Hirotaka Ashizawa finished 274th on the QT and has no entry status on the JGTO Regular Tour. He earned his ticket to this week's Japan PGA Championship by ranking 34th on the qualifying tournament back in March last year. This tournament was cancelled last year due to pandemic and after more than a year, Hirotaka's chance came. This week is his first tournament of the Regular Tour to attend, but he is sitting at the top of the leader board sharing with Shugo Imahira.

"I feel very awkward playing among the super stars like Ryo Ishikawa and Shugo Imahira. I only get to see them on TV", said Hirotaka, a 5-year professional, at his first ever media interview.

Today, Hirotaka made 5 birdies including the chip-ins on 6th and 15th. He did have 2 bogies but finished with 68 on his score card to climb up to 1T.
"I wish I could play well on the weekends and if possible, grab my first victory."

He scored 64 on last week's cub-Tour Abema TV Tour's tournament and finishes at 5T.
"Last week's venue was really narrow course. But I was able to keep the ball in play and that gave me confidence for this week."

Hirotaka's father is PGA's teaching professional, and with that influence he started golf at 4th grade in elementary school. He moved on to Ritsumeikan Junior and High School with golf scholarship. Then he chose Doshisha University and placed himself in the famous golf team.
"Toru Taniguchi is super star alumni from our university. I did go and introduced myself, but I don't know he would have recognized me. I hope I will do week this week and get his attention."

Hirotaka got married in December of 2019, now he is a father of a boy.
"My son is now 9 months old. I love him dearly. Now as a father, I have much more responsibilities, so I want to make this chance count."

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