Tournament article

SMBC Singapore Open 2020

Ryosuke Kinoshita jumps up as top among the top Japanese players after 3rd Round

Ryosuke Kinoshita, who has big names such as Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Ishikawa in the same age group, but he was left behind for some time, but not today. He finished at 7T after the 3rd Round of Singapore Open, highest among the top Japanese players in the field.

Ryosuke started out from 3 under, 16T made a great start by birding the 1st hole with 2-meter putt. Then he went on to make 7-meter birdie putt on the 5th hole which kicked of 3 straight birdies from there. He also finished his front nine with a birdie to score 5 under 31. He did suffer 2 bogies on his back nine but managed to hole out with 7 under at 8T. Good position going onto Sunday to make his dream possible.

This is Ryosuke's 7th year as a Pro, and his 2nd season with the Tour Card. He has precise goal set on his first game of 2020, and so far, things are looking good. He finished last season at 34th on the Money List but aimed to get higher. He has scored his best tied 63 multiple of time during the off and told himself, "I have my A game with me now, but what if this isn't good enough".

It seems to be good, so far as he has played under par for 3 consecutive days. He has been pushing himself to do hard training, even tried anaerobic exercises. Which got him 10 extra yardages and 2kg weight loss.
"I gained 10 yards, and I could control my shots. My shots are really good now."

Ryosuke is born in 1991, same age group as big names like Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Ishikawa but has been left behind.
"I was finally able to get my Tour Card 2 years ago. Mentally and technically, I am way behind them. I have played with Hideki during my high school days, he was already way up there. But I have put my pride aside and asked him for advices. I also ask Ryo to have practice round with me. I will do whatever it takes to be better. My ultimate goal for this season is Order of Merit Champion. It may seem to be too big, but so what?"