THE brave new world of the PGA Tour has created a sort of shadow pre-season, with the events ahead of New Year being something of a skirmish which only those who didn’t make last year’s top 50 need concern themselves with.

This week’s Zozo Championship in Japan, however, has retained some elite-level lustre and there are straightforward reasons why: Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Rickie Fowler all have family connections with the country, Hideki Matsuyama is on home soil and Korea’s Sungjae Im is close to his.

Narashino Country Club hosts again and it is a tree-lined venue that is typical of golf in Japan. The week is also somewhat reminiscent of the good old days when a venture to the country was something of a standard for the stars in silly season.

The Dunlop Phoenix Tournament remains a constant on the Japan Tour but its pull has waned for visitors. From 1974 to 1991 it was regularly won by distant stars tempted by significant appearance money. Johnny Miller cashed in with a win, so did Hubert Green, Andy Bean, Bobby Wadkins (twice), Tom Watson, Craig Stadler, Calvin Peete, Scott Simpson, Ken Green, Larry Nelson and Larry Mize (also twice). The Aussie Graham Marsh, brother of test cricket legend Rodney, also lifted the trophy, as did Seve Ballesteros on two occasions.

A second spell of foreign success was kicked off by Watson’s second win in 1997. His compatriots David Duval, Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka were tempted over to win, as were the Europeans Thomas Bjorn, Padraig Harrington, Ian Poulter, Edoardo Molinari and Luke Donald.

It was a fascinating scene and one that would come in at number three were we to rank the most-missed aspects of the old world end-of or in-between season events. Coming in at number two would be the Safari Tour which was where European Tour performers headed in the 1970s and 1980s during the winter months.

The top three on its Order of Merit earned spots on the European Tour so it was something of a forerunner to the Challenge Tour and it often really was quite a challenge. The courses were sometimes only nine holes with oil-soaked sand representing greens. The players would stay with ex-pats and pack Bovril, HP sauce and soft toilet roll to repay the hospitality. Sandy Lyle details in his autobiography how old lags would delight in watching fresh-faced youngsters take ice in their Coca Cola (and soon wish that they hadn’t). And Gordon Brand Jr. once told me he once stayed at the British Consulate and was delivered to the course in a Rolls Royce flying the Union Jack. Tremendous stuff.

But number one? It has to be the old October staple: the World Match Play at Wentworth which had all sorts of wonderful oddities including 36 hole matches, only 12 players in the field, and four of them getting a bye to the second round.

Its history also tells the story of modern golf. From 1964 to 1976 it was a celebration of the growth of the sport and the fact that Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, who starred in it, were willing to travel the world to spread the word. In the 1980s it had a second wind as a golden opportunity for the new breed of European stars to shine. Ballesteros won it five times, Ian Woosnam three, Nick Faldo twice and Sandy Lyle once. In later years the format dated badly as the sport became a behemoth and it dropped off the schedule.

However, for many generations of fans, notions of autumnal golf remain associated with Wentworth and the World Match Play. The fairways were leaf-lined and the field was always intriguing, made up not only of the European stars but also a handful of Americans (one of them was often a left-field selection) and at least one Japanese golfer who most had never heard of.

Enough of the nostalgic whimsy, however. Let’s crack on. We confidently backed Europe to win the Ryder Cup – hopefully we’ll get another winner this week.

Each way – Aaron Rai at 50/1

Keegan Bradley, who not only won here last year but is 3-for-3 at finishing top 15 on the course, should go well fuelled by Ryder Cup rejection but the compiler agrees with me and he’s a short price.

Instead, the price I like in the outright is that of Englishman Aaron Rai who has enjoyed plenty of tree-lined tests in the past and he could easily thrive this week. His first win on the Challenge Tour was among the trees in Kenya, his first DP World Tour victory came at the wooded Hong Kong GC, he earned his crack at the PGA Tour with second place among the trees at Hillcrest CC and this year he has contended in the Canadian Open at Oakdale and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth – yet more holes lined by trees.

First round lead – Ryo Hisatsune each way at 66/1

On his first outing in this event in 2021 the young Japanese golfer appeared a little over-awed in carding opening rounds of 74-70-75 but he ended his week with a much happier 66. Last year he improved on that, opening 69-67-65 to get himself in the top 10 with 18 holes to play before such an elevated position contributed to a closing 70 for T12th. But he won the DP World Tour’s Open de France last month and he could easily make a bright start. In fact, he’s had plenty of those recently, finding himself inside the top six in four of his last seven starts.