Kataoka hits the front

Daisuke Kataoka will take a slender one- shot lead into the weekend after he carded a second round six-under-par 66 at the Sansan KBC Augusta on Friday.

Jinichiro Kozuma matched Kataoka’s efforts with an identical 66 but ended the day in outright second place with his two-day total of 10-under-par 134.

South Africa’s Shaun Norris, meanwhile, spearheaded the international charge by returning with a 
67 to share third place with Yuwa Kosaihira, Masashi Hidaka and Hiroya Kubota.

Starting the day three shots off the pace, Kataoka, who is chasing his fourth JGTO win this week, reeled in five birdies on holes four, five, six, eight and nine to turn in. 31.

He continued his birdie blitz at the on holes 13 and 14 before dropping his only shot of the day at the par-four 15 to eventually sign for a 66.

“It’s always nice to be leading the tournament. But there are still 36 holes more to play and anything can happen.
“I have to continue to keep my focus and hopefully I can remain in this position on Sunday,” said Kataoka.

42-year-old Norris, who is vying for his seventh JGTO title this week, dropped two shots on holes two and 18. But five birdies and an eagle on the ninth hole was enough for him to also make his move up the leaderboard where he trails Kataoka by two shots.

“Overall, it was a good day as I managed to battle my way into contention. Hopefully, I can continue playing the way I did during the weekend rounds,” said Norris.

Leading second round scores
*All Japanese unless indicated otherwise
133 – Daisuke Kataoka 67-66
134 – Jinichiro Kozuma 68-66
135 – Yuwa Kosaihirsa 66-69, Shaun Norris 68-67, Masashi Hidaka 65-70, Hiroya Kubota 66-69
136 – Taiga Semikawa 65-71, Ryunosuke Furukawa 70-66