Veteran Katsumasa Miyamoto overturned a two-shot deficit into a one-shot lead after the third round of the Japan Players Championship to put himself on the brink of his first JGTO victory in three years.
The 49-year-old took over the pole position after marking his scorecard with an eagle, six birdies and a double bogey for a six-under-par 66 at the Nishi Nasuno Country Club on Saturday.
Related: Justin De Los Santos reaps benefits of sharp short game
The splendid effort took Miyamoto to 17-under through 54 holes, putting him one stroke ahead of Yuki Inamori (66) and halfway stage leader Taihei Sato (69), while Kaito Onishi was a further shot back after firing a sublime 63.
Miyamoto began the day superbly by rolling in two birdies on holes two and three, but his good work was quickly undone after double bogeying the par-five fourth hole.
However, Miyamoto showed just why he is still a respectable force at his age when he responded with an eagle on the par-four fifth before gaining two more shots on holes six and eight to make the turn in 32.
Miyamoto birdied two more times at the 10th and 16th holes on his return journey to seize the outright lead from Sato, who paid the price for dropping three shots in the closing stretch from holes 14 and 16.
A victory on Sunday would be his 13th on Tour and his first since The Crowns 2019.
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“I’ve been able to play nicely over the last three days, so the onus is on me to replicate the same kind of performance tomorrow too,” said Miyamoto.
He hopes to keep a level head in the final round as he aims to join Yoshitaka Yamamoto in 22nd place on the JGTO’s all-time list of players with the most wins on Tour.
“But this course can produce big scores, so I think everyone will aim to go as low as possible tomorrow.
“I want to do it too tomorrow and definitely will keep my eyes closely on the scoreboard.”
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Meanwhile, Justin De Los Santos of the Philippines produced another solid round to give himself a crack at a third JGTO top-10 finish.
The 26-year-old posted a 69 to sit in a share of 21st place with his 206 total.
A day after reaching the halfway stage in tied-13th, De Los Santos continued to perform steadily by trading four birdies against a lone bogey at the last.
De Los Santos, who moved to Japan to play full-time here since 2019, will now head into the final day seven shots behind Miyamoto and is just two shots within the top-10 standings.
De Los Santos will be out to make it three top-10 finishes in six starts after coming in joint sixth at the ISPS Handa Championship in April and solo fourth in Mizuno Open last month.
Regardless of how he finishes tomorrow, the one-time Abema Tour winner is delighted with how things have panned out for him thus far.
De Los Santo’s superb outing at the Mizuno Open also earned him a coveted ticket to The 150th Open at St Andrews next month.
Last year, it took De Los Santos until the sixth start before he could make his first cut.
“Yeah, it’s definitely been a pretty good improvement to last year,” said De Los Santos, who turned professional in 2018.
