Pagunsan looks for weekend putting magic as he stays firmly in contention

Philippines’ Juvic Pagunsan stayed in contention for his second JGTO title in as many months after carding a solid three-under-par 70 to lie four shots behind halfway-stage leader Taihei Sato at the Hana Bank Invitational- the first-ever tournament jointly sanctioned by JGTO and KPGA.

The 45-year-old, who won at the Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament four weeks ago, traded five birdies against two bogeys at the par-73 Chiba Isumi Golf Club to reach nine-under-par 137.

Pagunsan was tied for fifth with Tomoyo Ikemura (67), Eric Sugimoto (68) and Seungsu Han of the United States (69).

Sato, who shared the first-round lead with Kensei Hirata and KPGA's Yang Ji-ho, leads the way heading into the weekend on 13-under-par 133 after following his opening 66 with a bogey-free six-birdie 67.

Last week's ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament champion Keita Nakajima remained firmly on course to claim back-to-back titles by signing for a match 67 to sit solo second and two shots back, followed by Taiga Nagano (68) and Yang (70) in joint third on 136.

Pagunsan believes he needs to be more clinical with his flat stick if he is to keep pace with leaders heading into the final day.

"I think I need to practice a lot of putting," who registered just one birdie less than the previous day but the dropped shots on par-four third and par-four 15th prevented him from being closer to the lead.

"I think tomorrow is going to be a moving day. I need to take as many chances as I can.

"It's been so far, so good here despite being my first time playing on this course. Let's hope it stays that way."

Sato, 29, kept mistakes at bay as he hit six birdies, four of which came in the back nine, to keep his pole position and give himself a genuine shot at his maiden JGTO breakthrough.

It was also this season that Sato earned his best finish when he finished joint runner-up at the Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament.

"I was not expecting that I shot six or seven-under-par in the first two rounds. Right now, I am leading a lot but not paying attention to that too much, and I will need to keep playing like this from tomorrow," said Sato, who has one win on the PGA Tour Series China.

Australia's Anthony Quayle left it late to shoot 69 to make a significant climb from tied-31 to tied-13 on seven-under-par overall.

Quayle fought hard to mix three birdies with as many bogeys in the first 10 holes before coming home with four birdies to put himself on the fringe of contention.

"To be able to just bounce back with a few birdies and resettle myself and build a little bit of confidence, I was really happy with that," said Quayle.

"I think I've got most of it working. The putting is pretty good and the irons are back to pretty good levels.

"Off the tee is very close to being good. I think if I can just knuckle down on being a bit better off the tee, I think I can shoot some really low numbers and put myself in a good position."

Leading second round scores:

(Japan unless stated)

133: Taihei Sato 66-67;

135: Keita Nakajima 68-67;

136: Taiga Nagano 68-68, Yang Ji-ho (Kor) 66-70;

137: Tomoyo Ikemura 70-67, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 67-70, Seungsu Han (US) 68-69, Eric Sugimoto 69-68;

138: Yosuke Asaji 69-69, Junichiro Kozuma 70-68, Shugo Imahira 69-69, Taiki Yoshida 70-68.