Song stuns field with opening 61

South Korea’s Song Yong-han stole the early spotlight by firing a stunning 11-under-par 61 to take the outright first round lead at the Panasonic Open Golf Championship on Thursday.
 
Kensei Hirata continued to show his winning form this season by returning with a 62 to trail Song by one while Taisei Shimizu was a further shot back in third after he signed for a 63 at the ¥100,000,000 event which is played at the Arima Royal Golf Club in Hyogo prefecture this week.
 
Song, who has won twice on the JGTO, stormed out of the blocks quickly with six birdies in his outward-nine. Starting on the back-nine 10, he fired five birdies in his first five holes before adding another on 17 for an outward 30.
 
He continued his birdie blitz in his inward-nine with another five birdies on holes one, three, four, five and seven to complete his opening test with flying colours.
 
“This is by far, my best score. My previous best was nine-under. So, I’m really happy with how I played today. The key was my putting and I managed to hole many long putts today.
 
“Golf is played over four days and there are still 54 holes to go. Anything can still happen and I just have to continue playing my best until the end,” said Song. 
 
The 33-year-old South Korean will have to be wary of Hirata, who has already won thrice this season – with his latest win coming barely a fortnight ago at the Shinhan Donghae Open.
 
Like Song, Hirata also got off to a strong start, picking up three straight birdies in his starting back-nine 10. He birdied 14 but would drop his only shot of the day at 16 before recovering quickly with another birdie on 17.
 
The 23-year-old then powered home with six birdies to issue his strong statement of intent of challenging for his sixth JGTO victory this week.
 
“I putted well today and that showed in my score. When I’m playing, I’m fully focused on my game and don’t think of anything else. In the past, when I start to score well, I would shift into a defensive mood and try to play conservatively. Now, I just focus on how to approach each shot in front of me,” said Hirata.
 
Leading first round scores
All Japanese unless indicated otherwise
61 - Song Yong-han (KOR)
62 – Kensei Hirata
63 – Taisei Shimizu
64 – Yosuke Asaji, Kosuke Suzuki
 
Selected internationals
65 – Brad Kennedy (AUS)
66 – Yu Sung-po (TPE)
 
Ends.