The sting of not replicating his first win on the Japan Golf Tour 16 years earlier has been softened somewhat for Brendan Jones who has become the first foreign player to pass the ¥1 billion mark in career earnings.

Starting the final round of the Mynavi ABC Championship at ABC Golf Club in Hyogo tied for second, Jones’s push for a 15th title in Japan came unstuck late in the final round with bogeys at 14 and 17 and a double-bogey at the par-3 16th.

His four-round total of 8-under par was seven shots back from winner Yuta Kinoshita who prevailed in a playoff after he and Masahiro Kawamura finished tied at the top at 15-under par, Kawamura making eagle at 15 and birdies at 17 and 18 to qualify for the playoff.

Tied for sixth, Jones picked up ¥4,788,750 for his week’s work, moving him to 13th on the Japan Golf Tour career moneylist with ¥1,002,554,591 (approx. $A12,636,662), the first foreign player to reach the billion Yen mark.

Top-10 at the Japan Open two weeks ago, Jones spoke to Japan Golf Tour media prior to the Mynavi ABC Championship about his looming milestone.

“Not that I think of it all the time but I’ve been reminded of it because I’m so close but that would be a huge honour,” Jones said of his career money milestone.

“I feel like I’ve been a good player over the years but to be the first foreigner to do that would be a feather in my cap.”

It was a roller-coaster round that ultimately carried Jones to his record-breaking feat with a bogey at his second hole quickly followed by birdies at four and five and an eagle at the par-5 sixth to sit just one off the lead.

Bogeys at seven and nine took much of the momentum out of the Canberran’s charge and then another at 10 gave him too much work to do over the closing holes.

Scott Strange began the final round looking to record his first top-20 result of the season but struggled to a 4-over par round of 76 to finish tied for 43rd, the highlight coming late as he made eagle at the 72nd hole.

David Bransdon finished two shots back of Strange at 3-over in a tie for 52nd with Won Joon Lee and Anthony Quayle a further shot back in a tie for 54th.

The result marked the end to Quayle’s rookie campaign in Japan, the Queenslander announcing on social media that he would concentrate his energies on the PGA Tour of Australasia for the remainder of the year having secured his status in Japan for 2019.