De Los Santos falls short in top-10 bid

Justin De Los Santos fell short in his bid to claim a third top 10 finish of the season after finishing tied for 29th at the Japan Players Championship by Sato Shokuhin.

The 26-year-old Filipino posted a one-under-par 71 after mixing three birdies with two bogeys to conclude his campaign at 11-under 277 at the Nishi Nasuno Country Club, 12 shots behind winner Yuki Inamori.

It was a commendable outing nonetheless for De Los Santos as he finished no worse than top 30 in the four cuts made from six appearances to date.

De Los Santos is currently sitting comfortably in 30th spot on the season-long Money Rankings. He needs to finish in the top 65 to secure full playing privileges for next season.

American David Oh made a promising start in his first appearance of the season by coming in joint 47th with four others, including Australia's David Bransdon.

Oh marked his scorecard with three birdies and two bogeys for 71, while Bransdon had two birdies in his bogey-free card of 70 to end the week at eight-under overall.

Another Australian, Andrew Evans, endured a roller-coaster round that saw him battle to a 73 to share 52nd on 281.

He sandwiched three birdies between a pair of bogeys at the start on holes one and two and in the closing stretch on 16 and 17.