No.1 Money Ranker Chan Kim made his way out of being at the bottom of the leader board today by playing with 7 birdies and 4 bogeys to score 67. Now he is at 23T.
"I am definitely playing much better than yesterday."
He recalls his 74 on 1R, that "I thought too much about my shots and putts. I was mentally pressured and couldn't play well."
Chan is Defending Champion and wanted to show his great performance in front of the spectators, which they couldn't have last year due to pandemic, but being in the same group with Ryosuke Kinoshita and Takumi Kanaya as nominees for the Order of Merit race made Chan too nervous.
"I couldn't enjoy at all, yesterday. Today I was placed away from that race and felt relaxed."
As he said, he made a great birdie at his starting hole.
"I will play tomorrow with confidence in myself. I would concentrate on each and every shot and also try enjoy the round as well."
As for the No.2 Money Ranker Ryosuke Kinoshita played with 2 birdies and 2 bogey to score even for the day. After 1R, his coach came to the course to give him some advice.
"I do have better feeling on my performance, but it is not reflected on my score yet."
Ryosuke is 1 over total at 20T. In order for Ryosuke to become Order of Merit Champion, he must win or be solo 2nd, but now he is 10 shots behind the current leader Yusaku Miyazato.
"I have big deficit so, I must make big scores on weekends. But anything could happen on golf, so I will not give up until the very end."
No.3 Money Ranker Takumi Kanata played with 5 birdies and 2 bogeys to score 67, and now he is total 2 under at 13T. His only chance to become the Order of Merit is to win.
"Tomorrow will especially be important round. I want to play with my style and make birdie charges."