Hideto Tanihara has become Tomoyo Ikemura's savior on his troubled 1W shots. With that advice, Tomoyo jumped up to 2T with total 8 under, after 2R.

On the final 18th 558 yards Par 5, Tomoyo couldn't make the eagle putt, but he safely reached the green on his 2nd shot and made easy birdie with 2 putts.
"My 1W shots is totally different now. It was awful before."

Tomoyo had beautiful swing, and many fellow players envied him, but he lost his swing caused by his hobby, snowboarding. He is very fond of sports, and he still plays in the soccer team with his friends. He also became so hooked on snowboarding.
"During the off season, I didn't play golf at all and was out snowboarding for 2 weeks. I suffered muscle ache all over my body. That must have affected my swing. During the first half of this season, I was barely scoring under 80."

Hideto Tanihara was the one who came to rescue him.
"He asked me how come my swing has gone so bad at the locker room. I told him all of my worries and he taught me the tips to recover my swing. He pointed out what was wrong with my swing and gave me practice drills. I have done that drill every day and bit by bit, my swing has improved."

For some coincidence, Tomoyo was paired with Hideto for 2 rounds this week and was able to show him the improvement. Hideto said, "it's on the right path". This encouragement gave Tomoyo much confidence.

Tomoyo has been missing the cutline during front half of the season, but his results has been getting better since September.
"I am enjoying golf now."

This is his 3rd year on Regular Tour. Thanks to Hideto, 9th year professional Tomoyo might have a good chance for his first Tour victory this week.