21 years old amateur, Riki Kawamoto, who in planning on turning professional soon, made a great rocket start on 1R at Panasonic Open with finishing 2T, 1 shot behind the leader.

Joyo CC is known to have narrow fairways and hilly undulations, but Riki with great driving distance that even the professional envy, he was magnificent on all of the holes he swinged the 1W.

He made 2 eagles today on 5th and 12th. As for 5th, he successfully made to green in two, drained the 13-meter putt. On 12th, his 2nd from 168 yards darted to 50cm for easy one.

On 16th, he almost got in big trouble as it seemed he went to left side OB zone, but it was safe. He shot it out safely back to the front fringe of the green and made a great par save.

Riki has been learning from Hidenori Mezawa coach, who now teaches Hideki Matsuyama.
"Mezawa coach has totally forgotten about me since he is so busy with Hideki. Just joking. But I noticed that I have making too much free movements on my left side. So, I started to have an imaginary wall to prevent it as I swing, and that got my shots really better. "

"My goal is to make birdies on all 4 Par 5s every round. At least be 4 under each day. Today I was lucky to add 2 more. It will be more than great if I could win at the professional tournament, but to be realistic, that is pretty tough to accomplish. If I do get myself in that chance I will go for it, but as for now, I want to play well by getting supports from the professionals I play along with."

Riki has several chances left to challenge the professional tournaments this season. He will try out for 3rd QT and if he could move onto Final QT and pass, then he will turn professional. But there is one concern in November. There will be Asian Amateur Championship held in Dubai, and if he wins, he will receive the invitation to The Masters, but he must remain amateur until next April.
"If I achieve the chance for The Masters, of course I will remain amateur."