Taiki Yoshida and Ryutaro Nagano will head into the weekend rounds of the Shinhan Donghae Open one shot back of second round Swedish leader Bjorn Hellgren after carding matching two-day total of eight-under-par 136 at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Friday.
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Yoshida signed for a second straight four-under-par 68, while Nagano returned a 67 at the 41st edition of the tournament which is tri-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO), Korean Professional Golfers’ Association and Asian Tour.
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Yoshida, who admitted his round began with some nervy moments, was pleased with how he managed his game and avoided costly mistakes.
“From yesterday’s back nine, my shots started to feel better, although the first two holes today were pretty tough,” said Yoshida. “I missed in some tricky spots on the front nine, but my approach shots came off just as I imagined. That really kept me in it. I don’t think I let up at all today — even when I was in trouble, like at the first and second holes, I was able to hang on without dropping shots. That was huge.”
He stressed the importance of staying mentally strong and avoiding complacency.
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“The key for me is not to ease up,” Yoshida added. “The moment I relax, even if I’m leading, things can go wrong. When I step up to a shot, if I start doubting it, that’s when mistakes happen. So my focus is on committing fully to every swing.”
Nagano, meanwhile, matched his countryman on the leaderboard with a composed performance that included six birdies against a lone bogey.
“Like yesterday, I was able to put together a good round. The wind was up again, so there was a lot to think about, but I managed it well. My approach on the last hole set up a nice finish, and overall, I think hitting fairways and keeping a good balance with my putting has really helped me this week. The course suits me, especially with the wider fairways compared to Japan,” said Nagano.
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Playing in the penultimate group of the day, and having started on 10, Hellgren stormed through in fading light with three birdies in-a-row from the third and an eagle on the par-five seventh.
“Well, starting off, we knew the rain was coming, so we knew we had to bag a few birdies early,” said Hellgren.
“We didn’t do it yesterday, so… then the rain didn’t come in as hard as we thought, so then we thought maybe we’d take advantage of that. The greens started rolling pretty good, and we just hit it where we wanted all the time. So good teamwork and, yeah, pretty strong finish, so I’m happy with it,” added the Swede.
