

Katayama wd
Chand 5th
Yoneyama 27th

Close again, but still failing to make any headway on this Tour. A three-way tie for 5th place for good enough only to return the stake with Chand, while the main hope, Katayama, withdrew after six holes in the first round with a fever. Pity he couldn't have done so six holes earlier!

Outright plays (1pt):

Shingo Katayama to win 14/1 e.w. @ IASbet and GolfingGods
Sticking with Katayama who last week extended his run of top-8 finishes on the Japan Tour to 11 from 14 starts in 2004. Considering that he has finished in the top-8 in each of the last five years here and won this event last year, there seems little reason to doubt that he will be in contention yet again this week.

Dinesh Chand to win 20/1 e.w. @ IASbet and GolfingGods
With top-10 finishes in each of his last four starts and in two of the last three years here, Chand is another who should feature on the leaderboard at the weekend. He has already won the Yomiuri Open this summer, so there a no concerns about him suffering from leaderboard vertigo.

Tsuyoshi Yoneyama to win 50/1 e.w. @ GolfingGods
It may be five years since Yoneyama's last Tour win (1999 Casio World Open), but he has been getting himself into contention a lot for a 50/1 shot. Each of his last three finishes have been in the top-20 and two of his last ten finishes have been in the top-4. He also finished 3rd on this course last year, so another top-5 finish should be such a surprise this week.

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