After a three-week layoff, the Japan men’s tour has arrived at its fourth tournament of the season. This week, the Mitsubishi Diamond Cup Golf 2009 is taking place in Oarai-machi, Higashi Ibaraki-gun in Ibaraki Prefecture. The Oarai Golf Club course (7,190 yards, par 72), on which the tournament is being held, is a seaside course designed by the master course designer Seiichi Inoue. Wind blowing in from the Kashima Sea and age-old black pines separating the holes make this course especially difficult.

Team PRGR member Hideto Tanihara posted an excellent score of 67 on the last day of The Crowns tournament to finish in a tie for 13th in the third tournament of the tour. Since the opening tournament, Tanihara’s shot has continued to improve. He used the three-week layoff as practice time to further improve the accuracy of his swing. However, contrary to what he hoped for, his shot actually got worse during this practice period.

On the Tuesday practice day, instead of playing the course, Tanihara hit balls on the driving range. After the pro-am tournament on Wednesday also, Tanihara went straight to the driving range to work on fine-tuning his shot.

Tanihara said, “I figured out that I was putting more force into my swing without realizing it. By relaxing my arms and weakening my grip pressure, I think I’ve gotten my true swing back.” On the day before the first qualifying round, Tanihara showed us a sign that he was back to his old self.

Another Team PRGR member, Azuma Yano, was in top form in January when he participated in the SONY Open on the US tour. After that, however, a slight misalignment developed in his shot, and he hasn’t been able to resolve the problem even after the opening tournament of the Japan tour.

Yano stated, “When I’m hitting balls inside a practice cage, I’m able to hit shots the way I want to. However, when I’m actually on the course, I’m not able to shoot the ball like I do in practice. I’ve been trying to determine the reason for the gap for the past three months, and I finally figured it out this week. In practice, I was looking up toward the ball after impact, so I was able to align the rotation of my body with the swinging of my arms and swing through the ball from impact. On the course, I was keeping my face towards the impact position, so I fell into a swing where my hands were ahead of everything else in my follow-through. By identifying the problem, I dispelled all my worries about my shot.”

Both Tanihara and Yano, in preparation for the qualifying round the next day, seized on these important points for getting back to their previous excellent form and spent time on the driving range hitting balls. The two golfers were the last players on the driving range when it closed. By that time, it was past 5:30 in the early evening.

We anticipated a strong showing from both players after they regained their old form, but on the first day of the tournament, Yano finished two over par and Tanihara finished seven over par. At the conclusion of the round, Yano stated, “There were some things off with the shot lines I was going for and with my address. I have to solve these problems.” Tanihara stated, “I wasn’t moving my chest very much and, on top of that, my backswing was too quick.”

Both players, in inopportune rainy conditions that started from the morning, headed to the driving range to fine-tune their swings just as they had the day before. With the Tour Championship coming next week and the Japan PGA Championship coming the week after that, we hope that both players can once again show everyone the strength of Team PRGR that was displayed last autumn. This week, though, is all about showing the persistence and dedication of Team PRGR.