Taro Yamamoto, who just turned 28 years old a day before this tournament began, is making his way back into the professional world.

He changed his putter from mallet type to blade type after he finished his reaming 7 holes of R1.
Taro made 4-meter eagle putt on Par 4 13 th along with 7 birdies and 2 bogeys to score his best, 65. He now sits at provisional 5T with total 10 under Par.
"I really couldn't decide until the last moment, but blade putter worked miracles."

Taro made his first appearance on the Regular Tour in 2017. Played 1 tournament each in 2018 and 2019, and this tournament will be his 4th tournament on the Tour. He earned this ticket by finishing 5th on the Fukushima Open held in the local area.

This is his 5th year as a professional, but it was filled with difficulties.
In 2015, he injured his ligaments of his right leg joint. Accident happened on the 1st QT, as his golf cart rolled over on the practice round and got him seriously injured. Taro was in his Senior year, and challenging the QT.
"I just wanted to play. I chose to play by receiving anesthesia injection to relieve my pain. I even made hole-in-one, and my score was good, but eventually I couldn't walk anymore."
He had to WD during his 3rd Round. He had to wait 4 month to be able to play golf again.

Taro spent time to rehabilitate his body and worked at indoor golf lesson schools for 3 years. Then he changed his work to a practice range owned by Golf Partner in Saitama Prefecture. Now he works along with a lesson professional Eiji Omiya, who taught Shugo Imahira, and earn his touring fees to get back on the Tour.

This has been tough and thorny path for Taro, but he is very positive about it.
"I have earned precious relationships thanks to my students."
6 of his students all gathered from Tokyo and Saitama to cheer for their coach.
"If I was just a professional tour player, I am not popular at all and won't have any fans cheering for me. I am grateful to them that they all followed me for 18 holes even though there are so many big name everywhere on the course. If I finish within Top 10, I will gain my ticket to the next JGTO event. If I accomplish to win, then I will receive 2 years exemption Tour Card, so I will do my best since I am on a roll."