Akio Sadakata was surrounded by the media at the last hole with the bogey free round of 8 under, 63 finish. Seemed astonished with so many cameras.
"I got nervous with so many cameras, never can get used to it."
Akio has been in the contention before, but he can't seem to get used to it, he was pretty tight even after the par putt on the last hole.

Akio has been away for the seasonal opening event for 3 years, but made a great comeback with the tied to top finish on the Day 1. He made 4 straight birdies from 2nd hole, and the crowd cheered loudly.

Akio went to challenge in US at the age of 14. Akio was in US before his big brotherly like figure, Ryuji Imada.
Akio came back to Japan Tour in 2008, made the tour card right after. He has lost the card in 2011 once, but he kept it until 2015.

"My shots and putt were bad, I didn't have my game going", recalls Akio who couldn't play last year on the tour.

Akio felt "There seemed to be no meaning for practice, if you can't play at the tournaments", so he made up his mind to do whatever he wanted. Things like skiing, which he stayed away not to get injured. He also took time to teach his 3 sons to play golf.

After staying away for 1 full year, Akio finished 15th at the QT Finals in December, grabbed his tour card back and made a great start.
Next week on the April 24th, he will become 40 years old.

"Time flies so fast!", smiled Akio and said "I will play 1 shot at the time and do whatever I could do. If I can keep the momentum and get going, I might get what I really crave for."
The biggest birthday gift that he could get himself, the first win may come this weekend.