Taisei Shimizu will lead the 14-man JGTO contingent into the final round of the ZOZO Championship after carding a one-under-par 69 at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club on Saturday.
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Despite suffering from tonsillitis, Shimizu’s three-day total of eight-under-par 202 placed him as the highest-ranked Japanese player in tied-12th place – nine shots behind Colombia’s Nico Echavarria, who holds a two-shot lead over American Justin Thomas.
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Yuto Katsuragawa fired a 63 – the lowest round among the Japanese – to jump 36 spots up to tied-16thplace, which also includes Yuta Sugiura after the 23-year-old signed for a 67 at the co-sanctioned event with the PGA TOUR.
Shimizu, who secured seven top 10s in his last 17 starts including finishing second at the Panasonic Open last month, started the round tied for ninth place following rounds of 66 and 67.
The 25-year-old traded four birdies against one bogey and a double-bogey and admitted it was not his best performance.
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“I’ve been dealing with tonsillitis since the Japan Open. It got better but came back on Wednesday. I felt like I could have done more today but couldn’t quite pull it off. It was a bit disappointing.
“Yesterday was the worst. Today, it’s mostly just a sore throat, along with fatigue. I really wish I could be playing in peak condition,” said Shimizu.
Katsuragawa entered the penultimate round tied for 52nd. He made an early stumble with a bogey on his starting back-nine 10th hole but picked up two shots quickly on holes 12 and 13.
The 26-year-old dropped another shot on 15 before birdieing 16 and 18 to turn in 34. He then caught fire in his back-nine with five birdies on holes two, three, five, six and seven to complete the round where he also had the proud distinction of making birdies on all the par-three holes.
“I made several long putts today and it’s definitely a first for me to make birdies on all the par-three! Days like this make it all worthwhile to be playing professional golf” said Katsuragawa.
Sugiura, who played alongside defending Collin Morikawa, was pleased to have kept the bogeys off his card for the first time this week after choosing to adopt a conservative game plan.
“It was fun having the huge crowd follow us today. The atmosphere was great. I dropped several shots in the first two days, so I tried to avoid that today. Of course, I wanted birdies, but I focused on playing it safe.
“There were a few times my ball went into the trees, but I stayed calm, handled it well, and made par, which was great,” said the 23-year-old.
