Shaun Norris ranks 10th for birdies made on the Asian Tour this season and his fiery scoring helped him to victory at the Myanmar Open earlier this year.
From Thursday he’ll be looking for more red numbers in his bid for the Panasonic Open title at Chiba Country Club in Japan.
The two-time Sunshine Tour winner ended a four-year dry spell with a win at the 2015 Yeangder Players Tournament Championship.
In February this year he continued the winning trend with a four-shot victory in Myanmar that moved him to seventh on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
He currently ranks 11th in putts made per green in regulation, so getting the ball onto the short stuff will be important for him at Chiba Country Club this week.
The Panasonic Open field includes top-ranked Marcus Fraser and India’s Shiv Kapur, along with local hope Kazuhiro Yamashita. South Africans Jbe’ Kruger and Keith Horne, both of whom are tried and tested winners on the Sunshine Tour, will also tee up.
For Norris the $1,2-million tournament presents a chance to further cement his place near the top of the Asian Tour ranking, and with two wins in the last six months he could even come away with the trophy.
