Current No.1 of the Money Ranking is Shugo Imahira, who has been on the top 10 for so many times this season but couldn't keep that and finished at 36T this week.

"I just couldn't get my putting to adjust to the greens until the end."
Shugo has been finishing as runner-up for 5 times this season, including the 2 tournaments in a row last week. But his constant stable play was absent at Gotemba this week.

"My shots are still good, so if the green changes, I may have something."
Next up is Dunlop Phoenix, which Shugo made 3 top 10 finishes out of 4 times he has played.
"I really like that course so, I want to prepare well."

As Shugo stumbled for a while this week, Shaun Norris jumped up to No.2 on the money rankings. He did lose to amateur Takumi Kanaya, but with the rules, Shaun was presented by the winner's prize money of 40 million yen which got him close to Shugo with only 7,199,256 yen difference.

Shaun and Shugo was battling the Order of Merit title until the very end last season, but eventually Shugo got the honors.
"Shugo, this year I will not let you run away", declared Shaun.

But Shugo's reply to this was cool and calm.
"As long as I can keep the position capable of defending the Order of Merit title, I really don't mind about who said what. I just really want to win in the remaining tournaments."

Winning at remaining last 3 tournaments is the only thing in Shugo's mind right now.