JGTO star Yosuke Asaji will be aiming to get his 2022 campaign off to a roaring start by securing a second appearance in The Open later this year through a strong result at the SMBC Singapore Open, which begins tomorrow.

There is so much at stake at the Sentosa Golf Club this week as four tickets to The 150th Open – which will be staged at St Andrews from July 14-17, are up for grabs.

As part of The Open Qualifying Series, the tournament’s leading four finishers in the top 12 who are not already exempt will earn a spot in the golf’s oldest Major.

For the JGTO members, there are still a couple more opportunities available through the Asia-Pacific Open Diamond Cup Golf (May 15) and Mizuno Open (May 29). However, Asaji is determined to book his spot early.

With the world’s old major set to tee off in the home of golf in Scotland this July, Asaji does not want to miss The Open this year after marking his debut with a commendable tied 67th finish in 2019.

“I want to go back to The Open again. My goal is to finish inside the top four and go to St. Andrews. I’ve never been there before, and it’s a course I would like to play at least once in my life,” said Asaji.

What made his maiden appearance sweeter that year was how he qualified for it.

Asaji remarkably emerged a winner at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup at Sobu Country Club for his first-ever JGTO title since turning professional in 2012- a tournament he only earned a spot via Monday Qualifiers.

He finished in 56th place on the JGTO money list in 2018, but only the top-50 players got a spot into the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup, which was co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour. 

Asaji never looked back since as and went on to establish him as one of the top guns on JGTO. He added two more titles to his name after that, namely the 2019 ANA Open and last year’s Mynavi ABC Championship.

This week, Asaji will be out to show that he can replicate the same success outside Japan, too- just like what he did when he secured a notable 14th spot at the 2019 Indonesian Masters.

Asaji will have to bring his A-game to the challenging Serapong course if he wants to finish high up on the leaderboard. He missed the cut on his debut in 2018, but he improved by registering tied 56th in 2019 an 68th in 2020, respectively.

Asaji will be playing alongside England’s world number 27, Paul Casey, in his opening round on Thursday. And it’s an exciting prospect which the 28-year-old is looking forward to.

“Paul is a golfer I have seen on television since young, so I am very glad to be given the opportunity to play with him. This is a rare opportunity for me to observe him up close. I would like to learn from him and his techniques as much as possible while focusing on my game.,” said Asaji.