Motomura Races into First-Round Lead at Royal Junior
Tokyo, Japan: Akane Motomura, one of the rising stars of Japanese golf, swept to the top of the leaderboard on the opening day of the fifth edition of The Royal Junior.
Tokyo, Japan: Akane Motomura, one of the rising stars of Japanese golf, swept to the top of the leaderboard on the opening day of the fifth edition of The Royal Junior.
Placed 567th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), Motomura upstaged her higher-rated compatriots with a three-under-par 69 at The Royal Club.
It was the only sub-par return of the first round and gives her a three-stroke advantage from fellow-Japanese Uno Neda heading into Saturday’s second round.
On a high after winning the Japan Junior High School Spring Championship a fortnight ago, Motomura recovered splendidly from an opening-hole bogey to reach the turn in three-under 33.
Following a birdie at the second, she made an eagle-two at the par-four fifth and gained another stroke at the ninth. Her back nine was rather more sedate, a bogey at 14 cancelling out a birdie at 13.
Korean Kim Yeon-seo is the leading overseas player in the Girls’ division in third place following a 73. Singapore’s Chen Xingtong, runner-up in last year’s US Junior Girls championship, began her bid to become the first non-Japanese winner of The Royal Junior’s Girls title with a 74 and is joint fourth.
Kim raced out of the starting block with birdies at the first three holes, but stuttered on the back nine, while Chen began slowly and was three-over at the turn before coming back in 35, the only sub-par score on the back nine.
Leading the way among the boys are the Japanese duo of Taisei Nagasaki and Mao Matsuyama, both of whom returned even-par 72s.
Runner-up in last year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, Nagasaki’s round included two birdies against two bogeys.
With back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14 to move to three-under for the day, Matsuyama appeared set to claim sole possession of the lead. However, he came unstuck at the par-four 15 where he ran-up a triple-bogey seven.
One stroke off the pace is Ryoma Nakaue with fellow-Japanese Kotaro Ogawa in joint fourth on 75 with Thailand’s Parin Sarasmut.
Korean Logan Kim and Vietnam’s Nguyen Tuan Anh are among four players in a share of sixth place on 76.
Organised by Nippon Kabaya Ohayo Holdings Inc and approved by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) and The R&A, The Royal Junior is also supported by the Japan Golf Association, Japan High School and Junior High School Golf Association.
With the aim of nurturing and developing the next generation of international golfers, the tournament includes 40 boys and 40 girls. The top players outside of Japan are selected by the APGC. All players must be under the age of 18 years old as of March 31, 2026.
LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES, BOYS
72 – Taisei Nagasaki (Japan); Mao Matsuyama (Japan)
73 – Ryoma Nakaue (Japan)
75 – Kotaro Ogawa (Japan); Parin Sarasmut (Thailand)
76 – Logan Kim (Korea); Sota Tomura (Japan); Amuro Yoshiyuki (Japan); Nguyen Tuan Anh (Vietnam)
LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES, GIRLS
69 – Akane Motomura (Japan)
72 – Uno Neda (Japan)
73 – Kim Yeon-seo (Korea)
74 – Chen Xingtong (Singapore); Cocoro Hirayama (Japan)
75 – Takuitsu Hana (Japan); Kanari Matsushita (Japan); Cocona Uchida (Japan)
76 – Mikuru Fukuda (Japan)
