DP World Tour : ISPS Handa Championship Tee Times
The DP World Tour visits a new course this week in Japan as the ISPS HANDA - CHAMPIONSHIP marks the penultimate regular event of the Asian Swing.
With views of Mount Fuji offering a spectacular backdrop to this year's tournament, Taiheiyo Club Gotemba Course will play host on the DP World Tour for the first time this week, following on from last year's event at PGM Ishioka GC.
The par 70 layout, which plays at 7262 yards and is described by the club as a 'true hillside course', was designed in 1977 by Shunsuke Kato and is the flagship layout of Taineiyo Club's 18 courses. Situated 100km southwest of Tokyo, the course underwent a renovation in 2018 overseen by Rees Jones with consultation from Major Champion Hideki Matsuyama.
No stranger to elite competitions, the course has staged the Taiheiyo Masters on the Japan Golf Tour every year since its opening in 1977. It has also played host to the 2001 World Cup of Golf, won by South African duo Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and will also stage this year's Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in October.
Matthieu Pavon is the top-ranked player in the field this week, having reached a career-high in the Official World Golf Ranking with a tie for 12th on his Masters debut earlier this month.
The French star, who won his first PGA TOUR title earlier this year, is joined in action by fellow ISPS HANDA ambassadors Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who are also fellow winners on the DP World Tour.
A host of players will be hoping to become the latest Japanese stars to make their mark after a record-breaking six months that has seen three champions crowned on the DP World Tour.
Keita Nakajima became the latest name to break through at the Hero Indian Open at the end of March, just 49 days after compatriot Rikuya Hoshino earned his own maiden title at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Last season, Ryo Hisatsune became just the third player in history - following Hideki Matsuyama (2021 Masters) and Isao Aoki (1983 Panasonic European Open) to lift a DP World Tour title at the 2023 Cazoo Open de France.
With the event co-sanctioned with the Japan Golf Tour, Nakajima is joined in the field this week by 45 other players hoping to impress the home fans at a venue that is very well-known to them.
ISPS HANDA was founded by the Japanese philanthropist, Dr Haruhisa Handa, in 2006 in the belief that sport has the power to inspire, transform, and unite people and communities across social, racial and socio-economic barriers.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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