T57 Nathan Uebergang (+9) 72 75 70 80

Results

4TH ROUND

Man, what a bummer. Truly broken by my performance today. It’s disapointing that I won’t be playing in Japan next year. So now I head back to do a little work on my putting and go hard at the Australian summer of events.

3RD ROUND

It’s been a birdie-athon here for me with a lot of stuffed holes as well. I’d like to play 18 “good” holes tomorrow and see what happens.

We have got one SUPER course here. Nishinasuno GC, Tommy Nakajima design, rated one of the best courses in Japan and easily would be top 3 based on it’s fantastic course design. It has a linksy feel to it with huge undulating greens. Great fun to play on. Most Japanese greens tend to be front to back, very bland…. but not this place!

The top 28 players will advance through at our course.

MC Nathan UEBERGANG (+2) 74

Results

Well that looks to be my last event here in Japan this year. There’s a good chance I may get a start in the Casio Open which is right at the end of the season, the week before the Final Stage of the Japan Tour School. So that could be a little bonus before I try to obtain my card back for a second season in Japan.

I’ve really enjoyed playing the Japan Tour this year. The courses are fantastic tournament setups and they prepare you well for the more challenging courses faced on other major tour’s around the world. I would have liked to play a lot better than I did, but I can take a lot out of the events I’ve played. There’s quite a few things I can improve and there’s even a few things I’ve learnt to manage better. Management, equipment, sponsors etc. They are all things that have to be working for you. When it comes to preparing for a tournament you have make sure all these things are in place so you’re ready to do one thing… focus on playing.

So what’s coming up? The Australian summer of golf!!! Woo hoo!!! It’s shaping up to be a good one. I’ve got a start in the Midea China Classic next week which will be my first event on the newly formed OneAsia Tour. It’s a great chance to get the ball rolling for the Australian summer.

Courtesy of ALBA Golf Magazine I have a pdf copy of a Power Article they produced for their latest article which features, you guessed it, me!

Along with Ryo Ishikawa and Co., we give you our latest tips for more power. The article includes a key feature of Ryo Ishikawa using the K-Vest, a training aid I have been using at home with Henry and Graham Boulton at Emerald Lakes GC to help improve my game. Although the article is all in Japanese, please enjoy 🙂

Click below to access the pdf file:

ALBAarticle

Photo and article courtesy of the great folks at ALBA Golf Magazine, Japan

When travelling in Japan there is one must to getting around… catching the train. It is the easiest way to get around from city to city or area to area in mega cities like Tokyo and Osaka.

One thing the Japanese are good at is sleeping while travelling. They are masters at it and it can be very entertaining to watch them go at it. On the trains not one trip goes by where you’ll not witness countless locals nodding off to the comforting sounds of the clicking rail tracks:

Amazingly enough they all seem to still get off the train when they need to. I myself have caught the bug as well and enjoy a nod off here and there. It’s quite infectious. Often I simply can’t stay awake on the train anymore 🙂

While you’re at it, you may as well throw your dress sense out the window as well:

I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!!

T50 Nathan UEBERGANG (+1) 72 73

Results

Tomorrow I will be teeing it up at the Toshin Challenge, a Challenge Tour event. As I re-ranked 35th in the last re-rank, I won’t be guaranteed anymore starts on the Japan Tour in the season ending smaller field events. So in the following two weeks after this Challenge event I will attend the Coca-Cola Tokai Classic and Canon Open monday qualifiers as a last ditched effort to move up the money list.

T60 Nathan UEBERGANG (+6) 69 72 73 80

Results

3RD ROUND
It’s a great tournament setup here at the ANA Open. The kids are fully catered for behind the driving range… I might go paint some Pikachu’s tomorrow and jump around in the blow up castle.

4TH ROUND
Yep, I would have been better off with the kiddies painting pickachu’s today. But, on a serious note I did hit a lot of super shot this week, especially with the long irons. Also, as most of you would have seen, I did get off to a good start during the final round. I was -1 through 7 finding many a way to get the ball in the hole from some poor drives.

Unfortunately my poor driving caught up with me on the 17th where some tree trouble led to a double bogey. I tried to stay patient and keep playing good shots but a bad break on my second shot to the 5th probably derailed me. When I got to the green to see how close my shot had finished, my ball was no where to be seen. It had actually ended up back down the hill in the rough dead behind a tree. My ball had struck right at the top of a gangly thin tree guarding the front left of the green. A bad break but you’re always going to get them and I still did managed to make a par there.

The next hole was the killer. On the 6th I tried to hit a stinger into the wind. It came out low as desired but had a little fade on it. It stuck the tree guarding the left edge of the fairway and ricochet straight left about 15m and managed to go OB. That did annoy me. Another couple metres to the right through the air and I would have been just off the fairway. I didn’t get over it and it affected my play on the last three holes.

Moral of the story: I still have to learn to move on from bad breaks especially when the shot wasn’t that great in the first place. On the course you have to reach a state where what’s happened in the past is left behind and you deal with the shot in the present.

60 Nathan UEBERGANG (+18) 75 70 83 74

Results

FINAL ROUND
Well that was the last leg of this trip to Japan. I’m heading home for a week to play a couple pro-ams, then I’ll be back in Japan the following week for the ANA Open which is my last confirmed start on the Japan Tour.

3RD ROUND
Well, you may have guessed it, I had another driver cave in during todays 3rd round. So disappointing. I had a feeling it was going towards the end of the second round. At the time I had no back up heads as all three of them are flattened/caved.

I started to get some awkward flights during the front nine, so when I made the turn I checked if my delivery of new heads had arrived at the clubhouse. They had. I then got the rules officials out and after a bit of deliberation they allowed me to change heads on the 3rd hole. By then I was too far gone mentally.

I must say it is very hard to tell when a driver face is actually caving. A bit of a flat spot forms (the face loses it’s bulge and roll) then it gradually grows and gets worse.

Wow!! I can’t believe I got into the event today. Early Monday I was 10th reserve looking like no hope of getting in. I was sitting at my computer getting ready to change my flights. Then later Monday afternoon I checked the latest play-field status and I was up to 2nd reserve. THAT actually gave me some hope. Maybe I should hang around for a few days and see what happens. You never know.

So being a reserve I turned up early Thursday morning and sat around. To keep myself busy I played on Craig Parry’s Nintendo DS, ate a MASSIVE breakfast, hit a few balls on the range…. then, at around 11:30 the JGTO staff came up to me and said, “Nathan, your tee time is 12:20. Good luck!”

The Fujisenkei Classic is the last event before the second rerank. I need to do something here to keep my season alive in Japan. Time to make the most of the opportunity, I say 🙂