Sunagawa sets early pace as Kaneko keeps watch at Casio World Open Golf Tournament

Kosuke Sunagawa enjoyed the opening day’s honours by carding a flawless eight-under-par 64 to sit atop the leaderboard at the Casio World Open Golf Tournament on Thursday.
 
Sunagawa holds a one-shot advantage over Kosuke Suzuki, while money ranking leader Kota Kaneko remains firmly in the hunt of securing the title after opening with a 66 to be among five players tied for third.
 
The 27-year-old credited his putting for the strong start at Kochi Kuroshio Country Club.
 
“My putting was really working today, and that was definitely the best part of my round,” said Sunagawa. “My shots were also going to the spots I intended, following my course management plan, so my ball-striking felt good too.”
 
Sunagawa had thoroughly prepared for the week, clocking in five practice rounds from last Thursday through Wednesday. Despite the tricky winds and demanding pin positions, Sunagawa still managed to keep a clean card, which he was very pleased with.
 
“This course has a lot of grain on the greens, so I asked people who know it well for advice. I also checked last year’s pin positions, placed balls there, and studied how they rolled to prepare for how I would approach them in competition.
 
“The wind can be tough and some pins are very challenging, so going bogey-free is what I’m most pleased about.
 
“Over the next three days, I want to stay disciplined. Attack when I should, protect when I need to, and avoid bogeys as much as possible,” said Sungawa.
 
Meanwhile, Kaneko, who is looking to wrap up the money ranking title this week, was also satisfied with his encouraging start.
 
“It wasn’t a bad round, but I felt like I could have brought my condition to a slightly better level,” said Kaneko, who has won twice this season.
 
Kaneko added that he was able to focus on his own play despite being aware of the leaderboard.
 
“I do get curious about other players’ scores, but today I was able to play my own golf.”
 
Looking ahead, Kaneko hopes to sharpen his ball-striking to cement his position on the money ranking list.
 
“If I can play like today, that would be good. If my shots improve a bit, I believe I can go even lower,” said Kaneko.
 
Leading first round scores
64 – Kosuke Sunagawa
65 – Kosuke Suzuki
66 – Taiga Nagano, Taiga Semikawa, Ryuichi Oiwa, Kota Kaneko, Tatsuya Kodai
67 – Toru Taniguchi, Shugo Imahira, Kazuki Higa, Yuto Katsumata, Ryo Katsumata, Ryosuke Kinoshita
*All Japanese unless indicated otherwise
 
Ends.