3rd year professional Daiki Imano had an early start on Friday, as he had 4 holes left from 1R. He finished his 1R with 65 and became the leader with 2 shots lead. Then after not much of a break time, he went on to play 18 holes more. His long day ended with 73, 2 over for the round and Daiki now sits 1 shot behind the leaders.

It was his first time to become a solo leader after a round.
"I wish that the tournament would have ended there, but that won't happen. I know that good game won't continue for 3 more rounds, so I must prepare."

After turning Pro in 2019, he played on cub-tour, AbemaTV Tour and finished 18th on Money Rankings.
"I was too obsessed of playing every hole perfectly as planned, which costed me to only make 7 cuts out of 13 tournaments that I entered. I shifted my mind to saving pars as I faced each hole. This enabled me to finish within Top 10 for the first time at last week's Sansan KBC Augusta."

He had faced trouble on Par 5 15th. He made mistake on 50 yards short game, then he shot his 4th shot from pot bunker which went over the green. But from there he was able to get it up and down to make the scar smallest, and 1 putted for bogey.
"I think my mind shift is getting better results."

Daiki is a nephew of 7 Tour victory player Yasuharu Imano.
"I started to play golf thanks to my uncle. He gave me a call last week after 3R since I was at 3T and taught me the mindset to become a winner. This week I went from Fukuoka to uncle's home to get some advice. Uncle is so stoic toward golf. His advice taught me a lot. He has helped me through tough times. But I don't want him on my bag. I want him to watch me outside the rope. If I win, I think he would just say, good for you. He is not so emotional type."