Koumei Oda lifts the Diamond Cup on Japan Golf Tour as Ryo Ishikawa fails to make the cut
2011 Diamond Cup Golf Tournament concluded with the Japan Tour veteran Koumei Oda emerging as the clubhouse leader of the tournament. Oda, who was the runner’s up last year, apparently did everything right to clinch the title this year with a convincing
lead over his contenders.
32-year-old Oda, who has been leading the tournament since the second round, did well to extend his lead to the third round with a two shot lead and went ahead with a three shot lead in the final round and finally managed to run away with the title with
a staggering four shots lead. This was his fifth title victory on the Japan Golf Tour.
Hiroyuki Fujita was the only serious contender who might have caused problems for Oda when he came as close as one shot to the leader in his opening front nine. Falling for bogeys later on in his back nine, Fujita lost control and stumbled with three more
to fall well behind Oda. He finished tied for seventh with eight-under. Toshinori Muto finished for the second spot along with Kaname Yokoo with 12-under, 276.
Australian Neven Basic also finished tied for seventh in his third appearance on the tour. Although a disappointing day for Basic, he finished with an aggregate score of eight-under, 280 to settle for a cheque of ￥3,410,400. Other Aussies who featured in
the tournament were Chris Campbell and David Smail, finishing tied for 21st while Richard Lee finished 31st and Neil Sarkies closed the day for 53rd.
One of the big upsets of the tournament came out to be none other than star Japanese golfer Ryo Ishikawa who failed to make the cut after his opening rounds. He pulled in opening rounds of 70 and 74, thereby failing to qualify for the next round.
Ishikawa was the runner-up in last week’s event on the tour and was able to push himself in the Top 50 in Official World Golf Rankings and currently stays at 49th spot for the moment. He will need to stay in the Top 50 to qualify for the upcoming
US Open at the Congressional in June.
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