Kanaya gets title defence bid off to a bright start

Defending champion Takumi Kanaya recovered from an opening hole setback to open with a five-under-par 66, sharing the first-round lead at the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup on Thursday.

Kanaya's only dropped shot of the day came early, but he rebounded with six birdies, including one on the final hole at Shishido Hills Country Club, placing him at the top of the leaderboard alongside compatriots Koka Kaneko and Taiki Yoshida.

The trio hold a one-shot lead over a group of nine players, including notable names such as past and present Japan Open winners Aguri Iwasaki and Yuki Inamori, as well as last year's Japan PGA Championship victor Kensei Hirata.

Also at four-under-par was South Korea's Ryu Hyun-woo, making him the best-placed international competitor after the first day.

Kanaya expressed his delight in overcoming a difficult start as he put himself in a promising position to become the first player to successfully defend the title in the tournament's history.

"In the front nine, I struggled with my tee shots and had few chances, but I made some good putts. In the back nine, I gradually had more opportunities with my shots," said Kanaya, who won the season-opening Token Homemate Cup in April.

"Considering that I stumbled at the start and then managed to recover and play well, I think that was really good.

"If you can't play well on the first day, your chances of winning decrease, so being able to play well increases my chances again.

"I just want to get a lot of birdies and aim for the win over the next 54 holes."

Like Kanaya, Yoshida also recovered quickly from an early bogey by firing six birdies in his next eight holes. He picked up his next gain at the 15th but was denied the outright lead after a dropped shot on the 18th hole.

"Starting with a bogey was tough, but securing the second hole was a turning point for me. From there, I experienced an unexpected rush of birdies. Tomorrow, my goal is to minimise the bogeys in the first half as much as possible," said Yoshida.

This is the second time Yoshida has co-led a tournament. He had previously done so during the opening round of the ISPS HANDA Open in April but would eventually finish the tournament in tied 24th place.

Leading first round scores:
66: Kota Kaneko, Taiki Yoshida, Takumi Kanaya;
67: Kento Yamawaki, Tatsunori Shogenji, Yuki Inamori, Ryu Hyun-woo (Kor), Ren Yonezawa, Aguri Iwasaki, Ryuko Tokimatsu, Shunya Takeyasu, Kensei Hirata;
68: Toshihide Kato, Koshiro Maeda, Naoyuki Kataoka, Yuta Sugiura, Song Young-han (Kor), Taichi Nabetani, Daijiro Izumida, Toshinori Muto, Daiki Imano, Kenya Nakayama