South Korea’s Song Young-han kept himself firmly in contention at the halfway stage of For The Players by The Players despite picking up just seven points in Friday’s second round.
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The 32-year-old, chasing his third JGTO victory, sank four birdies before conceding his sole bogey of the day on the 14th hole at The Club Golf Village to bring his tally to 21 points.
Song trails leader Yuwa Kosaihira by just two points in the second edition of the tournament which uses the modified Stableford scoring format.
Players receive eight points for albatross, five for eagle and two for birdie. A point is deducted for a bogey and three is taken away for a double bogey or worse.
Song, who chalked up 14 points on Thursday, was left rueing a cold putter or otherwise the day could have unfolded much more favourably for him.
“Yesterday, my putts were sinking quite well, and I was making birdies, but today they didn’t go in as much,” said Song.
“This is my first time in this tournament, but I’m not really worrying about it too much (the Stableford scoring). Just going about it as usual, thinking if I can make birdies, that’ll be good.
“Looks like the weather will be nice, so I’ll do my best to keep up the good work.”
New Zealand’s Michael Hendry maintained his steady performance, concluding the day in a tie for seventh place alongside American Han Lee, both with 19 points.
Hendry collected four birdies, two of which were in his final two holes, offsetting three bogeys and yielding five points.
On the other hand, Lee traded five birdies with two bogeys, resulting in a total gain of eight points.
Kosaihira emerged as a surprising frontrunner, amassing 14 points with an impressive display of eight birdies and two bogeys, bringing his two-day total to 23 points and securing a narrow one-point lead over Taiko Nishiyama (+13) and Yusaku Hosono (+7), one of the co-leaders of the opening round.
Kosaihira credits the Stableford scoring format for bringing out the best in his game.
As an aggressive player who constantly seeks to attack the pin, he feels the format perfectly aligns with his style, allowing him to shine on the course.
“My putting was on point. I managed to sink a lot of putts,” said Kosaihira, who’s still winless on Tour.
“I’ve always considered putting to be one of my strengths. It’stypical for me to rack up birdies, but I also tend to slip up with bogeys, so this style of play suits me.
“I’ve come to accept that it’s okay to make bogeys sometimes.”
Leading Second Round scores:
+23: Yuwa Kosaihira +9-+14;
+22: Taiko Nishiyama +9-+13, Yusaku Hosono +15-+7;
+21: Song Young-han (Kor) +14-+7;
+20: Sejung Hiramoto +6-+14, Taisei Shimizu +12-+8;
+19: Michael Hendry (Nzl) +14-+5, Han Lee (US) +11-+8, Mikumu Horikawa (Jpn) +9-+10;
+18: Shota Yoshimoto +7-+11
