Kazeka1886

Sullivan has been getting off to really quick starts over last year or so and that included first round lead at this event although at different course last season. Since then, he had a lot of low first rounds including lead at Dubai Desert Classic and 2 more top 3 starts in his last 12 outings so coming back to place where he got off to great start with round of 63 a year ago simply got to see solid value backing him for another low first round.

Kennedy plays on Japan Tour, and he usually starts very well with his first round average being 68.86 over his last 50 starts. He has great history at this course being 10 for 10 here with 8 top 30 finishes, and he has been getting off to fast starts recently having sat inside top 5 after first round in 3 of last 6 visits here so got to see huge value backing him for another low round on opening day of the tournament.

Li has been getting to great starts recently as he was first round leader at both Dubai Desert Classic with round of 67 and International Series in Macau with fantastic round of 63 while he has been also off to very solid starts in his last 2 outings as he fired 67 at Singapore Open to sit T9 after day 1, and he fired rounds of 68-65-70 at Saudi Open last time out to sit 3rd heading into final round so got to see great value in Chinese getting another fast start here.

Hataji played this course on 4 previous occasions and twice he ended up first round as a leader with an average of 68.25 of a round. He played 2 events this year winning New Zealand Open and sitting at T7 after day 1 at Token Homemate Cup with a round of 66 so coming back to the course where he fared well so far and got off to quick starts simply got to see great value backing him for another low first round.

Moore and NeSmith have been excellent in this tournament finishing in T4 in back to back years of 2022 and 2023 with scores of 23 under and 26 under last year when they led for 3 rounds before getting caught in the final round. Moore is really good around the greens and his driver has been great this year while NeSmith is fantastic on approach shots as he can find pins very well from those middling ranges so with how they both bring out the best from each other simply got to expect them to once again run hot in this tournament and fight for the win.

This Canadian pair finished as runner-ups here a year ago with score of 28 under as their games are great combination for pairing up and producing low scores. Hadwin sits in top 10 for Birdies and Taylor ranks inside top 10 for Approach as he also won twice in last year and with Hadwin makes for great Canadian combination that has great chemistry together and should fare well again in this tournament and quite possibly go one better than last year.

Bezuidenhout sits in 58th place in OWGR after solid year so far that saw him finish as runner-up at The American Express, and he arrives to Japan in fine nick of form with his last 4 starts reading finishes of T13-T9-T25 and T28 in far stronger fields than what he is facing this week in Japan. He has 3 DP World Tour wins that came at 3 courses which are very hard to score on in Valderrama, Leopard Creek and South African Open with all of those wins coming by at least 4 strokes as he tends to be great at such demanding courses, so he is rightful favourite this week and could easily finish with a title on Sunday.

Ishikawa has fantastic record at this event with 3 wins, 1 runner-up finish and 3 more top 15 finishes in 12 attempts. He was runner-up at Japan Open late last year and T4 in very tough field at The ZOZO Championship while his lone start to this year saw him make the cut at Token Homemate Cup with solid finishing round of 67 so got to feel like comeback to place dear to his heart could spark another strong showing and see him compete for top spots on Sunday afternoon.

Paul has been playing well this year highlighted by finishes of T8 at Dubai Invitational, T4 at Ras al Khaimah Championship and 10th in his last outing at Indian Open. He was T6 at this event a year ago on debut and his game looks to be in very decent shape as he ranks 5th for Greens in Regulation and 7th for SG Approach which will be important metric for this week's test in Japan so got to fancy German to have a strong showing and quite possibly be in the mix for the win.

Coody's brothers played countless rounds together and their stats show their games are very complimentary as Parker is very solid chipper and iron player while Pierceson can drive it and putts very nicely. They are coming off fine displays at Corales Puntacana as Parker was T6 with 18 birdies while Pierceson was T18 with 20 birdies on the week so got to expect their games to compliment each other very nicely in this one and see brothers produce a lot of birdies which could easily see them contend for the win come Sunday afternoon.

These two have very complimentary games that could go a long way. Hoge is fantastic ball striker as he gained strokes on approach in 10 starts in a row of which 7 saw him record top 20 finishes, and he sits 2nd behind only red-hot Scheffler in Strokes Gained on Approach. On other side McNealy made 8 cuts in a row with 3 top 15 finishes in that span, and he ranks 17th for Total Strokes Gained after he led the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained Putting last season and once again sits high in same stat this year. All in all Hoge's great ball striking and McNealy's great putting could spark a great result for duo this weekend.