Rikuya Hoshino knows his way around this "Monster Course" Fujizakura as he has conquered it before.
"You need to have all of your game here. Draw fade high and low, must be very creative. You need to be smart and must fight the course accordingly."

Rikuya has done what he has said, ne nailed the 7500 yards course with all the technics he has and produced 6 birdies. He did have 2 bogies but finished with total 8 under and solo leader entering the Final Round tomorrow, giving himself a great chance for V2 at Fujizakura.

The win in 2018 was his first ever victory on Japan Tour. At the end he had 5 shot lead against the field and rejoiced in tears with his parents at the 18th green. But this time he has only 1 shot lead and so many great players follows within 5 shots.
"I will go aggressive this year. I will encourage myself and push my game up to the limit."

Rikuya is tall, but he did lack stamina before, but during the 8 months of waiting for the Tour Season to start, he was able to do might wight training and has built his body tough enough.
"My swing got wobbly as I got tired, but now I don't feel fatigue after 3 days and I think my swing change is settling down too."

Rikuya is pumped up for this win with another reason which was announced this morning. The winner of this tournament is granted with invitation to US PGA co-sanctioned ZOZO Championship in October (will be held in US this year).

Exemption for ZOZO Championship is given to the top 7 JGTO players on the World Ranking.
"I am now 7th on the list, but if I could win this week, I could make my entry concrete."

Another goal Rikuya has is to make Hole-in-one at the Par 3 16th. This hole has a prize money of 7,000,000 yen sponsored by Nisshin Oilio, which also happens to be Rikuya's sponsor as well.
"I went for it, but the pin position for today was way back. I don't want to play it too aggressively and end up with a bogey, so I tried to play it smart. I ended up in the sand but made a good recovery and made the par save. I will try for that Hole-in-one again tomorrow, and if I could do it and also win, that will be the best way to thank my sponsor."