Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan: Taiga Sugihara fired a flawless seven-under-par 65 to claim a share of the half-way lead in the Asia-Pacific Open Golf Championship Diamond Cup Golf.
With a 36-hole aggregate of 136, the 21-year-old Tohoku Fukushi University student heads into the weekend at Sagamihara Golf Club’s East Course level at the top of the leaderboard with seasoned South African professional Shaun Norris.
Sugihara, 35th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), is one of seven Japanese amateurs to make the cut in the event that is co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour Organisation and the Asian Tour and is one of the Japan Golf Association’s four National Championships.
Three shots off the pace in equal eighth is Yuta Sugiura, the joint first-round leader. Listed as 104th in last week's WAGR, the 19-year-old followed his opening 68 with a 71.
Two strokes further back in a share of 19th place is Riki Kawamoto, who needed a par-four at the ninth – his last hole of the day – for a second successive 69. To his disappointment he ran-up a triple-bogey seven, meaning he signed for an even-par 72. Kawamoto is currently 127th on the WAGR.
Joining Sugihara, Sugiura and Kawamoto in the final two rounds are Keita Nakajima, Ren Yonezawa and Jigen Serizawa (equal 39th on 144) and Sodai Furukawa (equal 49th on 145).
WAGR number one Nakajima eked out a 71, while Yonezawa, seventh on the WAGR, displayed his battling qualities, improving on his first-round 76 by eight shots.
Serizawa, meanwhile, belied his lowly 4,232 WAGR position with a 71, while Furukawa reeled off 15 pars in his 73.
Setting out from the 10th tee, Sugihara snared five birdies in his first nine of 31. He remained bogey-free on the front side, adding two further birdies.
Making the cut in professional events is nothing new to Sugihara who had top-25 finishes in The Crowns and Kansai Open in 2018. Late last year, he enjoyed a fine run that saw him place equal 27th at the Dunlop Phoenix, tied for 35th at the Sumitomo Mitsui Via Pacific Masters and joint fifth in the Japan Open.
After his first-day heroics, Sugiura was two-over through 13 holes on day two. But he arrested the slide in spectacular fashion, holing out from off the green for birdie at the short 14th and an eagle-three at the long 18th, signing for a 71 that keeps him well in touch with the pace-setters.
The Asia-Pacific Open Diamond Cup has been recognised by The R&A with an invitation extended to this week’s champion to compete in The Open in England in July.