Tournament article
Mynavi ABC Championship 2018
First timer Leader, but why so pessimistic?
"I had difficult moments in front half, but I tried to maintain my patience and wait for my chance. It worked, just like yesterday."
He seems to have his game under control, but he is somewhat pessimistic.
"I am hitting well now, so I feel like I have the course condition under my control. But I fear if something goes wrong, I could fall down the hill easily."
This is Yuta's first time to make the cut bogey-free, and also his first time to be on the top of the leaderboard.
Two Rounds total of 133 is 3 strokes better than his ever best 36 holes. But Yuta is still negative minded.
"For the past 2 days, I had everything under my control, everything went so well. I know that I can't maintain that for 4 days. I know that at least 1 Round will be bad, so I have to be ready to handle that."
It has been hard struggling 11 years since Yuta has turned Pro. This season he pushed himself up to the point that Tour Card is almost concrete, but from what he has tasted for the past few years, he cannot be too optimistic.
Yuta is improving his golf, tournament by tournament.
"I used to be scared and played it safely, which got me into bad spiral. Nowadays, I try to be aggressive at the times. At first, aggressive play did end up miserably due to not thinking wisely. But I have learned to manage and get wiser to choose right chances to go aggressive. I found out that I break down when I start to play too safe. So, I guess I shouldn't think too much."
Yuta will be playing in the final group on Round 3. When we asked what fans should expect, he replied.
"People comment that I do have the potential to make the charge, but I go for the birdies or more only on Par 5's. So, I don't think I am that interesting to watch."
Somewhat pessimist, maybe masochistic, too humble, or just fooling us around.