It was a nightmare situation for Hideki Matsuyama from the beginning of the Round 2. He started out 2 shots behind the leader, but he had to place "9" on his score card at Par 4 1st Hole. His tee shot with the 1W went into the right-side trees. He aimed to hit his 2nd shot through a narrow space between the trees, but it ended as a direct hit onto the tree. It bounced into a gutter inside the penalty area.

He took a drop and on his 4th shot, he aimed to go over the trees, but it also banged onto the tree and went back into the gutter. He took another drop, and on his 6th shot, he decided to hit it out of the trees into the roughs. He finally made it to the green on his 7th shot, 2 putted for "9". To be +5 at one single hole is his worst ever, even including his amateur days.

"I did my best after the miss on my tee shot, but it resulted miserably. I tried to bounce back but it just didn't work as I wished."

On Par 5 4th, he had a tap in birdie, but bogeyed at 9th, and made the turn with "41", which was his worst tie score on Japan Tour after turning Pro. On his back nine, he made 3-meter on 16th and 2 putt birdie on last hole to score "34". Barely maintained to finish at 1 under total at 13T.

Lucky for Hideki, the leaders scores didn't improve much either.
"On that point, I think I was lucky."

Shugo Imahira was also over par for the day and ended as co-leader at 5 under with Yuta Ikeda. Hideki is still in target range with only 4 shots deficit.
"I don't know how the players on top of the leaderboard will do well on moving Saturday, but I will try to do my best and challenge to catch them tomorrow."

If Hideki could turn things around and win eventually, this score "9" will also be part of drama.