Legendary Jones back in pursuit of more glory

Having already won 15 tournaments and cashed in ¥1,094,192,410 (US$8.93 mil) in career earnings to date, it is safe to say that Brendan Jones has established himself as one of the international legends on JGTO.

But the 47-year-old Australian is coming back for more in his 20th season, declaring that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank and is eager to further extend his already impressive Tour record.

Jones is the only non-Japanese player to surpass the ¥1,000,000 mark in career earnings and is currently No 10 on the all-time career money list.

The 15-title tally also placed Jones 17th in the all-time standings for players with most victories. He is the second-best ranked international player in the list behind compatriot Graham Marsh who had won on 20 occasions.

Jones recounted how a decision made on his coach's advice 22 years ago turned out to be the best for his life and career.

"Most of the good young players have the ambition to play on the PGA Tour, which is fine," said Jones, who is playing in this week's Token Homemate Cup- a tournament in which he tasted success twice.

"But when I was starting out 22 years ago, my coach told me that if you want to learn how to play, you need to get outside of the comfort zone.

"He went on to say, go to Japan and learn how to win. Once you win there, then you can move on."

Although he featured in two JGTO tournaments in 2000, it was only a year later that Jones made his full Tour debut. 

The Australian did not take too long to achieve his breakthrough. In 2002, he won the Philip Morris Championship and the rest, as they say, is history.

"I just feel relaxed. I feel my game more suited to this tour than any other tour," said Jones.

"I enjoyed my time off the golf courses here too. For me, it's a place where I feel happy and relaxed. I like the onsen. I like the relaxing aspect of it. 

"Well, it's good for me because now that I'm already 47, I need a lot of relaxation!

"Also, it's close to home. Before Covid, I could just fly home on Sunday if I wanted a week off."

Jones was still on a rich vein of form back in 2019- winning the Token Homemate Cup and enjoying four top 10 finishes, before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and halted his momentum.

Although the tour returned to full swing last year, Jones opted against travelling to Japan and sat out of the entire 2020-21 season.

It was a decision that he did not regret and is now ready to start all over again.

"Having time away from golf made me realise that it's not the end of the world if I were to lose the card. Life still goes on," he said.

"I was reluctant to travel in the last two years. The big thing for me was the quarantine requirements. We had to do two weeks here and then go home and continue doing the same.

"It wasn't just my age. I just didn't see the value in that.

"Now that Covid is somewhat settled down, I'm raring to go again.

"I still feel like I'm competitive, and I intend to keep it going until the day I feel I can no longer do it," said Jones.

• B・ジョーンズ