Shugo Imahira has the Order of Merit Champion title for past 2 years, but his position on the World Rankings was flipped with Takumi Kanaya at the latest announcement on April 19th.

Takumi Kanaya winning the 20-21 season restarting event, Token Homemate Cup has made Takumi jump up from 118th to 76th on the World Rankings. On the other hand, Shugo's ranking went down to 95th, which made Takumi in the 2nd place for the Japanese player on the World Rankings following Hideki Matsuyama, currently at 14th.

"I knew that Takumi's World Ranking will improve from the victory but didn't think he would outstrip me. I think Takumi turned Pro in last October, he doesn't require any minus points yet. He has been doing great on the professional tour since he was an amateur. He is excellent on putting, and he seems to be in good condition, so his victory last week didn't surprise me. I do praise his for his talents, but if it regards about being elected on the Olympics, I will now back down so easily."

Shugo has made his first Tour victory back in 2017 at this week's tournament, Kansai Open. The tournament venue is different from the course he won, but Shugo says he like this year's course as well.
"I like the tree lines separating the courses. It makes me easy to pick my target. I have the feeling that I will have a good chance of winning this week."