Kosuke Suzuki birdied his closing two holes, carding a two-under-par 70 to retain his overnight lead after the third round of the Casio World Open Golf Tournament on Saturday.
Related: Suzuki times run to perfection, takes two-shot lead
The 25-year-old’s three-day total of 16-under-par 200 ensured he will start the final round of the penultimate event of the 2025 JGTO season with a one-shot advantage over Kosuke Sunagawa at Kochi Kuroshio Country Club.
Taiga Semikawa fired a 64 to move up to a share of third place with Ryuichi Oiwa on matching 202 totals.
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Suzuki, who is eyeing his JGTO breakthrough this week, stumbled early with a bogey on the third before picking up a stroke on the sixth to reach the turn in 36. He added another birdie on 13, dropped a shot on 14, but closed the round strongly with birdies on the final two holes.
Reflecting on his round, Suzuki said his finish was crucial on a day when he otherwise had to “hang in there.”
“At the start I was really just trying to hang on. But finishing with birdie-birdie on 17 and 18 was huge for me,” said Suzuki.
“It was a downhill right-to-left putt on 17. If it missed, it would’ve run quite far, so when it started on line I couldn’t help pumping my fist early. I felt it was going in.”
At the par-five 18th, Suzuki needed a very composed approach to set himself up for his closing birdie.
“I had about 250 yards for my second. A full wood felt too much, so I held back a little. I left myself a 25-yard chip and managed to knock it to about a metre.”
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Despite holding the lead with just one round to go, Suzuki admitted he had not expected to find himself in this position as he often struggled to close out tournaments on the weekend.
“I honestly didn’t think I would be here. “Today I didn’t really score well. I couldn’t leave myself many birdie chances and had to play a lot of patient golf. My irons weren’t great, so tomorrow I need to hit it closer.
“Being able to go into the final day on top is exciting. I’ll definitely feel the nerves, but I just want to play my own golf,” said Suzuki.
