Tournament article

Top Cup Tokai Classic 2019

Kazuki Higa "little giant" follows leader Shaun Norris with only 1 shot deficit

Kazuki Higa's height is only 158cm and Shaun Norris is 30cm taller, but "little giant" got within only 1 shot behind of Shaun Norris with making 6 birdies and a bogey to score 66.

Wind was weakening down on the ground, but it was still strong in the sky above. This is Kazuki Higa's first time to appear in tough Miyoshi CC. Kazuki's headache holes are Par 4 4th hole, and 7th hole with 490 yards which was changed to Par 4 this year.

"On 4th, I really don't like the tee shots there. I ended up in the right-side trees for all 3 days, but somehow managed to save par. On R1 I made par from the edge of the green, then on R2 I save 4-meter par putt. Today I had to lay up out of the trees, and my 3rd shot from 115 yards only got to 4-meter to the pin, but I barely made it. That trouble hole could had been double bogey or at least a bogey, but somehow I went through them by saving pat for all 3 rounds."

On long Par 4 7th, Kazuki got caught in the right-side roughs. The wind was blowing at his face and his 2nd shot became short, but he says, "it didn't end up as tragedy and got away with less damage". As he said, this was his only bogey for the day, but that hole could have been worse.

Kazuki has made his first career victory at RIZAP KBC Augusta in August. He is aiming to make this week to be his 2nd win. He sits now at 13th on the Money Rankings. His dream so far is to be in the field of US PGA Tour co-sanctioned event ZOZO Championship which will be coming up in 3 weeks. In order to make it into the field, he must be with in top 7 on the Money Rankings after the Bridgestone Open next week.

"I must win this week to make it happen. I know that no matter how much I want to win, it's not only up to me, but I want to keep my concentration and play well with the rhythm that I have so far, and eventually grab the victory at last."

Kazuki is known to be tough when the things get rough, so he may be the one who can come up with the power that no other player in the field could catch up with.