49 years old tournament host professional, Kastumasa Miyamoto has shown his toughness on the 1R with finishing 3 shots behind the co-leaders. But at the interview, he kept on talking about Satoshi Kodaira, who came back from US Tours last month.

Kastumasa says, he was looking forward to playing along with Satoshi, since the grouping were announced on Tuesday.
"I was really looking forward to playing with Satoshi. I was emotionally overwhelmed to see his performance. He is really great. I could feel that he was fighting so hard in world top class field and his performance level was brushed up so much."

Satoshi couldn't keep his Tour Card so he will be making challenge through the cub-tour to climb up the ladder back to US PGA Tour.
"He really wants to go back. I really want him to accomplish it."

After much of praising talk about Satoshi, Katsumasa went back to refrain on his round, which was bogey free 66.
"Satoshi and I have same scores today, but my detail is filled with so many mistakes. I made 6 birdies, but it was just lucky."

Maybe it was not satisfying round, but he was able to get out from troubles safely and manage to make the chances. He turned professional in 1996 and has been one of the representing Bridgestone contracted player for 25 years.
"I have been using the Bridgestone gears since I was 15, so that will be35 years?"

As for the Bridgestone Open, he has appeared about 30 times, including his amateur day in university. Now, he is the eldest host professional. This week, he is using the newest ball Tour BX and driver B1, which is scheduled to be in stores next spring.
"I have the privilege of using newest gears, so I want to pay my respect by doing well. You cannot make OB on the starting tee while the Bridgestone president is watching you."

As he stated, he made a great drive on 10th, and made the president happy and also finished with birdie on Par 5 9th.
Kastumasa came close to winning this season, to add another win to his 13 Tour victory, a win he has been away since 2019, but summer heatwave got to him. He is planning to concentrate on the Senior Tour after his 50th birthday next year, so this season will be last for Katsumasa to play full time on the Regular Tour.
"This will be my last chance to go for the victory at Bridgestone Open, so I want to fight hard."