Tournament article

ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP 2019

Nervous wreck with Tiger is same group, but Satoshi Kodaira kept his score in red numbers

It was like seeing the "Tiger rollercoaster ride theater" in the front seat, for Satoshi Kodaira. Satoshi has won the RBC Heritage in 2017 and has been challenging in US PGA Tour, but this was his very first time to play along with Tiger Woods.

Satoshi has been nervous wreck after the pairing were announced, but he got back on his feet after Tiger made 3 straight bogeys. But soon after Tiger got into "Tiger Charge" and he made 9 birdies.

"It was more than magic. Almost every shot was birdie chance. His rhythm for putting is so great and all the putts are swallowed into the cup. It felt great watching it."

From the starting hole to the finish, huge crowd was following Tiger's group.
"I knew everybody was watching Tiger and not me. So, I didn't feel nervous about that. I also became one of the spectator and had fun talking with Tommy Fleetwood since we became acquainted at PGA Championship last year."

Satoshi kept his play with 3 birdies and 2 bogey 69. 1 under is at 14T out of 78 players.
"From the nervous wreck situation in the morning, I think I did quite well. I learned a lot playing along Tiger. His routine from tee shot to putting is same throughout the game. Even his walking rhythm doesn't change."

Satoshi gets to play with Tiger again tomorrow, but he aims to play with Tiger for the full 4 days by making charge tomorrow.