Gold Coaster Anthony Quayle is back in Japan after three months to resume his pursuit of an elusive Japan Golf Tour title, starting with this week’s ¥100,000,000 ANA Open Golf Tournament at Sapporo Golf Club in Hokkaido.
The 28-year-old, who finished tied-15th in his debut at The Open in July, played no part in the last six legs after the Tour restarted in early August.
Quayle was in the United States trying to secure a US PGA Tour card through its secondary Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where a total of 25 berths were up for grabs.
However, Quayle ended his campaign in the three-leg finals series without making a cut.
The Queensland PGA champion cherished the opportunity and believes these invaluable experiences will stand him in good stead for the challenges ahead.
“It’s nice to be back after some good performances overseas. The course is in amazing condition and it’s good to see some familiar faces again,” said Quayle, who enjoyed some downtime in Hawaii on his way back to Japan.
Despite his absence, the 28-year-old remains the highest-placed international member in the season-long JGTO Money Rankings in 10th spot, having cashed in ¥38,933,319 ($403,429) from nine appearances that were greatly boosted by his strong performance at The Open.
His spot in the field at St Andrews was secured with a runner-up finish to Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent at the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open in May and he boasts two further top-10s at the ISPS HANDA Championship and BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship.
Quayle is one of five Aussies playing in Japan this week and there is a strong Australian presence again at the DP World Tour’s Italian Open.
Scott Hend will be hoping to pick up where he left off at last week’s BMW PGA Championship while Lucas Herbert, Min Woo Lee, Jason Scrivener, Maverick Antcliff and Zach Murray will look to generate some late-season momentum.
Veteran Aaron Baddeley has Monday qualified and Harrison Endycott will make his PGA TOUR debut at the Fortinet Championship in California and Hannah Green will seek to end her three-year winless streak at the site of her most recent win, the 2019 Portland Classic.
Currently 10th on the moneylist, Whitney Hillier is also chasing her first Ladies European Tour title at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, an event fellow Aussies Karen Lunn and Stacey Peters won 25 and 10 years ago respectively.
Round 1 tee times AEST
PGA TOUR
Fortinet Championship
Silverado Resort and Spa (North Cse), Napa, California
12.44am* Cam Davis, Hideki Matsuyama, Corey Conners
1.06am Danny Lee (NZ), Kevin Tway, John Huh
1.28am* Aaron Baddeley, Maverick McNealy, Brandon Wu
2.01am Harrison Endycott, SH Kim, Vincent Norrman
5.10am Cameron Percy, Ryan Armour, Nick Watney
5.43am Jason Day, Webb Simpson, Gary Woodland
Defending champion: Max Homa
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Cam Davis
TV schedule: Live 8am-11am Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
DP World Tour
DS Automobiles Italian Open
Marco Simone GC, Rome, Italy
4.20pm* Lucas Herbert, Rasmus Hojgaard, Filippo Celli
4.30pm Zach Murray, Hugo Leon, Ashley Chesters
8.50pm* Maverick Antcliff, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Cormac Sharvin
9.10pm Min Woo Lee, Francesco Laporta, Thorbjørn Olesen
9.50pm* Scott Hend, Lucas Bjerregaard, Joost Luiten
10pm Jason Scrivener, Kurt Kitayama, Tapio Pulkkanen
Defending champion: Nicolai Hojgaard
Past Aussie winners: Greg Norman (1988), Craig Parry (1991)
Top Aussie prediction: Jason Scrivener
TV schedule: Live 9.30pm-2.30am Thursday, Friday; Live 9.30pm-2am Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 503.
Challenge Tour
Open de Portugal
Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort, Vau Óbidos, Portugal
12.07am Blake Windred, Christopher Feldborg Nielsen, George Bloor
12.40am Daniel Hillier (NZ), Simon Forsstrom, Benjamin Poke
Defending champion: Marcel Schneider
Past Aussie winners: Dimitrios Papadatos (2018)
Top Aussie prediction: Blake Windred
Japan Golf Tour
ANA Open
Sapporo Golf Club (Wattsu Cse), Hokkaido
8.15am Adam Bland, Kenshiro Ikegami, Tadahiro Takayama
8.20am* Michael Hendry (NZ), Naoto Nakanishi, Yuta Kinoshita
8.35am Anthony Quayle, Yuta Ikeda, Kazuma Jinichiro
9.05am Andrew Evans, Thanyakon Khrongpa, Yoshitaka Takeya
12.15pm Matthew Griffin, Hideto Obukuro, Ren Kurosaki
12.35pm Brendan Jones, Ryuichi Oiwa, Park Sang Hyun
Defending champion: Scott Vincent
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1979), Kurt Barnes (2011), Brendan Jones (2016)
Top Aussie prediction: Anthony Quayle
LPGA Tour
AmazingCre Portland Classic
Columbia Edgewater Country Club, Portland, Oregon
12.26am* Sarah Jane Smith, Maddie Szeryk, Agathe Laisne
12.48am Stephanie Kyriacou, Annie Park, Aditi Ashok
12.59am* Sarah Kemp, Albane Valenzuela, Lilia Vu
1.10am* Su Oh, Hinako Shibuno, Eun-Hee Ji
1.21am Hannah Green, Nelly Korda, Marina Alex
6.32am Karis Davidson, Pannarat Thanapolboonyaras, Min Lee
Defending champion: Jin Young Ko
Past Aussie winners: Hannah Green (2019)
Top Aussie prediction: Hannah Green
TV schedule: Live 5am-8am Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
Champions Tour
Sanford International
Minnehaha Country Club, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
2.35am* John Senden, Olin Browne, Ken Tanigawa
2.55am* Stuart Appleby, Dicky Pride, Harrison Frazar
3.05am Rod Pampling, Scott Parel, Joe Durant
4.05am Steven Alker (NZ), Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els
4.25am* David McKenzie, Clark Dennis, Tom Gillis
Defending champion: Darren Clarke
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Rod Pampling
TV schedule: 11.30am-1pm Saturday, Sunday; 11am-1pm Monday on Fox Sports 503.
Legends Tour
Legends Open de France
Golf de Saint-Cloud, Paris, France
5.10pm* Peter Fowler, Garry Houston, Mark Mouland
6pm* Michael Long (NZ), Andrew Raitt, Paul Streeter
Defending champion: Thomas Levet
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Peter Fowler
Epson Tour
Guardian Championship
Capitol Hill Golf Club, Prattville, Alabama
11.06pm* Hira Naveed, Kristin Coleman, Clariss Guce
11.28pm Emily Mahar, Leslie Cloots, Brittany Stewart
11.28pm* Julienne Soo, Ingrid Gutierrez Nunez, Greta Isabella Voelker
2.51am Stephanie Na, Ho-yu An, Karolina Vlckova
3.24am* Gabriela Ruffels, Alexa Pano, Gabriella Then
3.35am Amelia Garvey (NZ), Ssu-Chia Cheng, Michaela Finn
3.46am Grace Kim, Karen Chung, Samantha Wagner
3.46am* Robyn Choi, Selena Costabile, Hyo Joon Jang
3.57am* Soo Jin Lee, Jacquelyn Eleey, Kaleigh Telfer
Defending champion: Janie Jackson
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Robyn Choi
Ladies European Tour
Lacoste Ladies Open de France
Golf Barrière, Deauville, France
9.37pm* Whitney Hillier, Marianne Skarpnord, Laura Beveridge
Defending champion: Celine Boutier
Past Aussie winners: Karen Lunn (1997), Stacey Peters (2012)
Top Aussie prediction: Whitney Hillier