Overnight outright leader Ren Yonezawa was denied sole possession of the lead after Mikumu Horikawa fired a late birdie to share the third round lead with him on the penultimate day of the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup on Saturday.
Related: Ren Yonezawa fights off fatigue to take lead
Taiga Semikawa and Yuki Inamori are tied for third, lurking just one shot back of the leaders at the Shishido Hills Country Club.
Yonezawa started the round with a two-shot cushion and enjoyed a promising start with a pair of birdies on the first two holes. He then dropped two shots on holes three and eight to reach the turn in even-par 36.
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Horikawa, who trailed Yonezawa by six shots at the start of the day, stormed out of the blocks with three successive birdies from the first hole.
He then soared up the leaderboard with an eagle-three on six, parred his next eight holes before carding another birdie on 15. Playing five groups ahead of Yonezawa, Horikawa then parred the next three holes to reach the clubhouse with a six-under-par 65.
Yonezawa, meanwhile, picked up another birdie on 12, before parring the next four holes until a bogey on 17 saw him slip to close with a three-day total of six-under-par 205 after a par on 18.
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“I started strongly but faced a long grind after that. The only positive I was able to take from today was that I managed to avoid a total collapse. It was just not my day, but perhaps tomorrow it will be,” said Yonezawa.
Horikawa was relieved to make his comeback after he struggled with a 73 in the second round. The 32-year-old is now seeking to end his three-year title drought since his last and fourth JGTO win in 2022 at the Mynavi ABC Championship.
“Avoiding the bogeys all day was huge for me today, and I cannot be more pleased with myself for that. After almost thinking I would miss the cut yesterday, being able to recover and bounce back the way I did today was special.
