Kruger tied-13^th at halfway mark as usual suspect Hoshino seizes lead

South African Jbe Kruger remains right in contention to end a three-year title drought on JGTO after firing an improved three-under-par 67 at The Crowns on Friday.

The 36-year-old, who opened with 71 yesterday, marked his scorecard with six birdies and three bogeys to reach the halfway stage at the Nagoya Golf Club's Wago Course at two-under-par 138.

That placed Kruger, who won the 2019 Shinhan Donghae Open for his sole victory to date, in a share of 13th place and five shots off the pace after Rikuya Hoshino fired a 66 to seize a one-shot lead at seven-under-par overall.

Surprise overnight co-leader Naoyuki Kaneda, stayed solid by returning a 69 to sit in a four-way tie for second which comprised 2021 winner Hiroshi Iwata (67), Mikumu Horikawa (68) and 22-year-old Masaya Hattori (67), who continued to impress in his maiden Tour start.

Kruger is seeking better fortunes this season after finishing a modest 42nd place in the JGTO Money Rankings last year.

He had three top 10s - a T6 at the ASO IIZUKA Challenged Tournament, a T10 at the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open and T5 at the Shinhan Donghae Open.

Kruger kicked off the 2023 season with a tied-59th place at last week's ISPS HANDA Championship.

Also sitting tied-13th was Philippines veteran Juvic Pagunsan, who shot a successive 69, while former champions Ryo Ishikawa (2010) and Katsumasa Miyamoto (2019) and two former world No. 1 amateurs - Takumi Kanaya and Keita Nakajima also shared the same position.

While Ishikawa maintained his form to sign for a 69, Miyamoto, Kanaya and Nakajima ground out 71, 72 and 70 respectively.

Meanwhile, the ever-consistent Hoshino rocketed to the top of the leaderboard for the second time this season after carding six birdies against two bogeys.

Hoshino, who finished second in the money list last year, co-led the penultimate stage of the Token Homemate Cup four weeks ago but eventually settled for runner-up.

"I'm doing everything with the intention of winning, but frankly, I need to do better with my tee shots and putts in order to win," said Hoshino.

"My second shot has made up for these shortcomings."

Leading second round scores:

133: Rikuya Hoshino 67-66;

134: Masaya Hattori 67-67, Hiroshi Iwata 67-67, Mikumu Horikawa 66-68, Naoyuki Kaneda 65-69;

135: Takanori Konishi 67-69, Taiga Semikawa 70-66, Jinichiro Kozuma 70-66, Mikiya Akutsu 67-69, Taiga Nagano 69-67;

137: Tatuaki Mizuta 68-69, Taiki Yoshida 65-72.