22 years old Rikuya Hoshino had troublesome days last month, but he is on the way for a comeback. This year the tournament chose Bougainvillea Course for the front nine, which has 3 par 5 holes.

Well-known long hitter Rikuya took the advantage of that front nine and started with 4 birdies in-a-row. He had difficult times on his back nine with the tough wind but managed to card in with 66.

"I had pretty rough days last month, but overall it is getting better."

His driver broke during the rounds at Top Cup Tokai Classic in end of September. Thanks to the club maker's staff, Rikuya got through the tournament with a spare driver. But next week Rikuya had a fever. Then a week later on the Japan Open Golf Championship, he twisted a shoulder during his sleep.

"That was awful."
Rikuya had his first 2 rounds with Adam Scott at that tounament, but he couldn't manage to play his best and didn't make the cut.

Rikuya found his way to recover from the bad times by eating well. He used to skip lunch due to the tee times, but he eats well now. Aims to gain more weight for power. Now he is 77kg, and says it is his best weight so far. Not too much of stress to his knees but gives steadiness even he gets tired.

Rikuya's favorite Okinawa menu is tempura of mozuku seaweed.
"It's crispy outside and fluffy inside. It's really tasty so I eat them every day."

Rikuya won his dramatic first victory in September at Fuji Sankei Classics. Now he seeks to get his V2 in Okinawa with the power from local dish.