Last year, Kansai Open Golf Championship was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. Not only this tournament but, many more was cancelled, and it felt as if the whole season was taken away from the players.

"It may be 1 year, but that year weighs heavily on me. My first victory of the Tour was at this Kansai Open back in 2019. I was a late starter and my Tour career started in 2018 at a\the age of 29. I still feel like one of the young ones. But 1 year passes by with not many tournaments to play and now I am 31 years old. I am in the middle-age group, but with not much of experience. Also, so many really talented young guns are out here. I did congratulate Takumi for his victory last week. I did fight hard but I was 4 shots behind and ended at 4T. Takumi was incredible."

"I think Takumi's strength is not only that he is a really talented golfer, but also he knows himself very well and has clear view of what he is capable and not. He doesn't make stupid risks. At tournaments I tend to push myself too much. I try for some risky shot and end up making a bad mistake. But Takumi is never like that. That is the biggest different from me. I bet he will win more this season.

Tomoharu Ostuki was at the top pf The Mercedes Benz Total Point Rankings after 6 tournaments of last year, but last week on the restarting event's victory, Takumi took over his place.

Tomoharu has been spending his off season challenging the Asian Tours and New Zealand tournaments, but this year that wasn't possible.
"I couldn't even join Toru Taniguchi's training camp."

At first it was scheduled in February, but it was cancelled since the State of Emergency was put in action. Toru changed the dates to March, but since it was last minute notice for Tomoharu and he couldn't join. So, Tomoharu had not much to depend upon getting ready for the season restarting tournament.
"I have racked the feeling of tournament play. But this week I am the defending champion, and since with the 1 year being skipped, I have no pressure on me. So, I will do my best with a fresh feeling."