MC Nathan UEBERGANG (+7) 73 76

Results

It’s impressive how good these courses have all been so far on the Japan Tour. Shishido Hills Country Club, well, it’s no exception. The course measures around 7300 yards and plays as a par 71. It weaves amongst the mountains and is in immaculate condition, each hole finishing off with a severely undulating green. You should be pleased with under par rounds around this setup.

T40 Nathan UEBERGANG (+7) 73 78 74 70

Results

DAY 4
The weather was good today and the scoring reflected it. I had it moving along nicely today, getting to -4 through 11 but finished a little rough and wound up with a 70 (-2). Overall a good day and a good tournament. It’s nice to make my first cut on the Japan Tour and get things going over here. There’s a lot I can take out of this week.

I must say it’s just great playing in front of the big crowds over here. They are so supportive and really get into the mood with you. It’s nice being able to put on a show for them.

DAY 2
It was a tough day out on course. I though I struggled out there but clearly everyone else did too. The howling winds and slick greens made it extremely tough to post a score. I’m very pleased that I’ll be playing tomorrow and have a chance to climb the leader-board. My short game is working great but my ball striking continues to hinder my scores. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the two working well together.

Mitsubishi Diamond Cup

Wow, what a great venue they’ve got here. The Oarai GC has been rated in the top 5 courses in Japan and I can see why. Beautiful tree lined golf holes, extremely thick rough off the fairway and lovely fast gently undulating greens much akin to a US Open venue. Oarai GC (course pictures) is a seaside golf course, probably one of the flattest courses on the Japan Tour as it’s one of the few not located on a mountainous range. It’s one of the toughest tracks all year and will be a good test especially if the rains and wind turn up as predicted during the week.

Live Scoring (here)

MC T79 Nathan UEBERGANG (+3) 75

Results

For the two day Challenge events they have a cut after the first round. Man it sucks when you double the last to miss the cut by one. Entirely my own fault as I made a bad decision on my second shot and didn’t execute it well.

Henry (my caddie) and I will now spend a few days in Tokyo before heading to Mito for the Mitsubishi Diamond Cup.

Coutesy of Golf Style Japan I have these great “What’s in the Bag” pics from the Token Homemate Cup. Just click the “what’s in the bag?” section at the top of the page.

There’s a bit of chopping and changing going on with my bag at the moment, but more on that later on.

I will be heading back to Japan next week for the Sashima JGTO Challenge on the Challenge Tour in preparation for two events on the Japan Tour, the Mitsubishi Diamond Cup at the Oarai Golf Club and the UBS Japan Golf Tour Championship held at Shishido Hills Country Club.

T115 MC Nathan UEBERGANG (+5) 77 70 = 147

Results

A few really loose tee shots cost me this week. Giving four shots in penalties each day really hurts. I believe by the time it came to play on Thursday I actually turned up a bit fatigued. So that’s something to keep in mind for my preparation from now on.

In getting ready for the next trip I have to keep working on my ball striking consistency which is the one area that is hurting me at the moment. I’m hitting some high quality shots but it’s the improvement of my misses which will reduce the number of costly mistakes on the score card. Statistically my short game is great and my putting is great.

I’ll also be giving the new TaylorMade R9 driver a good workout. It seems to be a great driver and it looks like I’ll be using it for the rest of the season. The first two events of the Japan season were such an enjoyable experience and a real eye opener. I loved every bit of them.

T85 MC Nathan UEBERGANG (+4) 73 73

SECOND ROUND

Even though I bodged a couple holes today, I felt like I hung in there and gave it a crack. I can’t emphasize enough how much fun it was playing out there. A big thanks goes out to my caddy Chris who did a great job and made it an enjoyable week.

FIRST ROUND

It was a very enjoyable first round for me on the Japan Tour. I could enjoy playing here for a lonnnnng time. As expected I was nervous teeing off the first, but at the same time I was feeling a buzz that you can only get from really enjoying what you are doing. The atmosphere on the first tee was amazing as a few hundred were gathered to see the 2009 season get underway.

Overall the round today was pretty uneventful which is certainly against my trend of rounds recently. I had a little stretch where I missed a bunch of short putts, I made a couple of loose swings with driver, but overall I played a solid round which was so much fun. The crowds are fantastic, the course is great 🙂

Live Scoring

WOW!! That’s about all I can say.

The Token Tado CC is fantastic. It’s an expansive layout built amongst the hills, with gentle rolling slopes and undulating greens. A good short game, combined with a hot putter, will be the key to scoring well around the Token Tado course.

What’s grabbed me even more than the course itself is the setup of the event. Put it this way… the Japan Tour is amazing! It’s such a thrill. I feel like I have the opportunity of a life time.

Token Homemate Cup: Live Scoring

Press Centre

T61 Nathan UEBERGANG (even) 74 70 78

Results

Novil Cup Website

FINAL ROUND

Oh well. My short game left me and my mental game followed 😕 . I’m now off to Nagoya for the first event of the Japan Tour season. I’ve never been so excited about playing a golf tournament, so it’s time to reenergize and get ready for it.

SECOND ROUND

I tested the new driver on the first hole today and it went good all day. I had it going as I was -5 through 16 but a bogey, double finish really pulled me back into the field. It made life a lot easier having a driver today.

It’s nice to make my first cut over here but I’ve played terrible considering this is a course that suits me down to the ground.

FIRST ROUND

It’s fair to say I rarely have a boring day on the golf course… and today was no exception.

This course, the J Classic GC, is one of the most open courses you will ever see. It’s a long course too, measuring about 7150 yards, so It’s a no brainer to use your driver on every hole. The game plan really is that simple. Long drives are a big advantage on this golf course.

I teed of the 10th today and made a steady start. On the 14th tee I hit my drive, bent down to pick up my tee and sure enough my driver decided to snap at the hosel. Talk about at the wrong time. On the one course where I could launch the driver to my hearts content, I didn’t have one! To make it worse, the next longest club I had in my bag was a 17* hybrid that I use to hit high-high spinning approach shots. So I had to play the rest of the round using my hybrid off the tee. On some courses that may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, but at the J Classic GC you really do need the driver. In the end I was pleased to leave the course with the score I made.

I brought one driver on this trip because some of the tour vans next week at the first Japan Tour event have some drivers ready for me to try. Surely I could have made it through just one week with the driver I had. Obviously not :-).

Thankfully the Titleist guys here have been really helpful. They sourced out a couple of X-flex shafts from a club fitter in central Tokushima then drove an hour to get there and build up a new driver to spec. I’ll give it a quick test in the morning and we should be right to go for the second round. Their support could be all the difference tomorrow. The par 5’s must be chewed up on this course to play well.