The DP World Tour has been away for a month and as if to smooth its return, even as we venture from South Africa to its first ever co-sanctioned event in Japan, we are again heading to a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus.

In a statement which makes fellow playing legend Gary Player seem a paragon of humility, Nicklaus states that Ishioka Golf Club is "the best golf course I know of in Japan", like a pub landlord who says the best pint he's tasted is one he poured.

Not five weeks have passed since we heard from Nicklaus that St Francis Links is "perhaps the best course I've seen" and you won't need me to tell you who designed that one, either. Let's just say he's very proud of his own work, or that of his firm at least, and I suppose you have to admire that.

Pride will certainly be pulsing through the veins of the many Japanese players who get to test themselves in this good-ish field, one which features potential Ryder Cup players plus Lucas Herbert and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, each competitive in much better company over on the PGA Tour of late.

Generally, co-sanctioned events are dominated by the raiding party, and that may prove to be the case here. That said I think the Japan Tour is strong and we've seen as much already this season, with Kazuki Higa, Rikuya Hoshino and Ryo Hisatsune all having contended at various points, all while learning the ropes.

With home-field advantage, plus the fact that many of the visitors haven't played in four weeks or more, this is a much better opportunity that its PGA Tour cousin, the ZOZO Championship, in which the Japanese players have for the most part been outclassed.

As for the course, it doesn't necessarily carry the hallmarks of a typical Nicklaus layout. Yes, you can see every green from every tee, or so they say, but the undulations, dramatic bunkering and heavily contoured greens we're used to are not obviously apparent. Nor is the trademark Nicklaus width off the tee, with Ishioka reasonably narrow for all that it will be artificially widened by playing softer than ideal.

Short on the scorecard and with two reachable par-fives, it's been a bit of a pushover on the Japan Tour, and that suggests low scoring will be the order of the day. Five of the last six winners here led the field in greens hit, most of them pounded fairways, and I would think the winner will have peppered flags all week and made a decent amount of putts. No, that's not a particularly bold prediction.

Of the market leaders, Bezuidenhout looks a nice fit but does have to fly in from South Carolina. I still think he ought to be favourite over Rasmus Hojgaard, last seen in the first week of February and with fitness doubts still lingering, but that's a declaration that the Dane is a bit short, rather than 20/1 Bezuidenhout being enough to risk the jet lag factor.

Instead, I'll make the case for backing two of the most promising players in Japan, KEITA NAKAJIMA and TAKUMI KANAYA.

With Higa cut from an opening 70 and Hoshino closing in on Bezuidenhout towards the top of the betting, it's these two formerly top-ranked amateurs who look the pick of the prices and victory for either of them would be no surprise whatsoever.

Starting with Nakajima, his last three starts on home soil have all been top-10 finishes, his worst round 70, and he has some valuable and impressive course experience having been the halfway leader when ultimately fifth here back in October.

We've got some reliable strokes-gained data to assess, too, and it tells us that he was among the best ball-strikers in a world-class field at Riviera in February. He'd hit the ball to a similar standard when making the cut in the Sony Open and but for the putter he might've been in the mix at a far higher level than this one.