- Tour
ACN Championship Golf Tournament
Round217:47 Competition is suspended due to darkness. The resumption of 2R will be from 7:30am on Saturday. The 3R is expected to start at 9:30 (tentative).
Tournament article
HEIWA PGM CHAMPIONSHIP 2019
Another disappointment for Shugo as he finishes as "runner-up" again
"I knew that every player will make lots of birdies today" said Shugo, and it di become as he predicted.
Shugo started out 1 shot behind the leader, Ho-Sung Choi aka "tora-san". Shugo made a pretty good birdie charge by making 4 on his front half, which enabled him to overtake the lead from Ho-Sung Choi at 8th, with making the 2-meter.
Now he had 1 shot advantage against Ho-Sung Choi going into the back nine. But Shugo's tee shots tended to go right today.
"I couldn't get a crisp hold of my shots today. I think my body weight was slanting towards left on my turns."
His anxiety came out true on the worst timing at Par 4 17th, where Shugo and Ho-Sung Choi were tied as co-leaders coming into the hole.
Shugo's tee shot went way right into the roughs. He aimed to make it the back of the pin, on the same level as the cup, as the green gives a good roll back due to the andulation. But as Shugo said, "I took in the chance of flyer too much into my calculation", his shot was short and it couldn't roll up to the same level to the pin, and weakly rolled down the slope. His long birdie try ended short and he also missed the 2-meter for par save to make 3 putts for bogey.
On the other hand, Ho-Sung Choi gone away by making a 7-meter birdie putt to retake the lead with a 2-shot swing.
Shugo kept on fighting aggressively by going for an eagle chance, but his 2nd shot by 5I wouldn't stop on the green and rolled away into the backside roughs. He aimed to hole it from the roughs, but that shot hit close to the pin but bounced to the edge of the green. His down slope birdie try also went over the pin and had to settle for a par finish.
Shugo couldn't mend the 2-shot deficit and lost to Ho-Sung Choi. This is his 5th "runner-up" finishes this season. Same scenario as last week.
"I kept my top position on the Money Rankings, but if I don't win, it seems meaningless."
These words show how much he is disappointed about today's outcome. He has won this season once, on Bridgestone Open, and he has 13 other top 10 finishes. He has the best stability for keeping his top game, but still can't win.
"I know my shots are good. I should learn from these experiences and figure out the answer."
Shugo is eager to find that answer in the last 4 tournaments of the season and end the year with a present smile.