Japan's golfers eager to end 43-year barren run in Singapore

Singapore

IT'S no coincidence that, since last Monday, it has been all things Japanese at the Sentosa Golf Club.

The world-acclaimed golf club that's home to two highly-reputed 18-hole courses, is on a tourist island that was once a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

From 1942 to 1945, the island once known as Pulau Belakang Mati and only accessible by sea, was a Japanese fortress.

When the club was opened in 1974, the Japanese had a huge influence on the club's exclusive member list.

As the SMBC Singapore Open gets underway on Thursday, the Japanese mark has been further stamped with an invasion of players from the Land…