Shugo Imahira, who just returned from The Masters and rushed into this week's Dunlop Phoenix finished his 1st Round with Even Par 44T. Shugo was not able to have the practice round yesterday, so it was his first glance at the course today. He is known for his stability on shot controls, but today his shots were going everywhere.

He met up with his caddy at his "private practice space" due to isolation purposes.
"My body felt wabbly, maybe because I had a long ride on bullet train and car for 9 hours yesterday."

His caddy also added "Jet lag and fatigue too."

"I rarely bend it left on my tee shots", recalled Shugo, as he did have several miss shots during early part of his round. But he made a magnificent recovery shot on 14th from the left side trees to the apron of the green and saved par.

Shugo is under many restrictions, as he was approved to be in the field with "Athlete Track" measures given by Japanese government and JOC/JPC. He is not allowed to have direct contact with anybody including his caddy. Even when caddy passes clubs, Shugo must only grab the grip, etc.
"I sanitated the ball on every hole, my hands are all dried up. It is tough to go through all of strict rules, but I think it is fortunate for Shugo to go through this now, since we must be prepared to do things by the book at the Olympics."

"I am fortunate that I was allowed to have the Athlete Track applied, if not I had to go through 2 weeks of self-restraint period and wouldn't have made this tournament. I am glad that I got the chance to defend my title on one of my favorite course."

Shugo will be escorted by 4 staffs who look out for distance between other players, sanitation, etc. Yusaku Miyazato who was in group behind Shugo joked, "Wow, he is treated like V.I.P, just like Tiger Woods. In US PGA Tour the post-entry measures are softened since August. I hope the rules applied to Shugo will be new standard for Japan's golf too."

"In the beginning, my body didn't do as I told, but from my back nine my body has adjusted and my shots got better", recalled Shugo as he made 2 bogeys on his front nine but made 3 birdies on his back nine. I still have jet lag and I woke up twice last night, but I am glad that I didn't play over par today. It is too bad that I cannot go out for dinner, but I will use my time in my room effectively by relaxing and training."

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