Wherever the Kansai Open Golf Championship happens to be played, Brad Kennedy emerges as a contender.

The 2013 champion at Olympic Golf Club, Kennedy is one of just four Aussies teeing it up in this week’s Japan Golf Tour event that is being played at KOMA Country Club in Nara for the first time, the Queenslander joined by Matthew Griffin, David Bransdon and Anthony Quayle along with New Zealand’s Michael Hendry.

Kennedy’s Kansai Open win six years ago was his second in Japan, the tournament reduced to a 54-hole event due to weather.

In his title defence a year later Kennedy – who turns 45 next month – finished tied for third and then in 2015 he went better, finishing outright second behind Daisuke Kataoka.

His kinship with the Kansai Open continued in 2016 when he was tied for fifth at Hashimoto Country Club and in 2017 he registered his fifth consecutive top-five finish in the tournament when he was tied for fourth.

Closing in on ¥5 million in career earnings in Japan, Kennedy has made a solid start to his 2019 campaign without quote matching the type of results he has accumulated in the Kansai Open over the years.

Tied for 18th in both of his opening two starts in Japan this year, Kennedy was tied for 27th at the Asia Pacific Diamond Cup Golf where scoring was extremely difficult to now sit 28th on the Japan Tour moneylist.

Quayle is one spot ahead of his countryman in 27th spot with Matthew Griffin breathing down the neck of Brendan Jones, the pair sitting fourth and second respectively.

The PGA TOUR Series-China continues at Nantong Yangtze River Golf Club this week where 11 Australians and two Kiwis will contest the Nantong Championship.

On the back of his top-10 finish last week Queensland’s Christopher Wood is the best-placed Australian on the Order of Merit through five events in 25th position closely followed by Kevin Yuan (29th), James Marchesani (33rd) and rookie Charlie Dann (35th).

Max McCardle and Bryden Macpherson both sit inside the top-50 and are in the field this week as are Corey Hale, Tim Stewart, Aaron Wilkin, Hayden Webb and Aaron Pike along with New Zealand pair Luke Toomey and Sam An.

Brad Kennedy got his 2018 Japan Tour campaign off to a brilliant start with an opening 66 at the Panasonic Open on his way to grabbing top Australasian honours for the week.

Kennedy was one of 11 Australasians to tee up in the Asian Tour co-sanctioned event at the Ibarakai Country Club’s West Course in Osaka, his 6-under 72-hole total good for a share of 23^rd position.

Kennedy wasted little time getting back in the swing and after opening with eight straight pars on Thursday reeled off five birdies in seven holes to share fourth after 18 holes.

He backed up with scores of 72-70-70 to finish one ahead of Brendan Jones and Terry Pilkadaris who were T28 at 5-under.

Jones will have mixed feelings about his week, his opening 72 followed by back-to-back 67’s to be inside the top-10 heading to Sunday’s final round.

Four dropped shots in the first 11 holes was hardly what he wanted but he recovered somewhat with two birdies on the way to the clubhouse to salvage something from the day.

Pilkadaris was the only one of Australia’s Asian Tour representatives to make the cut and now sits just outside the top-10 on the Order of Merit.

New Zealand’s Michael Hendry was the last of the Australasians to play the weekend and finished in a share of 55^th at 1-over for the week.

Matt Griffin missed the cut by two shots while Jake Higginbottom and Scott Hend were three and four outside the number respectively.

Wonjoon Lee struggled to rounds of 73-78 while Daniel Nisbet, Aaron Wilkin and Todd Sinnott were all double digits over par through 36 holes.

Brad Kennedy has raced home at the Japan Tour’s Dunlop Phoenix tournament with a brilliant final round to bolt up the leaderboard.

Kennedy signed for an impressive Sunday 66 to finish one place outside the top-10 at one of the Tour’s richest events.

American Brooks Koepka successfully defended the title he won last year with Kennedy the best of the five Australasians in the field.

Koepka dominated the field with a 20-under total for a nine-shot win, PGA TOUR rookie of the year Xander Schauffelle among the group of three to share second.

It was a somewhat erratic week for Kennedy who posted scores of 73-68-70-66 to reach 7-under for the tournament, three shots and 12 places ahead of Adam Bland on the leaderboard.

Bland was the last of the Australians to finish under par, Matt Griffin’s 1-over total good for a share of 47^th.

Kurt Barnes was in position for a good finish through three rounds at 3-under and T22 but couldn’t get anything going Sunday and with a final round 77 slipped outside the top 50.

Brendan Jones was the only Australian to miss the cut, an uncharacteristic second round 78 doing the damage for the 14-time winner on the Tour.