Kanaya spearheads local challenge as Hoshino breaks record

Takumi Kanaya charged up the leaderboard to put himself in contention for a fourth JGTO victory, as Thailand's Jazz Janewattananond was among the trio holding a share of the lead at the halfway stage of the ISPS HANDA Championship

The 24-year-old Kanaya mixed five birdies with a lone bogey to post a second successive four-under-par 66 at the PGM Ishioka Golf Club to head into the weekend in joint-fifth position with his two-day total of eight-under-par 132.

Jazz and Australia's Lucas Herbert fired matching 63s to seize the top spot before Scotland's Grant Forrest, fired a 62 later in the day to make it a three-way tie for the lead on 130 total.

Germany's Maximilian Kieffer is a further shot back following a 65.

Kanaya, whose last victory came at the 2021 Token Homemate Cup, was pleased to have finished the day as the best-placed Japanese in the field with two late birdies on holes 16 and 18.

"My ball striking has been good all day today, even though I wasn't happy about my putting. But I made a good finish making a birdie, so I am hoping to play well this weekend," said Kanaya.

"Hopefully I get to execute my game plan well and make as many birdies as possible, that's my goal."

Meanwhile, it was a memorable day for Rikuya Hoshino as he became the first player on Tour to shoot a sub-70 score for 16 successive rounds -  a streak which started since the third round of last year's Dunlop Phoenix Tournament.

This comes after he fired a 67 to surpass the feat previously held by Ryo Ishikawa.

The effort, which he posted by mixing five birdies and two bogeys, left him just three shots off the pace in joint eighth with 13 others including countrymen Yuki Inamori (67), Terumiuchi Kakazu (67) and Tomoyo Ikemura (65).

"I was a bit nervous when my score got to one-under (after bogeying the fourth hole), but fortunately I managed to end the day with three-under-par, which was good," said Hoshino.

"It's not easy as the greens were firm and the pin positions were positioned in tricky spots.

"As a home representative., I want to keep up with the leaders. I want to keep scoring 60s and try to fight for victory."

Jazz, who competed on JGTO for one full season in 2019 after winning the season-opening SMBC Singapore Open, stole the limelight by firing nine birdies against two bogeys.

And he was quick to say that he was delighted to be back to play in Japan again.

"It was amazing (closing with three birdies). It was slow at the start and then it built up and had a really good finish," said the Thai.

"I’m feeling good, feeling comfortable on the golf course, not so tense. I used to play on the JGTO so it’s good to be back here in Japan playing a similar golf course that I used to play back in 2019, so it’s good to be back.

"It’s amazing (to have the first DP World Tour / JGTO co-sanctioned event), it’s an amazing opportunity for guys like me to play in Asia and on the DP World Tour.

"Getting the European guys out to play in Japan, all of the guys I’ve talked to love it, so we should have more of this."

Ends.

Leading second round scores:

130: Jazz Wattananond (Tha) 67-63, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 67-63, Grant Forrest (Sco) 68-62;

131: Maximiian Kieffer (Ger) 66-65;

132: Deon Germishuys (Rsa) 64-68, Takumi Kanaya (Jpn) 66-66, Jordan Smith (Eng) 66-66;

133: Todd Baek (US) 69-64, Yuki Inamori (Jpn) 66-67, Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn) 66-67, Rafa Cabrera Bello (Esp) 67-66, Wil Besseling (Ned) 66-67, Terumiuchi Kakazu (Jpn) 66-67, Tomoyo Ikemura (Jpn) 68-65, Andy Sullivan (Eng) 63-70, David Ravetto (Fra) 66-67, Rasmus Hojgaard (Den) 66-67, Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 65-68, Li Haotong (Chn) 70-63, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 64-69, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 69-64.