Su Mei Yang carried her good form from the Lipad Pilipinas to Japan to turn the tables from Bangkok on close friend and rival Chia-Fang Chen with a commanding eight stroke win in FPO at the Nakijin Village General Athletic Park in Okinawa this weekend. 

Making his second appearance on the 2026 PDGA Asia Tour, Jacky Chen, who happens to be Su Mei’s son, won MPO in a hard fought three way battle with Manabu Kajiyama and Joey Bruno. Chen had seen a four stroke lead slip in the last three holes and needed to hit an edge of circle putt on the 18th green to seal the win.

Full Results: The 14th Okinawa Open - PDGA Asia Tour Event #6 »

The Asia Tour’s journey from the middle of the Philippines’ largest island to Japan’s southernmost and westernmost prefecture spans more than nine hundred miles of ocean by the most direct route. In reality the travelling disc golfers arrived through many hubs—Hong Kong and Taipei chiefly but also Tokyo and Seoul—however they reached Okinawa though, the feeling was the same, a sense of dislocation so surreal, it felt like the voyage had been between worlds. 

They had left behind the heat, the restless traffic, and the exuberant energy of the Philippines to feel the cool breeze, hear the ocean and smell the salty air in the tiny seaside village of Nakijin on the Motobu Peninsula on the west coast of Okinawa. The streets were quiet, the culture reserved; and the disciplined, orderly strangeness of Japan was everywhere they looked. First timers on the tour have all said something similar – how they were somewhat prepared to encounter how different Asia is to their home; yet what has surprised them most has been the contrasts within the Asian tapestry. In that way too, each tournament on the tour has shown a distinct character. 

The traveling players met with a solid contingent of locals to make up a field of 75 for this, the 14th running of the Okinawa Open. They threw across sports fields in the opening holes, then from the stands of an athletics stadium before winding down to some of the most iconic holes in disc golf, overlooking villagers beach and the distant Kouri Island. Players teeing off from the cliffs above the beach, attempting to land near a basket on the sand at the beginning of a peninsular gave plenty of highlights and some anguish over the weekend.

Jacky Chen and Su Mei Yang play the iconic 13th hole. Photos: Kingsley Flett

Japan was largely isolated from the rest of the world from the early 1600’s to the mid-19th century under a policy called sakoku. The culture has resisted outside influence more than most. Many things are dokuji – having developed organically within Japan itself. The Japanese do many things their own way. An example of disc golf dokuji is the unique local rule that allowed competitors to play the disc from the water if they could see it in the shallows. A disc golfer taking off their shoes then wading out waist deep into the crystal clear water to throw was a common sight along the beach near basket 13.

The battle in MPO was tight all weekend, with no more than two strokes separating the top three at the end of any round. At the top of the leaderboard at the end of every day though, was Jacky Chen: after round one Chen shared the lead with young gun Kento Nishimura, round two with Joey Bruno and, had he not cashed his final testing putt Jacky would have shared the round three lead with Manabu Kajiyama and faced a playoff.

Manabu Kajiyama tees off in the final round.

Kajiyama had surged back into contention in the wind on day two after finishing round one five strokes off the pace and tied for sixth. On a day when nobody in the MPO field managed to get under par as the gusting 20-30mph winds caused havoc in the whole field, Manabu shot three down to surge into third place, one stroke back from the two leaders. 

It looked like Manabu would be the main threat in the final round, but he got off to a bad start with a bogey on the par five hole one. Seven birdies in the next eleven holes saw Kajiyama briefly take the lead though, before Chen appeared to make his winning move. When the group arrived at the signature, clifftop hole 13, Chen fired a long, straight drive that was just angled down enough to not be ripped away by the wind, but high enough to carry down to the beach before fading to within putting range. Chen was one of only three players to birdie the hole on the day.

The two stoke swing over Manabu on that hole was followed by bogies from Kajiyama on the next two holes, creating a four stroke gap. Joey Bruno had started the day well and briefly held the lead before having a birdie drought in the middle of the round to be also four strokes back with just a few holes to play.

There was one more twist in the plot though. “I made a mistake on 17,” said Chen. Jacky fired his drive long and straight on a hole that required a fade and skip to the green. He missed the par saver while Bruno and Kajiyama both birdied the hole. 

If Chen was feeling any pressure seeing his lead halved in a single hole, then Kajiyama and Bruno squeezed it a bit tighter by parking their discs on the hole 18 green. Chen just needed to get up and down for a par to seal the win though; but he pulled his drive right and out of bounds into the gutter that bordered the green. 

“Walking up I didn’t realize I was OB,” said Chen. “But then I thought – I can make this putt.”

Jacky had missed some gettable putts early in the round but then corrected this as the day wore on. “It wasn’t anything about technique,” said Chen afterwards.” It was just confidence.”

I was indeed a confident stroke from edge of circle that saw the disc bury in the chains to give Chen a hard fought win. Subtract touring pros Clay Edwards and Jakub Semerád and this was the most competitive field in the tour so far, on a course that didn’t strongly separate the top players, so the title had to be earned by Chen the hard way.

It was a wire to wire win for Su Mei Yang.

The FPO was a different story. Su Mei Yang shot out of the gate in round one with a six-stroke lead. A course that rewarded accuracy over distance was always going to suit the veteran Taiwanese player and Su Mei’s accuracy off the tee was a feature, along with her solid putting. Yang was the only female player to shoot under par for the round. 

Saturday’s testing conditions, with strong gusts of wind roaring up over the cliffs and swirling around the park, decimated most players score cards. Su Mei herself shot eight throws worse than round one, but her key rivals, Japan’s Mari Watanobe and Su Mei’s compatriot Chia-Fang Chen, fared worse. Yang made the turn for Championship Sunday with what looked to be an unassailable nine stroke lead over Watanobe and eleven over Chen. 

Chen found some form in the final round to shave three strokes of Yang’s lead, while Watanobe fell away. It was too little too late from Chen though and Yang’s eleven stroke lead was always going to be too much to reel in. As far as the tour rankings go, the final standings are going to be very close. If Su Mei or Chia-Fang win in Shanghai they are almost guaranteed to be tour winner. The ultimate prize will be up for grabs in the final tournament.

Standings & Schedule: 2026 PDGA Asia Tour »

Okinawa, we are glad there’s no more sakoku but may there always be dokuji. On to Shanghai. There’s one more stop left in the 2026 PDGA Asia Tour and it promises to be the biggest of them all.