On Rikuya Hoshino's last hole, he was eager to fight off his rival player, Yuki Inamori. Rikuya was already 11 under by the time he came to the final Par 5 18th (549yards). He had 260 yards left to the pin and shot his 2nd by 5W to 8-meter back of the pin. He took a glance at the leader board by the 18th green, and told himself, "I must beat Yuki."

The putt was hilly downslope and right to left line, but Rikuya made it with no problem. At 16th, his 2nd shot from 100 yards made a back spin and went into the cup for eagle. Rikuya closed the day with his 2nd eagle and made 1 shot lead over his rival Yuki Inamori.

Rikuya and Yuki are both Srixon sponsored players. Both are eager to give back to the sponsor with the win this week, so they are competing each other to do so.

Last year, Rikuya came to this event right after he got back from the US Open, and that fatigue made his miss the cut 2 years in a row. In 2016, he has made a debut at this event as an amateur and got himself the Best Amateur title.
"In 2016, I shot every tee shot with my driver and managed to get to 5 under and made the cut. Other amateurs didn't make the cut so eventually I became the Best Amateur."

He has gained 8 kilos now and his yardages ha gained 10 yards more. He also earned to control his swings both draw and fade, also gained enough experience to make great course management decisions.

"Today I only used driver on 5 and 6. My Irons distance is getting longer for about 1 club difference and my accuracy is high too. So, I have less pressure battling the course."

In May, he lost against Tomoharu Otsuki at the Kansai Open playoffs.
"I shot 9 under on the final round but still couldn't win."
In order to revenge that feelings, he must grab that "victory by the Srixon host Pro" glory this week.

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