Without question, one of the growth areas in the world of golf is the Far East, in particular China and Japan, and The European Tour is delighted to be able to embrace and encourage the development.
Already, The 2004 European Tour International Schedule features the BMW Asian Open at the Tomson Golf Club in Shanghai in May, while the bustling Chinese city will also host the opening event of the 2005 season, the Volvo China Open, at the Shanghai Silport Golf Club in November 2004.
Both events will feature a host of local players, many hoping to emulate Lian-Wei Zhang who became the first Chinese golfer to win an event on The European Tour when he pipped Ernie Els to capture the Caltex Masters, presented by Carlsberg, Singapore 2003.
To date the only Japanese player to have won a European Tour event was the great Isao Aoki who claimed the European Open at Sunningdale in 1984, leading from gun to tape, and eventually winning by two shots from a high quality chasing pack led by Severiano Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Carl Mason.
Because of his six foot frame, Aoki, who also won the 1978 World Match Play Championship at Wentworth Club, was nicknamed ‘Tower’’. Now, however, there could be another Japanese golfer in the wings poised to step forward and stand tall.
Nobuhito Sato became only the second Japanese golfer in European Tour history, after Katsuyoshi Tomori in 1996, to progress through the Qualifying School Finals, the 33 year old from Chiba claiming the seventh of the 35 cards on offer last November following a superb performance in Catalunya at Emporda Golf Club and Golf Platja de Pals.
Sato, who turned professional in 1993, opened up with a six under par 65 at Emporda to place himself comfortably in the top ten, a position he held on to with subsequent rounds of 69-70-68-67-67 for a 22 under par total of 406, only six shots adrift of the eventual winner, Richard McEvoy of England.
Bouyed by his success, the former student at the Nevada Reno University in the United States who took up golf at the age of ten under the tutelage of his father, entered the first event of The 2004 European Tour season, the Omega Hong Kong Open, and exhibited similar consistency, three rounds of 68 allied to a 72 giving him a share of 15th place with a host of players including Nick Faldo.
Not that Sato is a stranger to success, having claimed nine titles on the Japan Golf Tour in the past decade on his way to amassing over €3 million in prize money. But the Tokyo resident admitted he felt the time was right to try and extend his golfing education on the world stage.
“The Qualifying School was very tough,” he said. “When you see all the players on the range, you realise everyone is a very good player, but I just wanted to get on The European Tour so much to get experience on the world stage.
“This is a better Tour than the ones I have been playing on because there are better players and I want to get experience overseas. If you stay in Japan all the time you don’’t get to test yourself against foreign players.”
Sato’’s next venture on The European Tour will come this week when he lines up in the Carlsberg Malaysian Open at Saujana Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur, in a strong starting line-up which includes two tournament winners from 2004 already – in Padraig Harrington and Miguel Angel Jiménez – and seven time Volvo Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie.
It will be another tough examination for the man with a love of music and, in particular, karaoke. However, should he continue in the same vein he has begun his time on The European Tour, he may well not have to wait long to sing his own song of success.
