Yoshida braces for year’s biggest test after taking share of third round lead

Taiki Yoshida is prepared to fight for the biggest battle of the season after he surged into a share of the third round lead with Takashi Ogiso and Korea’s Song Yong-han at the season-ending Golf Nippon Series JT Cup on Saturday.
 
The 27-year-old is chasing his maiden JGTO win in what will be a massive test for him at the no-cut event, where only the top 30 players are competing at the Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club this week. 
 
He has enjoyed five top 10 finishes this season, coming close to entering the winner’s circle at the Fortinet Players Cup and Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters, where he finished second and third, respectively.
 
Yoshida started the round three shots off the pace and quickly stormed to the turn in 31 after reeling in five birdies on holes one, five, six, seven and eight. 
 
He dropped shots on holes nine and 11, picked up another two shots on holes 12 and 17 before closing with a bogey for four-under-par 66 and a three-day total of eight-under-par 202.
 
“I wanted to go low today, but this isn’t a course where you can easily rack up birdies. I knew I had to take my chances wherever they came, so being able to get four under is something I’m happy with.
 
“My tee shots were better than yesterday, but the ninth was a difficult tee shot for me, and on 11, my ball hit a tree and kicked into the woods, so those two bogeys were unavoidable. On 18, I was already thinking that a bogey there would be fine, so I don’t feel like I made any wasteful bogeys today.
 
“My goal has been to shoot two under each day. And on the tougher holes, it’s about avoiding easy double bogeys. Then if I can hole some putts and save par when I need to, that’s my plan for this week, especially tomorrow,” said Yoshida.
 
Kota Kaneko looked all but set to seal the JGTO Money ranking title after he birdied his closing three holes to sign for a 66 and head into the final round three shots back of the leaders in tied-sixth place.
 
“I haven’t made any birdies since the two on four and six on the front nine, so I really wanted to get more birdies as I was finishing my round. Then suddenly three came in a row. So that was great. 
 
Apart from the money ranking title, I’m also trying to win this event and I know I still have a chance. So, I’ll just keep pushing to the end and aim as high up the leaderboard as possible,” said Kaneko.
 
Leading third round scores
202 – Taiki Yoshida 68-68-66, Takashi Ogiso 65-68-69, Song Yong-han (KOR) 63-71-68
203 – Yusaku Hosono 65-70-68
204 – Taiga Semikawa 69-69-66
205 – Kota Kaneko 72-67-66, Takumi Kanaya 68-70-67 
*All Japanese unless indicated otherwise
 
Ends.