Hiroshi Iwata is a man of worries and struggle, but he always comes through with good score anyhow. He is also known to be not chatty, but he did say "this title is special" in very few words.
"I did score 63 today, and number seems to be good, but detail of my game was not. I am dissatisfied with my shots. I couldn't hit it right, but few of the ones I succeeded, I was able to make birdies. And for the one I couldn't make, still my putts save me."

Hiroshi played with bogey free 8 birdies, accomplished the lowest score record of Par 71 settings at the Japan Open.

On practice round Wednesday, he played with Satoshi Kodaira, who is going back to US and challenge his way back to the PGA Tour through cub-tour Korn Ferry Tour.
"I was asked by Satoshi, why am I not going to challenge US Tour again. I challenged for 2 seasons but couldn't keep the Card in 2016. There was the same route as Satoshi, but that moment it wasn't a choice for me. Back then, some of the cub-tour's venues were in Mexico and the purse was really small. Now the purses are bigger, and Ryo Ishikawa is trying out. It does look fun to join them. If I win this week, I will receive the ticket to British Open. I want to fight hard and achieve more chances to play abroad, then I want to challenge US Tour again."

Hiroshi is now in his 40s. He still has fighting spirit within him but doesn't show.
"When I am not playing well, I tend to think about safe placed to place my shots. I can be very calm and realistic. When I play like that, I end up not making any bogeys."

As Hiroshi stated, he was caught in trouble as his bunker shot on 18th, got buried in between the roughs and fringes, but he made a great chip-in on his 3rd shot to same miraculous par. He raised his hand a little to answer to the applause.

After 1 month of break, this week Men's golf welcomed spectators.
"It is much better to have the spectators on the course. It makes us motivated, and this tense atmosphere gives good pressure. When we don't have that pressure, we tend to fool around and that is not good."