Shugo Imahira now has approx.. 38 million yen lead against Money Ranking's No.2 Shaun Norris. If Shugo wins this week, he will achieve his ultimate goal of defending his Order of Merit Title. He wii become 5th player to succeed in defending the Order of Merit title, following Isao Aoki, Jumbo Ozaki, Tommy Nakajima and Shingo Katayama.

Many thought Shugo should have some pressure on him coming into this week's tournament, but it turned out that it was "business as usual" for Shugo. He will be in the same group with current No.2 Shaun Norris and No.3 Chan Kim of the Money Rankings. Organizers place the 3 in the same group so they could go head to head. But this grouping doesn't affect Shugo either.
"I really don't mind so much about the pairings. I will play as usual and just prepare with my best effort and be concentrated on the tournament, nothing else."

Shugo has made his season's 2nd victory at Dunlop Phoenix Tournament last week. The Final Round was cancelled due to thunderstorm, but he stayed in Miyazaki prefecture as scheduled not to celebrate but to go to training gym. He worked out for almost 90 minutes.

"I got pretty fired up. I am already and well prepared for this week's tournament. We only have 2 more games including this week. I want to keep my concentration until the very end and e in the contention again on Sunday afternoon."

Shugo has made appearance at Casio 5 times, but his best finish here is at 13T. Could he conquer the Kochi Kuroshio CC this year to grab the victory also end the Order of Merit race by defending it this week?