Sato starts well at at Dunlop Phoenix Tournament

Taihei Sato enjoyed the early confidence boost he needed after signing for a six-under-par 65 in the first round of the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament to take a one-shot lead over six players on Thursday.
 
Ryosuke Kinoshita and Mikiya Akutsu together with international players Akshay Bhatia and Max McGreevy of the United States, South Africa Shaun Norris and Philippines’ Juivc Pagunsan returned with matching 66s to trail Sato by one in tied-second place.
 
2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama signed for a 67 to end day one in a share of eighth place at the Phoenix Country Club which is hosting the third last event on the 2024 JGTO schedule.
 
Starting on the back-nine 10, Sato parred his first hole before moving to two-under with a pair of birdies on 11 and 12. He birdied 18 before picking up another gain on the first hole after the turn. 
 
Sato dropped his only shot of the day on the third hole but responded with three successive birdies starting from the par-five seven.
 
"I kept it safe, missing only once in a direction that was risky, But other than that, I had a good feeling about my game today. My tee shots felt better than usual,” said Sato.
 
The 31-year-old has come close to his JGTO breakthrough on several occasions this season – notably at the season-opening Token Homemate Cup, where he finished third and last week’s Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters where he entered the final round tied for second before settling for a tied-sixth finish.
 
"I played in the final group last week. In the past, when I’ve been in a position to win, my birdie putts wouldn’t drop. But I managed to sink them last week, even though there were limited opportunities to do so. So, I feel I have a game now to put myself in contention and try to win again,” said Sato.
 
Sato will tee off alongside Yuta Ikeda and Yusaku Miyazato for his second round at 9:50 am (local time) on Friday.
 
Leading first round scores
All Japanese nationals unless indicated otherwise 
 65 – Taihei Sato
66 - Ryosuke Kinoshita, Mikiya Akutsu, Akshay Bhatia (USA), Max McGreevy (USA), Shaun Norris (RSA), Juivc Pagunsan (PHI)
67 -  Koh Gun-taek (KOR), Hideki Matsuyama, Ryutaro Nagano, Taiga Semikawa, Taichi Kho (HKG), Jinichiro Kozuma, Kazuya Koura
 
Selected
71 – Ryo Ishikawa
 
Ends.