An eagle at the 72nd hole propelled Matthew Griffin [above] to his third top-10 finish in Japan this year, while Jack Wilson recorded his best finish on the European Challenge Tour at the Foshan Open in China.
Searching for his first top-10 since the Japan PGA Championship in May, Griffin began the final round of the Bridgestone Open tied for sixth and four shots off the lead.
A birdie at the par-3 eighth hole saw the Victorian make the turn at one-under par, but bogeys at 10, 13 and 14 brought to an end any chance of a Sunday charge to the title, Shugo Imahira moving to the top of the moneylist with a one-shot win.
A birdie at the par-5 16th and then the eagle at the 18th catapulted Griffin back inside the top 10, the Y4,080,000 (approx. $A51,000) in prizemoney moving him up to 23rd on the Japan Golf Tour moneylist.
Brad Kennedy remains the highest-placed Australian on the Japan Tour Order of Merit in 11th position, weekend rounds of 74-72 seeing the Queenslander finish the week tied for 29th at two-under, level with fellow Aussie Brendan Jones who sits 21st on the moneylist.
Anthony Quayle’s final round of 69 moved him into a tie for 37th with Scott Strange (T-59) and New Zealand’s Michael Hendry (65th) the others to make the cut.
In the second leg of the Challenge Tour’s China swing, Wilson delivered four sub-70 rounds to finish in a tie for seventh at the Foshan Open at Foshan Golf Club.
Like Griffin, Wilson began the final round needing to come from four shots back to push for victory and began in encouraging fashion with a birdie at the par-4 first hole.
Having made birdie at the par-4 fourth all week, an untimely bogey dropped Wilson back to level par on his round but he bounced back with birdies at the fifth and ninth to turn two-under and in the mix. Further birdies at the 13th and 14th holes kept Wilson in contention but he couldn’t find the extra shots he needed over the closing holes, finishing three shots adrift of Victor Perez and Robert MacIntyre, Perez prevailing in the playoff.
Like Wilson, Ben Eccles shot 68 on Sunday to move into a tie for 12th, while Dimi Papadatos has dropped out of the top 15 in the Road to Ras Al Khaimah rankings after he finished the week tied for 42nd.
Victorian Bryden Macpherson was the only other Australian to qualify for the weekend, a final round of two-under 70 moving him up three spots into a tie for 51st.
