Vincent trails Shimizu by two

Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe made a roaring start to his title defence at the Sansan KBC Augusta after firing a five-under-par 67 to be tied for eighth at the Keya Golf Club in Fukuoka.

Vincent, the Mizuno Open winner in May, rolled in six birdies, including five on his outward nine, to sit just two shots off the lead held by Taisei Shimizu. South African Jbe Kruger also signed for a 67 to be bunched in tied-eighth place.

Shimizu had eight birdies to trade against a lone bogey to lead by one shot from a group of five players in tied-second, which included American Todd Baek.

Australia's Andrew Evans, the QT winner, also started brightly by carding a 68 to share the 19^th spot with several others including 2019 winner Kazuki Higa and last week's Shigeo Nagashima Invitational Sega Sammy Cup champion Hiroshi Iwata.

Vincent left it late to make his way up on the leaderboard.

After an opening birdie on the 10th hole he started, he parred the next seven holes before dropping a shot just before the turn at the 18th.

With his putter heating up, Vincent birdied holes 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8 to put himself in early contention for his first ever successful title defence.

"I was really happy with how the day went," said Vincent.

"I have tried to prepare well for this week's title defence, so the key is to stick to the game plan and stay patient. I'm going to do the same for the rest of the week."

Baek, 30, bounced back from last week's missed cut at the Shigeo Nagashima Invitational Sega Sammy Cup to shoot a bogey-free 66.

Baek will be keen to make the most of his solid start to make an impression in his third full season on the JGTO.

He came closest to winning at the Japan Players Championships last year, finishing tied second.

This year, his best result was a tied-fifth at the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup.

Second-year professional Shimizu, who was already impressed with three top-10 finishes this year was delighted with how things panned out for him.

He added that a change of putter also helped him to produce an impressive score today.

"I was hitting it well from the tee today, so I was able to play the entire round without any stress. I missed only a couple of fairways," said the 23-year-old.

"I made the right decision to switch from pin type to a mallet one. I putted great, the first birdie was from 15m.

"Having gotten off to a great start, I want to try to maintain the composure. The most important thing is to not put too much pressure on myself."