On Moving Day at the TOTO Japan Classic, going low was a must. From the 78 players competing this week there were only 12 rounds of par or worse on Saturday, and the field shot a scoring average of 68.960, more than three strokes under par. The LPGA’s Nasa Hataoka and JLPGA’s Shiho Kuwaki continue to co-lead after the third round, having done so after 36-holes as well. While the two golfers shot twin 6-under 66s on Saturday, their rounds could not have been more different. Hataoka made one bogey and fired off seven birdies, including three in-a-row on holes 6-8 and one on each of the back-nine par-5s. Meanwhile Kuwaki had a slow but solid day, going bogey free with two birdies and two impressive eagles on the par-5 12th and 17th.
“I play really good and I’m very happy to play with Shiho again and she played really solid so both play good… I am trying to get more birdies (than her) almost every holes… I hit still not good but my course management is pretty good and more safety and then my putting was really good,” said Hataoka, who headed straight to the range following her third round after hitting only five of 14 fairways. She said following her range session, “I’m trying on my swing, I need to find one key and I think I found it.”
On Sunday, Hataoka will be chasing her seventh LPGA Tour victory and first since early in the 2022 season. She is well positioned to do so, with many factors leaning in her favor. The Japanese golfer has won the TOTO Japan Classic before back in 2018. She is leading the field in birdies this week with 23 total, and birdies will be important on Championship Sunday. And finally, she hails from the Ibaraki area, making her the local favorite.
Kuwaki, on the other hand, is looking for her first JLPGA Tour (and LPGA Tour) win after nine top-10 finishes in Japan this season. She has just one professional victory in her young career, a win at the 2021 JLPGA Rookies Championship Kaga Electronics Cup, which is not an official JLPGA event. If she wins tomorrow, she will be offered LPGA Tour membership and a chance to join Hataoka and other Japanese stars on the LPGA Tour.
“I felt a little pressure before the start today. But, I will play with confidence tomorrow since I got the feeling somehow that I could play without any pressure tomorrow.” Kuwaki said. “I really enjoyed playing with (Nasa) and tried to follow her score for the last two days. But, I will need to play better than her tomorrow.”
Just one stroke behind the leaders and very much still in the fight is the JLPGA’s Mone Inami, who has been near the top of the leaderboard all week but never in the lead. She shot a third-round 65 along with JLPGA rookie Sora Kamiya, who is in solo fourth. Four players sit in a tie for fifth including the LPGA’s Jasmine Suwannapura, who is continuing a good run of form after her T3 finish in Malaysia last week
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