De Los Santos takes command with Nagano

Philippines' Justin De Los Santos stepped up his hunt for a JGTO breakthrough by matching his career-low nine-under-par 63 to seize a share of the lead with record-setting Taiga Nagano after Friday's second round of the JAPAN PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP by Satosyokuhin.

The 27-year-old carded a bogey-free 32 and 31 on both the front and back nines to equal Nagano, on 15-under-par 129 after 36 holes at rain-softened Nishinasuno Country Club in Tochigi Prefecture.

Nagano flirted with a magical 59 before settling for a nevertheless impressive tournament 18-hole record of 12-under 60.

The pair are two strokes ahead of in-form Keita Nakajima, who charged up the leaderboard with a blistering 63 to sit in lone third.

Overnight leader Riki Kawamoto (68) was among the trio together with Eric Sugimoto (68) and Hideto Tanihara (65) sitting in a three-way tie for fourth on 132.

Like most players, De Los Santos took full advantage of the ideal scoring conditions as he soared with an eagle on the par-five 11th and bagged seven birdies en route to his lowest-ever 36-hole score on the JGTO, two strokes better than his halfway-stage mark at the ISPS HANDA Championship last year.

The nine-under-par 63 also equalled his previous best 18-hole effort during the second round of the Panasonic Open in 2021.

"I think I've shot one pretty low in Panasonic a couple of years ago, but obviously it's a good round today," said De Los Santos, whose career-best finish was a solo third at For The Players by The Players last year.

"The rain definitely made the course pretty soft and I kind of cleaned up the tee shots a little bit. I obviously didn't make really any too big of a mistake.

"The weather obviously made a big difference. But then again, like I said, the improved tee shots and I didn't put myself in too much trouble, that kind of made the difference too."

Being in the pole position for the second time in his JGTO career (since ISPS HANDA last year), De Los Santos reckoned that there's still plenty of golf to be played and he needs to remain consistent heading into the weekend.

"I'm just going to play how I want to play, and if I play the way I'm thinking I would, then I would like to think that's enough to win it. We'll see. Whatever happens, happens," he said.

Nagano stole the thunder by marking his scorecard with an eagle, 11 birdies and a lone bogey to sum up a memorable day.

He became the only sixth player to shoot a 12-under-par since 1988 and the first since Jinichiro Kozuma last accomplished the feat during the third round of the Dunlop Srixon Fukushima Open in 2018.

However, the 11 birdies was a new record for most birdies holed in a round on the JGTO.

"I didn't know about that (record). My personal best was 63, so when I reached nine-under, I wanted to get one more birdie, and I ended up getting three!" said the 20-year-old Nagano, who's playing in his second season.

Nagano also credited the incredible round to a close-knit partnership with his friend-cum-caddie, whom he relied on for "hitting instruction".

"I leave everything regarding the line to the caddie. I just hit the ball as instructed. We were classmates in middle and high school," he said.

Nagano's most notable result in his rookie season last year was coming in tied-third at the Japan Open.

He found himself in contention after the third round of last week's Hana Bank Invitational, but a poor final-round effort saw him end up in T12.

"Last week, I did well on the third day but failed on the fourth day, so I hope to do my best tomorrow and make amends for last week's disappointment," he vowed.

Leading second round scores

129: Justin De Los Santos (Phi) 66-63, Taiga Nagano 69-60;

131: Keita Nakajima 68-63;

132: Hideto Tanihara 67-65, Eric Sugimoto 64-68, Riki Kawamoto 64-68;

133: Yujiro Ohori 67-66, Tomoharu Otsuki 65-68;

134: Sejung Hiramoto 69-65, Yoshitaka Takeya 67-67, Han Lee (US) 67-67, Yosuke Asaji 67-67, Naoyuki Kataoka 64-70, Shintaro Kobayashi 65-69.