Taniguchi takes second Japan Open crown

Toru Taniguchi came back from a six-shot deficit with a front-nine birdie binge to win his second Japan Open crown Sunday, holding off four-time money title Shingo Katayama by two strokes.
Taniguchi shot a final-round 66 with eight birdies, including five in the first eight holes, and two bogeys as he wrapped up his successful campaign at Sagamihara Golf Club on 5-under-par 283.

The victory was worth 40 million yen and solidified Taniguchi's position at the top of this year's JGTO money list, boosting his earnings to 135 million yen. It was also the 14th career win on the tour and third this year for the 2002 top money earner.

"I went from wire to wire when I won the Japan Open for the first time (in 2004) but this time my game got better as the tournament wore on," said Taniguchi, who also gained a five-year exemption on the tour. "I felt that I would be in with a chance today if I make a strong start to the final round and it did happen."

Taniguchi, who had six strokes to make up on overnight leader Komei Oda, got off to a flying start with back-to-back birdies, including a chip-in from a greenside bunker on the second hole.

While Oda tumbled out of contention early on in a disastrous round of 80, Taniguchi moved in front after three consecutive birdies from the sixth and another birdie on the 10th.

The tour veteran then overcame a shaky four-hole stretch on the back side, in which he had two bogeys, a birdie and a par, before sealing his victory by draining a six-footer on the par-5 18th.

"I three-putted (for bogey) at 11 and bogeyed the 14th, making things difficult for me," Taniguchi said. "But I tried to keep the fairways by using a 5-wood off the tee from then on and waited until the final hole. This strategy paid off nicely."

Katayama briefly shared the lead with Taniguchi after his second and last birdie of the day on the 13th, only to fall behind again with a bogey on the par-3 next, where his par-saving putt from seven feet lipped out of the cup.

The 2005 Japan Open champion finished on 3-under 285 after his second straight 72. Keiichiro Fukabori had a 71 and came third on 286, followed by Hiroyuki Fujita, who fired a 70, another stroke behind.

One-time U.S. PGA player Kaname Yokoo, the first and second-round leader, settled for fifth on 1-over 289. Oda, who was aiming for his first career tour victory, saw his attacking golf backfire in tough course conditions and slipped to eighth at 291.

Complete scores:

1 -5 Toru Taniguchi 75 70 72 66 283
2 -3 Shingo Katayama 70 71 72 72 285
3 -2 Keiichiro Fukabori 70 74 71 71 286
4 -1 Hiroyuki Fujita 75 71 71 70 287
5 +1 Kaname Yokoo 68 71 76 74 289
T6 +2 David Smail 75 70 75 70 290
T6 +2 Prayad Marksaeng 77 72 73 68 290
8 +3 Koumei Oda 71 71 69 80 291
T9 +5 Hideto Tanihara 71 73 75 74 293
T9 +5 Takuya Taniguchi 74 69 76 74 293
T11 +6 Hiroshi Iwata 74 76 73 71 294
T11 +6 Kiyoshi Miyazato 70 73 74 77 294
T11 +6 Tetsuji Hiratsuka 74 73 72 75 294
T11 +6 Tomohiro Kondo 75 76 71 72 294
T15 +7 Hidemasa Hoshino 70 76 75 74 295
T15 +7 Michio Matsumura 72 71 75 77 295
T15 +7 Wen-Chong Liang 72 70 79 74 295
T18 +8 Azuma Yano 75 73 77 71 296
T18 +8 Kenichi Kuboya 80 71 75 70 296
T18 +8 Kiyoshi Murota 72 71 74 79 296
T18 +8 Norio Shinozaki 75 70 78 73 296
T18 +8 Seung-Ho Lee 71 76 74 75 296
T18 +8 Taichi Teshima 75 76 72 73 296
T18 +8 Wayne Perske 77 71 77 71 296
T18 +8 Yasuharu Imano 77 71 76 72 296
T18 +8 Yuta Ikeda 71 75 77 73 296
T27 +9 Bi-O Kim 76 74 74 73 297
T27 +9 Katsuya Nakagawa 75 75 73 74 297
T27 +9 Tommy Nakajima 71 75 77 74 297
T27 +9 Toshiya Sakakura 74 73 75 75 297
T27 +9 Toyokazu Fujishima 74 77 75 71 297
T32 +10 Masamichi Uehira 75 71 75 77 298
T32 +10 Prom Meesawat 76 73 73 76 298
T32 +10 Toshinori Muto 77 73 74 74 298
T32 +10 Yoshiaki Mano 74 73 75 76 298
T36 +11 Kentaro Yonekura 72 77 75 75 299
T36 +11 Koji Iwasaki 75 75 74 75 299
T36 +11 Toshimitsu Izawa 74 73 77 75 299
T39 +12 Brendan Jones 79 72 78 71 300
T39 +12 Hideki Kase 73 76 74 77 300
T39 +12 Jong Duck Kim 78 72 77 73 300
T39 +12 Shunsuke Sonoda 76 72 73 79 300
T39 +12 Tadaaki Kimura 75 74 74 77 300
T44 +13 Yuki Usami 74 75 79 73 301
T44 +13 Yusaku Miyazato 71 73 79 78 301
T46 +14 Norihiko Nakata 71 73 82 76 302
T46 +14 Yoshiaki Kimura 76 73 76 77 302
T48 +15 Craig Parry 75 74 75 79 303
T48 +15 Dong-Hwan Lee 72 75 80 76 303
T48 +15 Tatsuhiko Takahashi 75 75 75 78 303
T48 +15 Yeh Wei-Tze 73 77 78 75 303
T52 +16 Ryutaro Nagano 76 75 77 76 304
T52 +16 Yoshinobu Tsukada 77 72 73 82 304
T52 +16 Yui Ueda 74 70 81 79 304
T55 +18 Hirotaka Fujimoto 76 74 80 76 306
T55 +18 Katsutoshi Kanayama 77 72 79 78 306
T57 +19 Gregg Meyer 75 75 79 78 307
T57 +19 Keizo Yabuuchi 74 76 80 77 307
59 +20 Yu Morimoto 74 75 79 80 308
60 +21 Tatsuhiko Ichihara 73 75 79 82 309
61 +22 Daisuke Kataoka 78 72 82 78 310
62 +24 Mamo Osanai 78 73 78 83 312
63 +28 Koji Yamamoto 77 73 82 84 316

The cut came at +7

T65 +8 Hideto Shigenobu 78 74 - - 152
T65 +8 Jun Kikuchi 77 75 - - 152
T65 +8 Naoyuki Tamura 73 79 - - 152
T65 +8 Ryo Ishikawa 77 75 - - 152
T65 +8 Ryuichi Oda 76 76 - - 152
T65 +8 Satoru Hirota 78 74 - - 152
T65 +8 Tatsuo Takasaki 75 77 - - 152
T65 +8 Yohei Nakamichi 78 74 - - 152
T73 +9 Kouki Idoki 77 76 - - 153
T73 +9 Paul Sheehan 76 77 - - 153
T73 +9 Yohei Haga 79 74 - - 153
T73 +9 Yukiharu Morita 75 78 - - 153
T73 +9 Yuto Watanabe 79 74 - - 153
T78 +10 Katsumasa Miyamoto 76 78 - - 154
T78 +10 Naoya Takemoto 74 80 - - 154
T78 +10 Shintaro Kobayashi 79 75 - - 154
T78 +10 Takashi Miyoshi 77 77 - - 154
T78 +10 Takeru Shibata 73 81 - - 154
T78 +10 Tomoyuki Nagai 78 76 - - 154
T78 +10 Toshimasa Nakajima 75 79 - - 154
T85 +11 Hirofumi Miyase 76 79 - - 155
T85 +11 Masaya Tomida 77 78 - - 155
T85 +11 Shota Kishimoto 79 76 - - 155
T85 +11 Takeaki Koyama 79 76 - - 155
T85 +11 Takenori Hiraishi 77 78 - - 155
T90 +12 Go Honda 78 78 - - 156
T90 +12 Kazuhiro Yamashita 77 79 - - 156
T90 +12 Masato Endo 79 77 - - 156
T93 +13 Kaneyori Aramoto 81 76 - - 157
T93 +13 Nobuhiro Masuda 77 80 - - 157
T93 +13 Tadahiro Takayama 77 80 - - 157
T93 +13 Yurio Akitomi 75 82 - - 157
T97 +14 Kentaro Wada 76 82 - - 158
T97 +14 Masayoshi Tanaka 79 79 - - 158
T97 +14 Naoto Nakanishi 80 78 - - 158
T97 +14 Toru Morita 77 81 - - 158
T97 +14 Toru Suzuki 78 80 - - 158
T97 +14 Yasuhiro Taguchi 81 77 - - 158
T103 +15 Kosaku Makisaka 79 80 - - 159
T103 +15 Nagaaki Ito 79 80 - - 159
T103 +15 Yasunobu Fukunaga 85 74 - - 159
T103 +15 Yuki Ito 82 77 - - 159
107 +16 Yukitoshi Mitsuyama 80 80 - - 160
T108 +17 Motoki Hieda 78 83 - - 161
T108 +17 Osamu Yamaguchi 80 81 - - 161
T108 +17 Takashi Miyazaki 81 80 - - 161
T108 +17 Yuji Takagi 81 80 - - 161
T112 +18 Dan Maeda 82 80 - - 162
T112 +18 Noboru Fujiike 81 81 - - 162
114 +19 Masaru Kato 81 82 - - 163
115 +20 Kazuyuki Omae 85 79 - - 164
T116 +22 Hidemichi Tanaka 82 84 - - 166
T116 +22 Kimihiro Matsunaga 84 82 - - 166
118 +23 Hiro Aoyama 84 83 - - 167
WD - Masashi Ozaki 74 76 - - WD
WD - Nobuhiro Tsujimura 82 - - - WD
WD - Yoshikazu Haku - - - - WD

October 14, 2007

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