Yoshitaka Takeya finished as solo leader after the 1st Round at Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills, scoring 65, but what made this score so special was his only "28 strokes" on his back nine.

Shishido Hills is known to be tougher on the inward nine holes, but Yoshitaka blew that theory away by making 7 birdies out of 9 holes. The finny thing was his mistake on 9 th which ended as bogey gave him the turning point for his great task.

"I made miss shot by hitting directly to the tree. It flew only 190 yards on the Par 5. But with that miss shot I realized that I wasn't swinging fully. The pressure being at the Major and the most difficult course on the Tour made my swing get all clenched up. I told myself to just do whatever takes to do my best and release my follow through."

After his turn, he made a chip-in on 10th and from there on he made 5 straight birdies. Then on the Par 3 16th, his tee shot with 6I got to 1-meter for a birdie, and on next 17th, his 2nd shot with 7I from 182 yards got dead to 20cm of the pin for tap in birdie.

"Having the fans on the course was missed for 18 months. I found some familiar faces on the course. Today's score was more than great, I bet I will be making normal scores from tomorrow, but I will do my best."

Yoshitaka won this Major in 2014 at age of 34, and received 5 years Seed, but since 2016 he has been having trouble with injuries. He uses to be on baseball team in high school days and he has injured his back and knee. Now he has constant pain on his left side neck. Also, he injured his elbow during the stay home period, and he need pain killer to bear with it.
"Well, injuries are part of me so I must learn to live with it. I have been getting advice from y seniors and as of now, I am playing without too many pains."

He was in much pain before and couldn't push himself to go practice after the round, but now he is eager to practice.
"It is better to brush up the mistakes I made on the course. I am glad that I could practice as I wish now."
Yoshitaka surprised fellow players by making so many putt during his victory 9 years ago. Maybe he would be able to replay that same miraculous performance again this week.