New dad Perry eyes glory at ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament

Becoming a father had certainly given Australia's Dylan Perry a fresh perspective on his career as a professional golfer, although it wasn't too long ago that he joined the play-for-pay ranks.

The 27-year-old, who delayed his return to Japan for the third full JGTO season after welcoming the first child with his partner Brittany in February, was enduring a frustrating run of three consecutive missed cuts starting from the Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament.

But that unpleasant streak looks set to end at the ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament after he fired a bogey-free five-under-par 67 to sit four strokes back of opening round leaders Tomoyo Ikemura and Yusaku Miyazato in tied-10th.

"Yes exactly! Have someone else to play for now," said Perry when asked if becoming a father has given him more reason to take his career to greater heights.

"My partner had a baby in late February, so I decided to stay home and be a dad for a few months before coming up to start the season,

"Our daughter’s name is Zyli. She's an angel, we're very lucky," added Perry, who further explained that he had also contracted Covid-19 not long after which caused him to start his season from the sixth stop.

Perry believes he is slowly, but slowly getting back to his best as his today's solid round suggested.

Backed by two early birdies in his first three holes of the day, Perry picked up three more shots at the 10th, 13th and 16th holes to put him in a good position to make his first maiden cut this year.

"I haven’t been particularly happy with my game the last few weeks but played nicely last week at Shishido (Hills) despite missing the cut," he said.

"So I knew it wasn’t too far away. I am relieved to get off to a good start here this week! I know the scores are going to be pretty low around this course all week.

"You can definitely get off to a fast start at this course, especially with the two short par-fives."

On his highlight of the day, Perry has pinpointed the birdie on the 10th.

"I hit it right into bunker then thinned my second onto the back edge and holed a 40-50 footer from off the green," he said.

Perry has notched three top-10 results to date in Japan, with his best outing being a tied third at the HEIWA PGM Championship in 2019.

Australia's Brad Kennedy and Hyun Woo Ryu of South Korea led the way for the international field after both carded identical 66s to be tied for fourth.

Kennedy impressed with two eagles on the par-five first and 17th, backed up with three birdies to offset a lone bogey.

Thailand's Thanyakhon Khrongpha was the other player in top 10, sharing the 10th spot.