20 years old amateur Riki Kawamoto played along Hideto Tanihara in final group on R3 Saturday, making an exciting see-saw battle.

In one point Riki got to 7 under and had 3 shots lead. It looked as he was on cruise control as he made an aggressive shot from the deep rough on 7th which touched the lip of the cup and ended with an easy birdie.
"I didn't intend to make risky tries, but when it is time to go aggressive, I go for it."

"Before I started I noticed that there was no one playing under par today, so I changed my goal set to 2 under to play safe. But when I made 7-meter putt on the 9th, I forgot to play safely. Then on 10th my tee shot went way right, I couldn't figure out why but that lead to a bogey."

Then on 13th, his tee shot with the 2I went toward the water, but hit the tree branched and fell into the thick rough.
"That moment, I thought I could get it done and save par. I couldn't stop myself to be aggressive. But my shot from the deep rough turned out to be too short, and eventually I had to suffer for double bogey."

While Riki cried over his mistake for double bogey, Hideto made birdie and it was 3 shot swing, which gave Hideto out right lead.
"I should have told myself to satisfy with a bogey and play it safely."

Riki's famous long drives didn't help him today either, it was going left and right.
"I just couldn't figure out why and I got pretty upset and my game collapsed. I feel that I am still very immature, when I can't control my mentality like today."

He also went for risky shot at final 18th, where he shot from the next hole's fairway between the trees.
"It went way right from where I aimed, but I got lucky."
As he said, he made it worth to get his 3rd shot 2 meters to the pin for a birdie chance. But he couldn't hole it in due to the distraction he had from the rules official that his ball was laying over a ball mark and was told to replace it.
"My concentration got cut off and I forgot the line that I had read."

He had a tough round but seemed to be enjoying the pressure as well.
"I am nervous, but that make me play well. Super shots come from that tense feelings. I think I have the ability to adjust to pressure. I will start fresh tomorrow and go for 3 under goal, it that is not good enough to win, that's that."

Riki is only 1 shot behind the leader, if he wins it will be since 1927 as the amateur wins the prestigious Major.

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