Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan: University student Yuta Sugiura defied heavy rain and tough course conditions to spring an early surprise by gaining a share of the opening-round in the Asia-Pacific Open Golf Championship Diamond Cup Golf.

Still seeking to break into the top-100 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) for the first time, the 19-year-old fired a four-under-par 68 at Sagamihara Golf Club’s storied East Course in Kanagawa Prefecture.

That effort saw Sugiura end the day at the top of the leaderboard, alongside Ryosuke Kinoshita, currently eighth on the Japan Golf Tour’s Money List.

The second-year student at Nihon University not only upstaged many of Japan’s leading professionals, but also the country’s most highly-rated amateurs, in the event that is one of the Japan Golf Association’s (JGA) four National Championships.

WAGR number one Keita Nakajima carded a 73 and is tied for 44th, while Ren Yonezawa, seventh in the WAGR and low amateur when the Asia-Pacific Open Diamond Cup was last staged in 2019, is languishing in equal 102nd after signing for a 76.

Co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO) and the Asian Tour, the historic Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC)-supported event traditionally allocates 20 spots for the APGC’s leading amateurs, including the winner of the previous year’s APGC Junior Championship Mitsubishi Corporation Cup.

However, due to travel restrictions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s event is proceeding without overseas amateurs.

Of the 15-strong Japanese amateur contingent, most of the attention was focused on Nakajima and Yonezawa.

But while they struggled, Sugiura, 104th in the latest WAGR standings, quickly found his stride en route to recording five birdies against a solitary bogey.

Among his most notable performances as an amateur, Sugiura won the inaugural Ryo Ishikawa Cup Junior Championship in 2018, made the cut in the 2019 Asia-Pacific Open Diamond Cup and last month’s The Crowns, and placed fourth in the 2020 Australian Masters of the Amateurs.

There was also an impressive display from Riki Kawamoto, who made an eagle-three at the long eighth and is one of eight players in equal third place on 69.

Kawamoto, 127th on the WAGR, is no stranger to contending on the JGTO. Last year, he placed joint fifth in the Japan Open.

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.