His elaborate and eccentric swing sent social media into a frenzy in July, but Ho-Sung Choi has proven its effectiveness by pipping Australian Brendan Jones to claim the Japan Golf Tour’s Casio World Open.
Starting the final round two shots adrift of Choi, Jones fired a spectacular 66 on Sunday that included three birdies in his opening five holes but it wasn’t enough to claim his 15th Japan Tour title.
Third at the Dunlop Phoenix tournament a week ago, Jones applied pressure to the man with what has been dubbed the ‘Fisherman Swing’, but Choi responded with a two-putt birdie at the final hole to earn his second win in Japan and his first in five years.
Although he hasn’t registered a win yet in 2018, Jones has recorded nine top-10 finishes to be sixth on the Japan Golf Tour moneylist and qualify for the season-ending Golf Nippon Series JT Cup next week.
Restricted to the top 25 players on the moneylist and all tournament winners in 2018, Jones and Brad Kennedy are the only Aussies to make the field for the JT Cup with Kennedy shooting 67 in the final round of the Casio World Open to finish tied for 16th and 17th on the moneylist.
A tie for 38th wasn’t enough to elevate Matthew Griffin inside the top 25, the Victorian closing out his year in Japan 29th on the moneylist.
Tied for second heading into the final round, Scott Strange fell down the leaderboard on Sunday with a one-over 73, his tie for 16th his best result in Japan this year.
Michael Hendry’s tie for 31st was in some ways a cruel end to his year in Japan, the Kiwi finishing 61st on the moneylist and just outside the top 60 who automatically retain their cards for next year.
David Bransdon was in a similar position prior to the tournament but missed the cut and finished 66th on the Order of Merit, Won Joon Lee also failing to qualify for the weekend.
