Andrew Evans – regains Japan Tour status
The numbers of Australasian golfers plying their trade on the Japan Golf Tour will be reduced in 2023 following the completion of that tour’s Final Stage of Qualifying completed in Miyazaki in southern Japan this week.
93 golfers competed for a position inside the top 25 to secure status for next season and while the Japan Tour’s qualifying school does not distribute cards as such, those players finishing inside the top 25 will be assured of sufficient starts before a re-rank mid-season to allow them to potentially secure their ongoing involvement later in the season.
Amongst the Australasians doing well were New South Welshman, Andrew Evans, and Queensland based New South Welshman, Dylan Perry.
Evans who led the qualifiers at last year’s Japan Tour School finished ranked 18th this year while Perry finished 19th.
Evans played 19 events on the Japan Tour in 2022 but after a solid start to his campaign when producing top twenties in two early events, he eventually finished 94th on the money ranking and was forced to return to the Tour School.
Perry, a former runner-up at the British Amateur Championship, made only one cut in the seven events he played in Japan this year but has regained good status for this year.
Perry first joined the Japan Tour in 2019 and has a best finish in his time there of 3rd at the Heiwa Championship in that rookie season.
South Australian Adam Bland finished 33rd this week and will likely get the occasional start early in the new season but the issue with that is knowing when those starts come. Bland first joined the Japan Tour in 2014 and did win an event in 2015 but in 2022, despite recording two top tens in 17 starts, he had not done enough to retain status with out a return to Tour School.
New Zealand’s Michael Hendry finished 49th this week and will be unlikely to gain sufficient starts to build a campaign while Victorian Matt Griffin’s seven year campaign in Japan appears over after he finished 68th this week.
Currently, Brad Kennedy, Anthony Quayle and Brendan Jones are the only Australasians to have avoided Tour School and will be back in Japan next year.
Others to have played in Japan in recent years, Todd Sinnott and David Bransdon have also missed out on status for next year.
