23 years old super rookie, Naoyuki Kataoka marked his career best 63 with bogey free round to jump up on the top of the leader board on 2R at Bridgestone Open.

He stumbled on his starting hole, as his tee shot went into the trees on the right side, then he shot it down the left side cliff into the thick roughs.
"I never imagined that I would score my best today with the start like today. I was worried that if I could make the cutline or not."

But on his 3rd shot, he hit the flagpole and it almost went in. He had 10cm tap in to save par. He safely made 3-meter for par on the 2nd Hole, and on 3rd his 2nd shot became chip in birdie.

Strong mag. 5.9 earthquake hit Ichihara City, 14km south of Chiba, Japan last night. Chiba City where the tournament course is located was also under big effect.
"I was so afraid and couldn't sleep. But after a while I must have fallen asleep and when I woke up it was 20 minutes past 7 am. I slept over so it was tiresome morning. But my miraculous par saving on 1st hole gave me the chance for the 8 birdies."

Naoyuki also wants to thank his playing partner, Takumi Kanaya. Although Takumi is younger than Naoyuki, he feels like calling him his "master".
"I would like to all him, Mr, Kanaya. No, Sir Kanaya., or even Master Kanaya. After winning at Japan Players Championship, my shot got really worse. I had the chance to play with Takumi last week and found out how he was hitting his shots. I have taken in the tips from watching Takumi, and my shots got really better. I cannot thank him enough."

Naoyuki suffer to miss the cutline for mast 2 weeks.
"I think I finally was able to find the way out of this nightmare. I was able to play along with Takumi for past 2 rounds, and it was great having the role model right in front of me. He is 1 year younger than me, but I have been admiring him since junior days. We were on the same team since high school on National Teams, and also on same university teams. We are very close as friends and also, I am learning so much from him all the time. I am on the top for today, but I know I will be very nervous from tomorrow. But I am enjoying golf so much, so I hope I could get rid of the nervousness by having fun and also be concentrated in my game."