A GROUP of 144 Japanese golfers shelled out over HK$12,000 a head last week for a few rounds of golf at a Malaysian resort.

Given the tough economic times in Japan, that in itself would have been a bit unusual. But these were not your ordinary hackers who populate courses throughout Asia in their annual getaway from the multi-storey driving ranges of Tokyo. They were professionals looking for a prized spot on the increasingly popular Asian PGA Tour.

There are more than 5,000 professional golfers in Japan and only a select hundred or so can play alongside kingpins Jumbo Ozaki and Shigeki Maruyama on the still lucrative Japanese Tour.

The 'Growing Tour', the Japanese equivalent of America's Nike Tour, stages 12 events with average prize money of US$100,000, but that is small fry compared to the Asian PGA Tour, which in 1998 staged 20 events throughout the region with a total pot of US$5 million.

The Japanese golfers' hunger, and skill, translated into 68 Japanese making the cut for the final two days of the Asian Tour's Qualifying School and they dominated the leaderboard.

'It's taken a little bit of time to happen but everyone knows about the Asian PGA now,' said Japanese player Andy Wada. 'Two young players doing well in Japan at the moment, Shigemasa Higaki and Nobuhito Sato, both started out by playing on the Asian PGA Tour. They helped spread the word and we are also able to watch the Asian PGA Tour on the Golf Network in Japan.' Satoshi Oide and Takeshi Ohyama met with success on the Tour last year and word of their achievements has spread throughout Japan.

Nobody had heard of Oide until he won the Asian PGA's inaugural Macau Open last May, and he followed up that triumph by qualifying in first place for this season's Japanese Tour.

Ohyama was the highest ranked Japanese on the Order of Merit, finishing 13th, and also went on to claim a place on his home tour.

Veteran Yurio Akitomi, who won the Thailand Open way back in 1975 and has been a regular on the Asian PGA Tour for several years, agreed that 1999 could be the Year of the Japanese.

'There are many professionals in Japan. They are not all good enough to play on the PGA Tour of Japan but we have many good players at grass roots level all wanting to play more tournaments throughout Asia,' said the 48-year-old.

The successful qualifiers will tee up at the season-opening London Myanmar Open from January 28-31 in Rangoon, while Oide and Ohyama are assured of a start in the following week's US$750,000 Benson & Hedges Malaysian Open, a joint sanctioned event with the PGA European Tour.

They will be seeking to follow the lead of Maruyama, who outshone all the President's men at the US versus Rest of the World clash in Australia last month, and usher in a new era for Japanese golf.

John Crean