Shiho Kuwaki and Nasa Hataoka each finished with rounds of 66 on Saturday to remain tied for the lead after 54 holes at the Toto Japan Classic in Omitama, Japan.
Kuwaki continued her bogey-free tournament, carding two birdies and two eagles, to move to 20-under. Hataoka’s only blemish on the round came on the par-4 No. 10 hole, where she mixed a bogey with seven birdies.
They are among seven Japanese women in the top nine places on the leaderboard heading into Sunday’s final round at the Taiheiyo Club, Minori Course.
Mone Inami (65 on Saturday) sits one stroke back at -19 under, with fellow Japanese player Sora Kamiya (65) at 18-under. Japan’s Yuka Nii (66) and Yuri Yoshida (65) are joined by Thailand’s Jasmine Suwannapura (66) and South Korean Seon Woo Bae (66) in a tie for fifth place, four strokes off the lead.
Suwaki is seeking her first win on both the LPGA and JLPGA tours, and she has finished in the top 10 nine times this season. A win on Sunday would make her eligible for LPGA Tour membership.
“I felt a little pressure before the start today,” she said after Saturday’s round. “But, I will play with confidence tomorrow since I got the feeling somehow that I could play without any pressure tomorrow. I really enjoyed playing with (Hataoka) and tried to follow her score for the last two days. But, I will need to play better than her tomorrow.”
The two will be paired on Sunday, which Hataoka said she is looking forward to doing. From the Ibaraki area, Hataoka likely will have the most fan support behind her.
“I play really good and I’m very happy to play with Shiho again and she played really solid so both play good,” Hataoka said.
Hataoka leads the field this week with 23 birdies and is pleased with her putting but not all of her game. After hitting just five of 14 fairways on Saturday, she went back to the driving range.
“I’m trying on my swing, I need to find one key and I think I found it,” she said after working at the range.
The 2018 Toto Japan Classic champion, Hataoka has six LPGA Tour wins but has not won this season.
No Japanese women have won on the LPGA Tour this season, but that seems poised to happen on Sunday.
Two more players from Japan – Sayaka Takahashi (67 on Saturday) and Fumika Kawagishi (67) – are in a tie for ninth and 15-under with American Rose Zhang (65) and Xiyu Lin (69) of China.
–Field Level Media
