Satoshi Hara jumped 15 places up the leaderboard to share the second round lead with Kota Kaneko after carding a four-under-par 66 at the Japan Open on Friday.
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With their matching total of three-under-par 137 after two rounds, Hara and Kaneko will head into the weekend with a one-shot advantage over Riki Kawamoto (67) and Kim Seon-hyeon (70) of Korea.
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Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana, Philippines’ Justin De Los Santos and Australia’s Adam Scott ensured an international presence inside the top 10 of the leaderboard with their tied-fifth and tied-eighth positions, respectively.
Hara, who had to return early to complete his remaining four holes from his first round after it was suspended on Thursday, credited his strong iron play for hauling him back into contention after he had signed for an opening 71 at the Nikko Country Club.
“I read the line the whole time and made all the tricky par putts, even the ones that were two or three meters away from the pin. I really think I played pretty close to perfection from my second shot onwards today.
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“To be honest, I was feeling my way around for the rest of the first round. Yesterday, I was playing near the last group, so the rain was quite wet, and the ground conditions made the play slow.
“But today, it was completely different. I was playing at an incredibly fast pace, and on the eighth hole, I went way over my first putt and had to three-putt. That was the only mistake I made today, and overall, I’m happy,” said Hara.
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Kaneko was also pleased with his efforts so far as he chases his second JGTO victory this season, following his breakthrough at the Kansai Open in May.
“I was able to swing with great rhythm for the last two days. My shots haven’t been bad since yesterday, and my putting has been going well this week. The slope is steep and difficult, but I had a pretty good sense of distance, so it felt good,” said the 23-year-old.
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