DP World Tour, only seasonal event in Japan

Eight Italian players are taking part in the ISPS Handa Championship, the only seasonal stop on the DP World Tour in Japan, organized in collaboration with the Japan Golf Tour and the fourth event of the Asian Swing series. The competition takes place from April 25th to 28th at the Taiheiyo Club (Gotemba Course) in Gotemba, with Matteo Manassero, Guido Migliozzi, Edoardo Molinari, Lorenzo Scalise, Andrea Pavan, Francesco Laporta, Renato Paratore, and Filippo Celli competing.

 ISPS Handa Championship, results

In the high-quality field, five winners from 2024 will aim to emerge as protagonists, including Matteo Manassero, fresh off his fifth-place finish at the Indian Open, the second of the season, along with his victory at the Jonsson Wolkwear Open in March and his 12th position in the merit rankings. Joining him are South African Dylan Frittelli, Swedes Jordan Gumberg and Jesper Svensson, and Japan’s Keita Nakajima, also a winner in India.

Numerous competitors have the potential to challenge them, including Spaniards such as Pablo Larrazabal and Adrian Otaegui, German Yannik Paul, Scotsman Ewen Ferguson, Frenchmen Antoine Rozner and Matthieu Pavon, Englishman Jordan Smith, South Africans Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Zander Lombard, and Chinese players Haotong Li and Ashun Wu.

The Japanese players, numerous and competitive, include some of the best from the Japan Golf Tour, such as Takumi Kanaya, money list leader, Taihei Sato (no. 3), Taisei Shimizu (no. 4), Tomayo Ikemura (no. 6), Yuto Katsuragawa (winner of the tournament in 2022), and Yuta Sugiura (no. 7 tied), along with other well-known names like Masahiro Kawamura, Hiroshi Iwata, and Ryo Ishikawa, with 18 wins in Japan and PGA Tour experience. The reigning champion, Australian Lucas Herbert, is absent, now part of the LIV Golf.

Among other Italian players, Lorenzo Scalise and Francesco Laporta have had rewarding results in the last five consecutive events, while Edoardo Molinari has been in prize money in the last three. Guido Migliozzi, Andrea Pavan, and Filippo Celli missed the cut after 36 holes in India. Renato Paratore, who needs to regain form, missed the cut in the last four appearances but secured a second-place finish in the South African Open.

The course, designed in 1977 and revamped in 2018 by Rees Jones with consultation from champion Hideki Matsuyama, is the flagship of the 18 courses at the Taiheiyo Club and hosted the World Cup in 2001. The prize money is $2,250,000 with a winner’s prize of $382,500.

The tournament will be broadcast on Sky Sport Golf and streamed on NOW with the following schedule: Thursday, April 25th, and Friday, April 26th, from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.; Saturday, April 27th, from 5:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, April 28th, from 4:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Commentators will include Silvio Grappasonni, Alessandro Lupi, Giovanni Dassù, and Marco Cogliati.