Chase for prime position on money rankings heats up

No Australian golfer has ever topped the JGTO Money Rankings since the Tour's inception in 1973.

Perhaps, pursuing the JGTO number one title could be one of the added motivations for Anthony Quayle when the Tour kickstarts the second half of its season with the Japan PGA Championship getting underway in less than two weeks.

The 27-year-old has been impressive thus far, cashing in ¥38,933,319 from nine appearances that were highlighted by his recent strong Major debut at The Open where he finished a creditable tied-15th.

This placed him sixth on the Tour's Money Rankings, the highest among the international competitors, approximately just ¥18,000,000 behind Kazuki Higa (¥56,692,833) in the top spot.

Quayle's best result of the season came at the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open where he had to settle for runner-up to Zimbabwe's Scott Vincent after losing to the latter in the playoff.

He also posted another couple of fine top 10 results, tying for sixth at the ISPS HANDA Championship and coming in solo fourth at the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship. 

Buoyed by this solid run, Quayle will certainly head into the second half of the season with plenty of optimism as he continues knocking on the door for his first JGTO victory.

Competing in his fourth full season, Quayle's best overall finish came during the 2019 season when he ended his campaign in 29th spot.

Fellow Aussie Brad Kennedy is the other top-performing international member of the season.

The 48-year-old will be aiming to pick up where he left off having finished no worse than a ninth-placing in his last four starts before the break.

Kennedy also stood out with three top-four results, including a joint-runner-up at the ASO IIZUKA Challenged Golf Tournament.

He's currently ranked eighth in the money list with season earnings of ¥27,898,073.

Vincent, despite making just three starts to date, finds himself occupying 14th on ¥17,210,000 thanks to his Mizuno Open triumph.

The feat made him the only non-Japanese winner in the opening 10 tournaments.