Rikuya Hoshino finished the Round 1 as the solo leader with 5 under par 65. Great position to take away the prestigious Mercedes-Benz Total Point Rankings Award from Shugo Imahira.

Rikuya made 2 straight birdie start. He did have 2 bogeys but made a great round with 7 birdies to finish with 5 under par, 1 shot lead against the elite field.

The greens at the Tokyo Yomiuri CC is said to be the fastest among all of the tournaments held this year.
"Fairways are also very narrow. You will be hitting the tee shots without 1W many times here. For the 2nd shots, you need to be able to hit both draw and fade. I like playing in the course like this where you need to do great calculations for course management."

Rikuya has set one of his goal for this season to capture the Mercedes-Benz Total Point Rankings Award. Total Point consist of 9 categories such as Scoring Average and Putting Average. The winner of this prestigious award receives S Class Mercedes-Benz, and also a big prize money. Rikuya was sitting at the top position until last week, but it was overtaken by Shugo by only 1 point.

Rikuya is determined to regain that top position, so he has to be very keen about all 9 categories. He was upset about his STATS today because he missed the Sand Save today.
"I will definitely try to make it up tomorrow."

Rikuya now drives One Boz type domestic brand car.
"My dream was to ride an International brand automobile."

If he could reverse his position with Shugo by Sunday afternoon, his dream car's steering wheel will be in his hands
"If I buy it myself, I might look like I am stuck up, but if it was a prize, that will be okay, right?"

His dream at the season finale is to become Mr. Mercedes-Benz.
"It is quite difficult to buy such a high-status luxury car. I am is good position now, so if I could also win among this elite players, that will be more than excellent."