Nasa Hataoka wasn’t trying to be greedy as she stepped on to the 18th green at Taihelyo Club Minori Course. She’d already made eight birdies over the course of her round and would have been happy to come away with a two-putt par from long range. But instead, Hataoka who had a red hot putter during round one of the TOTO Japan Classic, rolled in her birdie effort from long range for just her 26th putt of the day and a round of 64 to sit just one back of the lead on day one.

“I was trying for two putt, save par, but was good line and just get in,” Hataoka said after her round on Thursday. “My hitting not good, but I made so many putts so my putting was really good today.”

Putting has long been a strength of Hataoka’s game, she ranked second on Tour in Putting Average during her rookie season, and she was able to lean on her short game on Thursday as admittedly she struggled with her ball striking and found just five of 14 fairways. The long birdie try she rolled in on her final hole of the day capped off a string of three consecutive birdies to finish her round. She recalled rolling in a 20-footer at the par 3 16th hole and said she was happy to be able to take advantage of the par 5 17th which played as the easiest hole of the day.

“Seventeenth hole was short par-5 so that hole I really want to birdie, but on 16, par-3, it was good 6-iron tee shot and I hit it good,” Hataoka said about her closing stretch.

Throughout her round Hataoka was buoyed by the support of getting to play in front of a hometown crowd. She lives just 20 minutes away from the Taihelyo Club where she said she was able to play two rounds in September to get familiar with the venue which is hosting the tournament this year.

“I'm especially close to my home and it's pretty close to Tokyo as well. This course is very good shape, that's why, so I look forward to play,” Hataoka said ahead of the tournament’s start. “I was really excited and everybody cheering for me, so I was really happy.”

Hataoka would love nothing more than to get another win in her home country, having also won the TOTO Japan Classic as a 54-hole event in 2018. That victory was her second of the season and just the second of her career as she won by two strokes at Seta Golf Course. Since that breakout season Hataoka has won four of the last five years on Tour and makes no mystery about her intentions for what she hopes to achieve over the final stretch of this season, especially in her home country of Japan.

“I want to win,” Hataoka said with a smile earlier in the week. ”I was waiting for LPGA Tour, so looking forward to come back and so excited to play here.”

Hot putter propels Hataoka to the top of leaderboard in Japan

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