Gangjee gears up for title defence

Gangjee sensationally ended a 14-year title drought when he claimed his second Asian Tour title at the tournament last year. The 40-year-old plans to dominate the field again, albeit on a different course, when he tees off for the ¥150,000,000 (approx. US$1,338,067) event.

Gangjee will spearhead the 132-man field alongside Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand, Australian Scott Hend, Yosuke Asaji of Japan and Korea’s Taehee Lee, who are the leading four players on the current Asian Tour Order of Merit.

More than 50 Asian Tour winners will feature in the talented field and they include Zach Murray of Australia and Rory Hie, who became the first Indonesian player to win on the Asian Tour when he triumphed in India two weeks ago.

The Panasonic OPEN Golf Championship is the fourth event to be sanctioned by both the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO) this season. The tournament is also returning to the Higashi Hirono Golf Club this week following a seven-year lapse.

The race to finish inside top three on the Panasonic Swing series will also heat up this week with the Panasonic OPEN Golf Championship being the concluding leg of the 2018/19 edition.

The Panasonic Swing is based on an aggregate point ranking earned by players at the following five tournaments - 2018 Thailand Open, 2018 Panasonic Open India, 2018 Indonesian Masters, 2019 Maybank Championship (Malaysia) and 2019 Panasonic Open Golf Championship (Japan).

The top-three finishers upon the conclusion of the 2019 Panasonic OPEN Golf Championship will share a bonus pool of US$150,000 where they will earn US$70,000, US$50,000 and US$30,000 respectively via the reward scheme.

Thailand’s Poom Saksansin leads the current rankings with 2,919 points while countrymen Panuphol Pittayarat lurks in second and Jazz in third.

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