Steve Palmer's ISPS Handa Championship predictions and free golf betting tips
Where to watch the ISPS Handa Championship
Live on Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Golf, 4am Thursday
Steve Palmer's ISPS Handa Championship predictions
Kazuki Higa
2pts each-way 40-1 general
Yuto Katsuragawa
1.5pts each-way 80-1 Betfair, Coral, Hills, Paddy Power
Shaun Norris
1pt each-way 225-1 bet365
Click to add to your Hills betslip
Japan becomes the 51st country to host a DP World Tour event, as the circuit moves to the Land of the Rising Sun for the first time this week, and the home contingent is extremely strong.
The chances of a Japanese winner seem high, with improving youngsters Takumi Kanaya, Taiga Semikawa and Keita Nakajima ready to show off their talent to a wider audience.
Three-time DP World Tour champion Rasmus Hojgaard tops the betting, with PGA Tour regulars Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Lucas Herbert making a rare trip back to the circuit where they cut their teeth.
Steve Palmer's top tip
Kazuki Higa 40-1
Japanese starlets could swarm all over the ISPS Handa Championship leaderboard, but the slightly more experienced Kazuki Higa may end up taking the title. Higa turns 28 on Sunday and may well have a new trophy to set beside his birthday cake.
Higa won four times on the Japan Tour last year, taking his career tally to six, and topping the Japan Tour money list was enough to earn a DP World Tour card. This neat and tidy golfer has quickly shown he can handle the DP World Tour, finishing 11th in the Thailand Classic in February, then fourth in the Indian Open.
Higa got a special invitation to the Masters and understandably missed the cut on his Augusta debut but, back on more familiar terrain this week, he should be among the birdies. In the ISPS Handa Championship 12 months ago – the first Japan Tour event at Ishioka for six years – Higa finished sixth.
Self-belief has gone through the roof since then, he has a DPWT card safely in his pocket, and Higa must be relishing the opportunity to tee up in his homeland on an ideal layout.
Next best bet
Yuto Katsuragawa 80-1
There are only two course winners in this week's line-up – Yuta Ikeda and Yuto Katsuragawa. The latter is younger and more progressive and he set a new 72-hole scoring record for Ishioka when winning the ISPS Handa Championship last year. Katsuragawa scooted round in a total of 260 – 67, 63, 65, 65 – having become a regular title contender in Asia soon after turning professional.
Bursting with ambition, Katsuragawa turned his attention to the Korn Ferry Tour, and 19th place in the Astara Championship in February was a solid early effort. The fields are deep on the KFT, though, and he has missed his last three cuts – all by just a single shot.
A trio of narrow failures on the KFT should not detract from what a threat Katsuragawa is on home turf. Getting away from the Stateside pressures and back to his comfort zone of Japan should result in a more relaxed performance from a 24-year-old who clearly has bundles of ability.
The last time Katsuragawa teed up in Japan he finished eighth in the JT Cup. He was 11th in decent company in the Dunlop Phoenix in November and he should be hunting a DPWT card with confidence this week.
Other selection
Shaun Norris 225-1
Neat and tidy players are likely to dominate the ISPS Handa leaderboard come Sunday and Shaun Norris, who definitely fits into that category, seems a lively outsider.
Norris has more experience of this venue than most, having been a Japan Tour player in 2016, finishing 33rd in an event at Ishioka. Last year, the South African returned to the track to finish tenth in the ISPS Handa, carding weekend rounds of 64 and 65.
Norris joined LIV soon after that tournament, banking more than a million dollars despite not making much of an impact, before returning to the DP World Tour. He won twice on the Sunshine Tour early in his career, then twice on the Asian Tour, then six times on the Japan Tour, before making his DPWT breakthrough in the Steyn City Championship last year.
A prolific champion in low-grade events such as this one, the 40-year-old is well equipped to cause an upset at enormous odds.
Ishioka course guide
Course PGM Ishioka Golf Club, Omitama, Japan
Prize money $2m ($333,400 to the winner)
Length 7,039 yards
Par 70 – two par-fives; 12 par-fours; four par-threes
Field 144 The cut Top 65 and ties qualify for round three
Highest-ranked players in field (world ranking in brackets) Lucas Herbert (59), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (72), Adri Arnaus (83), Kazuki Higa (87), Robert MacIntyre (98)
Course records- 72 holes 260 Yuto Katsuragawa (2022); 18 holes 59 Masahiro Kuramoto (2003 Acom International)
Course winners taking part Yuta Ikeda, Yuto Katsuragawa
When to bet By 10.25pm on Wednesday
When to watch Live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Golf from 4am on Thursday
Time difference Japan is eight hours ahead of the UK and Ireland
Course type Parkland
Course overview Designed by Jack Nicklaus, Ishioka staged the Acom International on the Japan Tour from 1999 through 2006, then the Honma Tour World Cup in 2015 and 2016. Last year the ISPS Handa Championship was a Japan Tour event, becoming a DP World Tour one for the first time this week
Weather forecast Sunny spells, temperatures around 20C, light to moderate breezes
Type of player suited to the challenge This is a flat, tight test, with healthy rough, lending itself to accuracy and course management
